VANESSA VICK PHOTOGRAPHY

Lord's Resistance Army

The war in northern Uganda between the Lord’s Resistance Army and the Ugandan government has raged on for 19 years, making it one of the longest running conflicts in Africa. It is characterized by sheer brutality and left the region traumatized and destitute.

Women and children leave the confines of Ambrosoli Memorial Hospital as day breaks. In Pader District 100% of the population has been displaced and forced to live in camps but even in the camps they do not feel safe. In this area women and children come to the hospital at night hoping to avoid abduction by the Lord’s Resistance Army.
   
Helen Akello recovers in Lira Hospital. She was badly burned when a bomb exploded while she tried to escape an attack by Lord’s Resistance Army in Barlonyo internally displaced people’s camp. Over 250 people were killed in this attack. Her husband has gone to bury their three-month-old daughter who died the day before from severe burns.
   
Tens of thousands of civilians in northern Uganda have been armed to fight the Lord’s Resistance Army. Here Arrow Boys return from a mission in Katakwi.
     
  
Ayuro Teddy does not know her age, relative’s think she is about 75. Teddy walked 15 kilometers from her village to Soroti town after the Lord’s Resistance Army repeatedly attacked her village. In the last several months the rebels killed her husband and brother when they were trying to flee the violence.
   
More than 1.8 million people have been forced to leave their homes in northern Uganda and live in camps for internally displaced people. Before the war the majority of the people lived by subsistence farming now they rely on the World Food Program to survive.
   
Abalo is cared for by her husband at Kitgum hospital. She was on her way to collect mangos with a neighbor when Lord’s Resistance Army rebels attacked leaving her with serious head injuries.
     
  
Sarah joined a civilian militia the day after she witnessed her brother being killed and another abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army. No one has seen her younger brother since the abduction.
   
Fearing abduction Sidonie, her seven siblings and their mother go to Saint Joseph’s Mission in Kitgum to sleep at night. When Sidonie and her family came home this morning they found their father lying in a pool of blood. The rebels had come during the night and beat him to death.
   
Every night tens of thousands of children, called night commuters, pour into northern Ugandan towns from surrounding areas, hoping to avoid abduction by the Lord’s Resistance Army. They sleep on verandas, in bus parks, on church grounds, and at local hospitals before returning home again the next morning.
     
  
The Lord’s Resistance Army has abducted over 40,000 children during the 19 years of civil war and it is believed that 90% of the LRA are children that have been forcefully indoctrinated. Opige Simone, 19 years old, has spent seven years in the bush. He lost his leg when he stepped on a landmine in southern Sudan.
   
The birthrate in northern Uganda is the highest in the country yet the school system has collapsed. Displacement has caused massive overcrowding and a severe shortage of teachers. These children attend a makeshift school in an abandoned starch factory in Lira, which has become home to 7,000 internally displaced people.
   
The LRA is known throughout the world as one of the most brutal rebel groups in the world. When Aouch Anna was captured by the LRA at her home they made her 3-year-old daughter watch while they sliced her lips off. The very next day Mary Aol was attacked and they also cut her lips. The two women met in the hospital and have been friends ever since.
     
  
Northern Uganda has one of the highest numbers of internally displaced people in the world. Many children were born in IDP camps and have never known peace.
   
Ojok Charles still wears the bottle of shea butter or Mooyaa, which was given to him by a commander to make him brave and provide protection while in battle.
   
Life is very difficult in the camps they are crowded and often lack access to clean drinking water, basic health facilities, and adequate schools. Labuje in Kitgum is home to 14,000 people displaced by the 19 year civil war.
     
  
Rachele Rehabilitation Center in Lira northern Uganda works with children abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army to give them psychosocial counseling, medical treatment and some help to reintegrate back into society. As part of their counseling the children reenact their abduction with some playing the role of the Uganda People’s Defense Forces some playing the role of LRA rebels and some playing the role of civilians.
   
Acayo Winny lives in an abandoned train in Lira with other internally displaced people. Her family decided to move after there was an attack on her village and several people were killed.
   
Sometimes the children must walk for hours on each end disrupting their education and family life, the social fabric has been ripped apart in northern Uganda.