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REAL VOICES: Ugandas 'night commuters' live in shadow of fear
11 Aug 2005
Source: AlertNet
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Nancy Auma, 13, stands by the Boma Ground Night Commuter Centre, which provides shelter for more than 200 children every night. The children come from surrounding villages to escape the threat of abduction by rebel soldiers.
AMREF photo
Nancy Auma, 13, stands by the Boma Ground Night Commuter Centre, which provides shelter for more than 200 children every night. The children come from surrounding villages to escape the threat of abduction by rebel soldiers.
AMREF photo
Esther Aloyo, 13, has lost both her parents to AIDS. She has been visiting the centre nightly for three years following attacks on her community in Ariyaya Central.
AMREF photo
Maurice Rackara, 11, is a football fanatic and can be seen every night at the centre kicking around a ball made from old bits of cloth and string. His father was killed in fighting.
The Boma Ground Night Commuter Centre in northern Ugandas Gulu town is home to more than 200 children who come from surrounding villages to seek refuge at night, fearing abduction by Lords Resistance Army (LRA) rebels.
To date, the LRA has kidnapped more than 20,000 children, so the everyday fear of abduction is real and tangible. Many of the 16,000 or so kids who flood into Gulu after sunset each day walk for over an hour to get there. Many spend their nights in bus stops, churches or on the streets.
Those who come to the Boma Ground Night Commuter Centre are looked after by male wardens and female matrons, trained and supported by the Nairobi-based African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF). Every night the staff organise different activities for them, which are both fun and educational.
The girls sleep in a large empty concrete building with a corrugated iron roof and the boys sleep in two large tents. All of them sleep on mats, which they lay out on the floor every night. There are toilets and water points where the children wash every evening and morning.
Louise Orton, communications manager for African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF), visited the centre in July and spoke to some of the staff and children. Here are their stories in their own words.
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Nancy Auma, 13, lives with her grandmother in Laliya Dwol, more than an hour away from the centre by foot. Her parents were killed two years ago by rebels.
I like coming to the centre to do the dramas. I love doing the plays with my friends. They teach me a lot. They teach us not to fight and to love our friends. And they teach us not to go with boys at an early age, to avoid early pregnancies.
They also teach me about the changes we go through, like our breasts growing and menstruation. They make sure that we keep ourselves clean, particularly during menstruation.
I like school. I hope that I can build a better life for me in the future. I want to be a nurse so I can better help my people.
I get very tired (walking to the school and the centre). I go straight to school from here in the mornings, then back home and then back here.
Many people were killed along with my parents. I managed to run away. We had already escaped but we went back to the village and found all the dead bodies.
My grandma is looking after me as best she can but she cant meet all our needs.
I eat porridge in the morning here. And I eat at school at 1pm and I bring some back to eat here later.
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Esther Aloyo, 13, has been coming to the centre for three years, making the hour-long walk from her home in Ariyaya Central.
I come here because of the war. The rebels attacked my community at Ariyaya Central. So I come here to protect myself from the rebels.
I wasnt there but they burnt my guardians (her fathers sister and her husband).
My parents both died of HIV/AIDS. My father died when I was nine years old and my mother died a year later.
I dont know if Im HIV-positive. I havent been tested yet.
I have five brothers and four sisters. One older brother, whos 15, was abducted by the rebels. He has been gone for two years. He was with two other boys who were killed straight away. We heard news that he was the escort of a rebel who is believed to have surrendered but he is not back yet.
I have new guardians but they dont have any money. And they want to chase me from the home. They want us to go somewhere else. Sometimes they give us food and sometimes they dont. They say: Who are we to ask for it? Sometimes we borrow food from children here.
I go to school. I am in senior class 1. I am learning many subjects, including chemistry, physics, biology, politic education, history, music, maths, geography, English and fine art.
Political education is my favourite subject because I like learning about the government, the people and their relationship. It also teaches us whats happening outside our country. Id like to continue in school but I dont know if its going to be possible with my guardians. They say that me and my sister have to get married as soon as possible.
Theres nothing I can do. Our property was destroyed by rebels.
No-one pays my school fees at the moment. My brother goes to talk to the school. Hes a soldier so sometimes he has money to pay the fees. When my father died my mother went home and after she died my brother sold the land. He used the money to get us here and used the rest to pay for school fees and clothes.
Sometimes I feel sick or just generally weak. On Saturdays we work in the fields from morning until sunset and thats hard. We are growing sweet potatoes and theyre not ready. When they are, the guardians will sell most of them.
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Maurice Rackara, 11, is a football fanatic and can be seen every night at the centre kicking around a ball made from old bits of cloth and string.
Im from Laliya Dwol, which is a village one and a half hours from the night centre and I go back there. My mother has rented a place in town but theres not enough room for me there.
I live there with some of my brothers and sisters. My father was killed in the war a long time ago. Four of my brothers also come here.
We come because of the war out of fear of being abducted. When I come here to sleep I feel protected from the rebels.
