If you are in Uganda
very long you will hear about the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army). It would be more accurately called the SRA
– Satan’s Resistance Army. It began in
1986 with Joseph Koney leading it.
Supposedly his plan was to overthrow the government of Uganda
but with no clear plan, working in multiple countries (Sudan,
Uganda, Congo)
and abhorrent tactics they are merely a really nasty terrorist
organization. They kill, rape, and loot
indiscriminantly. Their worst practice
is that of abducting children to become slaves and soldiers. The children are physically, emotionally and
sexually abused, become addicted to drugs and alcohol and are often forced to
kill their own parents as their first act of terror. Currently Joseph Koney has been driven out of
Uganda and Sudan
and is hiding in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a vast, undeveloped and
heavily forested country. He will be
difficult to apprehend there but at least there are few children being abducted
currently. Hopefully the LRA is near its
end.
Today we were invited to go on a 25K bike ride with a group
of missionaries and the LRA children they work with. The purpose of the ride was to commemorate a
mass grave that was started 4 years ago for people in a local area who were
murdered by the LRA in 2003. They have
been gradually collecting remains as they are found. Some are identified, some are not. There are 365 buried there so far. The LRA children were abducted as young as 6
and today are young adults attempting to assimilate back into society. As you can imagine this can be very difficult
for them and often their own people don’t want them as they as afraid of
them. We spent a couple of hours
clearing the graves of overgrown weeds, brushing off the concrete grave markers
and installing a commemorative plaque on the cross memorial marking the
area. We had a short service and
encouraged the young people to forgive and go on. It was very moving. There were people in the US
doing a similar 25K ride to raise awareness and funds for the LRA
children. Many have escaped from the LRA
in recent years as the LRA has been pushed back by national and international
forces.
Andy stayed ‘home’ at Val’s house today. We (Liz and Melissa) returned to find Val had
made it back from the board meeting and we had a working shower complete with
hot water!
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