Eunice I grew up with my mother, two kids and my father. I went to school but I was abducted when I was 12 years in P7. It was night when we were just sat outside after eating supper. From nowhere we saw the rebels coming. They just took me up, I left my father and my mother there and the other siblings. They just beat them and they took me. From there we moved on foot up to Sudan. It was very long. On the way we faced some dif.culties, there was no food, we could go to some villages, the nearby villages and we get food from there. We loot I mean. We even met some UPDF soldiers and they chased us seriously but we survived. I remember we found a man and they told the man that he should go with us to Sudan. He was resisting so they chopped him into two pieces.
Interviewer At that time you were telling us you were around 12 years old. Were you the youngest person in that group or were there other people who were even younger than you?
Eunice There were other people who were even younger than me. There was a boy who was just seven years and he was the youngest. He suffered a lot. You know, we took 5 days walking from Gulu to Sudan but that boy his legs swelled. He suffered a lot. When they abducted me we were many girls, we were age 12 and above. So they selected us and gave us to the rebel commanders. For me they gave me to a man, he was too big.
Interviewer Were you the first wife or you were the first in line? You were one of the many wives?
Eunice In fact, I was the seventh!
Interviewer You were the seventh wife?
Eunice Yes
Interviewer Did you have any special duties as the wife of the rebel commander?
Eunice There was not any special duty. In fact all it was about was suffering. Forcing you into sex when you don’t want, beating you up when you have done a small mistake. Moving - you don’t stay in one place - and not eating anything. One kind of suffering I faced was cooking too much food for many army commanders. And you know those other women (wives) they also used to mistreat me. It was so difficult, so many problems, eh, even I can’t tell.
Interviewer Was there any good side to being the wife of a commander compared to those people who were maybe not married to the rebel commander?
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| Euan Denholm/IRIN |
Eunice At least the army commanders after looting things like clothes, food, they bring to you and you have a share. But now those (others) they have to suffer, sometimes they stay for a week without eating but at least I can eat at least one meal a day.
Interviewer For how long did you stay in the bush?
Eunice I stayed in the bush for 8 years. I saw some changes at least. When I had just arrived, I used to hate the fighting. I used even to feel pity when they are killing people, but now when I was getting used to it I saw it as normal and I also wanted to learn how to shoot.
Interviewer Did you ever hold a gun maybe during your stay?
Eunice I did not hold one but I had wanted to.
Interviewer They did not allow you?
Eunice No.
Interviewer Is there any special reason because we understand that in the bush everyone has a gun?
Eunice The other army commander refused me but me, I had wanted to.
Interviewer To learn how to shoot or to hold a gun?
Eunice How to shoot.
Interviewer What other changes did you see? Were things going for the better or for the worse?
Eunice Things were going for the worse. As I was married, I was the seventh wife, there were six other wives and they used to mistreat me. The war was just increasing and Kony was becoming stronger and stronger because he was abducting more and more especially the boys. They could train them for one month on how to shoot, how to loot things and they get everything. Life in Uganda as compared to Sudan is so fantastic and interesting. I got an opportunity of going back to school. I am even being helped with other basic things like clothes.
Interviewer Did you ever think of coming back to Uganda when you were in Sudan?
Eunice No, because escaping itself was very difficult. I saw many people killed on the spot for trying to escape.
Interviewer It seems you got used to seeing death every day when you were an abductee. How did you manage to escape?
Eunice It was one day when the UPDF soldiers had ambushed us. As they were trying to shoot the Kony rebels, some people escaped. Some were killed by the UPDF soldiers but I remained somewhere in the bush, so, when I saw that there was only UPDF soldiers who were remaining, I surrendered. I raised up my hands, they saw me and they came for me. They put me in the helicopter then we came to Uganda. At that time, I was the only one.
Interviewer I would like you to tell us, do you remember any touching event when you were still under Kony’s rebels?
Eunice While I was still there in Sudan, there were these boys, they had just recruited them. They told one boy to go and to loot food in Kitgum. He refused, and, they just put him in a big mortar, very big, they just put him in there and they pounded him.
Interviewer After you were rescued by the UPDF, how did your life go on from there?
Eunice After the UPDF had rescued me, they took me to GUSCO [28]. It is an NGO that helps abducted children. I stayed there for two months and they started telling me about going back to school. The next year, they took me to a secondary school in S1 [29]. Life at school was not so easy. Students would laugh at me because I looked different from them.
Interviewer What do you mean you looked different from them?
Eunice I mean my body, wounds. So life was not easy for me. They would discriminate (against) me. Even in the dining room, they do not want to sit with me. As time went on, students got used to me and I started being friendly with them, they also started being friendly to me.
Interviewer Did you try looking for your relatives or are you now alone? What happened when you came back?
Eunice When I was in S3, I tried looking for my relatives but I failed to find my parents and the other two siblings. I only found my auntie, a sister to my father, and she is the one who took me in.
Interviewer What about your village, haven’t you tried going back?
Eunice I went there and found that our house got burnt down.
Interviewer You are in S6 as we are talking. I can see that you have come a long way and you are a very strong woman and even your English is good compared to the life you’ve gone through. I would like to commend you for that.
Eunice Thank you madam.
Interviewer But again I would like to find out, what are your hopes for the future - how do you see yourself in the future?
Eunice At University I want to do civil engineering, Maybe after studying my course, I will also go and work for an NGO like GUSCO. I would like to help the ones who were once abducted. From there I will become a successful woman, married with children.
Interviewer You want to lead a normal life?
Eunice Yes
Interviewer You seem to be one of the few lucky ones who come out of such situations and to lead a very good life. What advice would you give to those people who were once abducted and have not had help like you?
Eunice I encourage them to have hope and to also seek help. And I also encourage them if they were once studying to go back to education.
Interviewer Do you have anything you would like to add as we are winding up. Maybe something you would like to say?
Eunice I encourage the people of Uganda and Gulu most especially, to work hand in hand with the government so that the peace talks that are going on go on successfully because we have suffered a lot.
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[28] Gulu Support the Children Organisation – local NGO offering psycho-social support, education and advocacy for war affected children
[29] Pupils aged 11 to 13 years