My friend Vincent was abducted. He was taken to the bush but he escaped and came back.
He said life there was very hard. They always had to walk very long distances. And they had nothing to eat. They walked long distances without any water. The leaders kept beating and punishing them.
War is very bad. A lot of people are being killed. People are having to run away from home and squeeze into small houses in town. Whatever you leave behind is always looted.
Im in the fourth year at school. I started very late. When my father died my family couldnt afford to send me to school. Not all my older brothers and sisters went to school because there wasnt enough money.
Im trying extra hard to catch up. Maths is my favourite subject. When I grow up Id like to be a lawyer because they earn a lot of money.
I like coming to the centre. I enjoy the dramas, which I take part in. I have learnt a lot from them. I have learnt how cholera affects people and how to prevent it. I have learnt how to prevent getting HIV/AIDS.
I go back to Laliya Dwol most days. Me and my brothers and sisters go back there to farm and then we come back here.
I eat once a day with mum. We normally have either grains, beans, vegetables or posho (maize).
Ive had malaria about five times. I had to go to hospital to get treated.
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Janet Abalo has worked as a matron at the centre for two and a half years. She works there four to five days a week.
I wanted to do something to assist these children so I took part in the training required to work here.
Many of the children who come here have lost their parents and they have nobody. We are now like their parents.
Before this I was doing community work. Im not married. I lost my partner. He fell sick when we were displaced and we couldnt get any assistance. He had stomach trouble because we couldnt get enough food to survive on.
Im now looking after six children, five grandchildren and six orphans on my own. The orphans belong to my brother and sister who died of HIV/AIDS. We all survive on the little I get.
This war has to end. We need the peace back. And then these children can go back to their families. So many have been abducted. And most of them have died.
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Gladys Akanyo, 14, has been coming to the centre for two years. She is from Kabalopon, which is an hours walk away from the centre.
I come here because we fear the rebels. If they find people they kill them.
I like the activities, especially the dramas about life skills. We learn how to prevent ourselves from getting serious illnesses like cholera and scabies. Ive also learnt how to stitch tablecloths and baskets.
I also go to school with my brother and three sisters. We go home after school but we come back here as its not safe. And my parents cant afford to rent in town.
We have green vegetables for supper and then I take beans or posho (maize) to eat at school. I get tired of walking day in day out. But we are safe as we walk in a group.
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Walter Banabas, 21, has worked as a warden at the centre for two years.
These children are so important. Its not their desire to come here but they need to be secure and protected. We have to show our love to them. We have become their parents these days.
Life in Gulu is difficult. Theres lots of displaced people and that has meant a lack of job opportunities for many people. Its difficult to find enough food to eat. Renting is expensive and, like many people here, Im looking after lots of children.
Im from Lacor. Rebels attacked that area so much. A brother and a sister of mine were abducted. And we have heard nothing. The situation is so unpredictable. We struggle to get by little by little.
Christine Ocero, 25, was abducted by rebels and held for 10 years. She has recently escaped and is staying in Pabo Internally Displaced Peoples Camp, where AMREF has a bore hole and 40 water points.
I was abducted in 1994. I had gone to church to pray. After one month, they took me to Sudan and I had been there ever since, until I managed to escape.
It was difficult. At one point I was shot in the thigh. Many people were injured. Two people died. I dont know who shot me. Both sides (the LRA and the UPDF) were firing.
Some of the (LRA) leaders were good. Some of them were bad. They kept telling us that the government was killing everybody.
Kony (the leader of the LRA) says that he hears from the spirits. And what he predicts sometimes happens. People believe it comes from the spirits. The reason hes fighting is because he thinks that all the members of the UPDF (Uganda Peoples Defence Force, the national army) are homosexual.
He said that hes coming out of the bush in 2006. He said that he doesnt know whether or not its going to be by force.
God knows how many people were dying. Every other day people were being attacked.
And we knew that if we escaped we would be killed, either by the government or the LRA. But I got to the point where I just wanted to go home. I had a small baby, Amoro. When we finally managed to escape the baby was four years old.
I gave birth when we were on the move as the UPDF was chasing us. One woman delivered the baby and the other removed the placenta using a razor blade. She tied the iumbilical cord using a thread.
The father was a fighter for the LRA. I was given to him as a wife after two weeks. He sometimes beat me, when I didnt listen to his instructions. He was very old.
Finally I escaped. People were firing and we just made a dash for it. The UPDF found us and took us to town.
I arrived back here in May of this year. Im happy that Im free at last. But I have a lot of difficulties. My parents died and I dont have an older brother or sister. I dont have a house. Im trying to rent a house if the government could help me. But at the moment Im staying with my uncle.
Theres nothing I can do. I want to get land so I can start and do a small something for me and the baby. The home is very risky. I could be killed because I escaped.
My husband comes from this area. I discovered that we are relatives but I havent spoken to his side of the family. I havent tried. Its too difficult.
I never went to school. My parents died when I was young
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