Forgiveness Restores Peace?

Forgiveness restores peace. At least that is the hope in Northern Uganda. While Joseph Kony still holds children in the DRC, Gulu and all of N. Uganda is trying to move on. All around you, positive signs of change are making themselves known. Could Kony come back? That is what many of the children at Laroo fear. On our first night our girls divided into groups with the Laroo girls. That night, many of the girls opened up in their small groups and shared their stories. In my group I met a sweet sixteen year old named grace. She is 16 years old and was born into the bush to a mother who was a soldier. She stayed there for 12 years so she had only been free for 4 years of her life. As she told her story, she was very quiet, almost a whisper. I have read so much and seen so much in videos, but hearing her speak of her life in the bush, forced to kill was something I wasn't prepared for. I also met a little girl named Cindrela age 7 who the girls told me was also born in the bush. Seven, that is the age of my own child. Now these kids are living in a boarding school, most are orphaned and they are trying to heal after their traumatic starts in life. I have to admit, there were several times that I looked into the eyes of some of these large 20 year old men living in a primary boarding school and wondered what they had done to others as a result of the war. Hearing first hand from Grace how the rebels came in the night, burned her home and killed her parents made me wonder how this could have happened for 21 years and I never heard about it. What kind of world are we living in where this can happen to children yet we go about our daily lives as if this horror isn't taking place. There were visible scars on the children's bodies, but what about their heart, their minds. Will forgiveness restore peace? If the name of Kony is spoken, the children all believe that he can hear them. They have been so brainwashed and traumatised, will they ever be normal. Yet, amidst the sadness, I still saw joy. Although subdued compared to the kids in the south, many still have a positive outlook! What lessons I learned. We stayed at Laroo for several days and slept their for one night. I am changed forever by this experience.

Note: Photos above, Grace is in the yellow shirt, John, the boy I am kissing is missing a leg, boy in white has burns on face, little girl in blue was also burned.