Josephine It was in 1995 when my child was captured by the rebels and the child is Nancy. That child was taken during the night and after she was captured we really suffered. Even before the child was captured we were suffering because of the rebels. The child stayed for 8 years in the bush before she tried to escape.
When she escaped we were also in danger because the rebels did not like escapees. After the escape, the rebels began to disturb us and they were planning to even kill us but we were informed and we ran away from the home where we were staying. After our departure, the rebels came and found that we were not there. They also captured a certain boy and they tried to make inquiries from that boy so that he could tell them where we were.
We realised we were in serious trouble and we decided to take the child to my home. We left her there and stayed in the camp. Life in the camp is very risky, there is nothing to eat and we are also aware that whenever we are found by the rebels, we will be killed. We are not the only people suffering. People are now preparing to go back home. But we hear through rumours that those rebels are coming back to disturb people.
Interviewer How did your child manage to escape?
Josephine The child told me that they had gone to rob some things in the bush. There was a certain child who was her best friend and she was a bit older than my daughter. She was the one who told her to escape at that moment. They did so and came and reported at Gang Diang (barracks).
Interviewer They reported at Gang Diang Barracks. Why were the rebels so furious about her escape?
Josephine The girl said she was suffering a lot in the bush. They couldn’t even sleep. They had to keep looking, moving, looking for food. Sometimes they would be .red at by guns. She said she was almost killed one day by a bomb whilst collecting wood from a house. It was God’s power otherwise the bomb could have killed her.
Interviewer Did she tell you anything in particular that happened to her when she was in the bush?
Josephine The only thing she told me is that she was suffering, her life was at risk. Every time she could be forced to go and.ght. She could be forced to go and kill people. If you refused to kill people you would be killed.
Interviewer Are there any major things that happened to you after the escape of your child?
Josephine Nothing happened apart from the threatening words. It is the rebels who were threatening that whenever they get me they are going to kill me.
Interviewer How did the rebels threaten you, did they go through radio?
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| [Photo: Euan Denholm/IRIN] |
Josephine They came after our departure, and wrote a letter and the letter is still with the RDC [36]. It was saying that if I don’t bring back their child, they are going to kill me and the whole clan, not only me. Interviewer Why do they claim it was their child yet the child is yours? Josephine How do I know? I don’t know. They were worried that the child is going to say what they were doing in the bush. She saw what was happening and the wrong things that were done. They were worried that when the child comes back she is going to reveal the secrets to the government.
Interviewer Was she open to tell you everything or she was still going through the pain?
Josephine The only thing she told me was that she was loved very much and that Otti [37] had many wives who looked after her as a child.
Interviewer What is your relationship with people in this camp?
Josephine First of all when I came here these people did not like me. Later when we began to settle and began to be given some assistance from NGOs, some began to befriend me. I don’t want to move far from here for the reasons I have told you.
Interviewer Are they also pursuing the parents of the other girl who escaped?
Josephine I don’t know. Some parents understand this and say ‘There are some other children who have escaped from the rebels but you don’t say anything against them, why do you disturb this woman? This woman is not the one who told the child to escape from the bush’. I know very well that in other places like Mucwiny where another child escaped, the rebels killed about seventy-five or more at Mucwiny.
Interviewer Otherwise how is life in the camp?
Josephine On the whole it is difficult because we are like prisoners. There is no food. Even we who are government workers, we cannot pay for our children’s school fees so we have poverty, we have epidemic diseases like cholera. Theft is a big problem, there are very many thieves. People are planning to go back home but I hear rumours that the rebels are back. Sanitation is also very poor. I even tried to rent a house but people said ‘Eh you allow that woman to rent there, the rebels will kill you’. I managed to rent somewhere from a neighbour. She said ‘If they are looking for this woman to kill let them kill me also’.
Interviewer So you left the house and decided to come here?
Josephine Yes I decided to come to the camp because one day when I was asleep at around 2.00 am somebody came and tried to push open my door. I tried to shout and the person ran away. I decided to leave the house and come back to the camp here. I returned to the house some time later and again someone disturbed me in the night. I don’t know whether he was a thief, there are many in the neighbourhood.
Interviewer So as a teacher, they can post you anywhere?
Josephine I have been posted deep in the village but I will not go. I will request to stay. It is hard to say in the villages unless you were born in that area. I am not free.
Interviewer What punishment do you think Kony deserves for the pain that you have gone through?
Josephine It is even useless to punish him because as God says, you don’t punish somebody who has punished you but instead of punishing him you just pray for him to change his mind. I think it is not good to punish Kony but what we should do is to tell them to come back home. They should accept the advice, they should sit down for peace talks so that they can come back home.
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[36] Office of local government Resident District Commissioner
[37] Vincent Otti, Kony’s second in command and spokesperson