(Untitled)
The words of former child soldiers:"When they came to my village, they asked my older brother whether he was ready to join the militia. He was just 17 and he said no; they shot him in the head. Then they asked me if I was ready to sign, so what could I do - I didn't want to die." A former child soldier taken when he was 13. (BBC report.) (
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KENNETH BANYA (ex-LRA High Command)
Kony is very difficult to predict. For him he is a prophet. He cannot be advised. His advice comes from the spirit. Of all the crimes committed by Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army, they are most known for their abduction of children--and through brutality turning those children into killers.
HENRY (16 yrs old - ex-LRA abductee)
There was a shout: “Where is the new recruit?” And I was brought. They asked, “Are you listening?” I said, “Yes.” “We are giving you an order now and if you refuse to obey the order we will kill you now. Get the machete and cut the tree down.” The tree was about this size and a good length. The captured civilians were lined up with their hands bound behind them. I was ordered to beat them all to death with the tree. I was fearful for my life so I beat them all to death. All seven of them. I was then ordered to lick the blood and brain matter from all the victims. And I did all that.
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Later on in the documentary a boy charles explains about what they did after they were captured and then henry talks about some of the things he was forced to do.
CHARLES (16, ex-LRA Abductee)
We walked a lot until midday. We were first beaten. Then we walked to some place. When we reached some destination they trained us with military techniques and marching. The next day we learned how to dismantle guns. After that they said we should start shooting at one another. They lined us up ten people on one side, ten on the other side. All of us were new abductees with guns. We were then ordered to shoot each other. After the shooting, sometimes four people would die on this side and five people would be dead on the other side. We were ordered not to lie down otherwise we would die. The two sides were at very close range. We’d shoot and keep on crawling. After we finished the training, we knew how to handle the gun.
HENRY
I was abducted from school. I was caned 150 times. We left there and went to Kitgum Matidi and we stayed in a place called Payibon. Three women were captured. Two had a baby, one was a newborn. The other baby was a little older. The third woman was younger. The woman with the newborn baby was ordered to carry a heavy load. All three were given heavy loads. The mother with the newborn complained she could not carry both the load and the baby. We were then told [by the commander], “Children are not more important than the load being carried. Take the children and throw them into the bush.” So we took them and threw them into the bush. They said the kids were still being bothersome. We were ordered to get the children and smash them against the trees. Then they said the women should not be freed. They wanted us to change locations. The women should not know the new location. Others started leaving. The new recruits were again ordered as part of our training that we should kill the three women. We killed [the first two]. Then the younger woman was asked if she has a boyfriend. She said she was just dating some guy. They were not living together. We were ordered to cut her hands off. We cut her hands off. Then her nose was cut off. I cut her nose off. Then I cut her eyes out and lips off. Others cut off her hands and feet.
it's pretty fucking brutal what's going on out there. I've seen this documentary from start to finish probably 20+ times now since I've been working on it and every time it's pretty much just as shocking as the last.
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Yes, aid workers and people who work at refugee camps help, but why is the problem still here, still so big?
I don't understand how people in positions of power in the western world can know about these things and do nothing. They are in the position to pressure the other governements into doing something to stop this. They are in a position to step in with funds and resources to combat the problems that lead to these wars and the capture of child soldiers.
But they don't. Is it because the western public needs to first pressure the western governments into action?
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The biggest problem I guess is that no one wants to take any action. Like you said, the majority of the public needs to stand up and demand action... unfortunatly that won't happen until they all see for themselves firsthand what is going on and to have it happen to them, to their friends and family. Until then no one will care and I definatly don't want any of that to ever come here. It's a bit of a problem. Until we go through it ourselves we won't care. But if we are experiancing it ourselves we won't be able to help others.
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I know that if I showed pictures of these children to people, and read the words that they said, people would say that it was horrible and should be stopped. But then they feel like they can't do anything, and don't know what to do.
I think journalists and people who make documentaries can make a difference, because they can expose the issues to people. Not all people who are exposed will take any action, but certainly some of them will. Some is better than none, and eventually the number will grow.
It's sad because things like this always take a very long time to be resolved.
I'm surprised the UN isn't taking any action in Uganda. I've just been looking at pictures of children and young teens who are scarred and burned from fighting in the war or being victims of attacks. It's pretty clear that things are not under control.
If this happened to even one child in Canada, the public outcry would be enormous.
I do think racism plays a part in this.
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