Heavy Hearts

Since coming to Gulu we've been living within a facade of peace. Other than our one-on-one encounters with children who tell us horrifying stories of war, we have been fairly sheltered from violence, due to the current peace talks. In one day though, the facade was shattered by two different events.

On Sunday, we witnessed a child being unjustly beaten by an adult. We were shocked by the image of what we saw and afterward by adults' responses to our intervention that "this is Africa, this is how we do things here." Later that evening, we received word that the peace talks have faultered and war is coming back to northern Uganda. There is a lot of confusion surrounding the exact details of the current situation and wherabouts of the rebels. However, around town, everybody has an opinion on what is happening. Overall, most people believe that the rebels have backed out of the peace talks because the UPDF (Uganda People's Defense Force) have not been honoring truce agreements. Peace talk leaders hope that the peace talks will move out of Juba, Sudan and to Nairobi, Kenya, but it does not look hopeful.

As we were writing this, our friend Komakech (who took us to visit his family in the Pader IDP camp in November) walked up and greeted us. We asked about his family and how he was feeling about the news. He told us, "people are going to suffer." He explained his inability to bring his family to town and said, "If I had the means, I would bring them to my place, but where would I put them?" He expressed his fear that the rebels are walking out of south Sudan, where the peace talks were occuring, and are heading south into Uganda.

As we are reminded of Komakech's family, we think about all the different people we have met and become friends with in the isolated and unprotected villages and IDP camps north of Gulu. We are told that the rebels will target and victimize these vulnerable people first. Our hearts and souls are heavy in thinking about our friends who have already suffered and continue to be traumatized.

We would greatly appreciate your support as we endeavor to resist this spiritual and physical darkness. Your words are so encouraging to us and they remind us that we are not alone.
Autumn and Haley

Here are some links you can check out to stay updated:

www.ugandacan.org

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/default.stm