03 February 2012
David Ojok, 18 years old, was abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel group in Uganda, at the age of 13. Here, speaking through a translator, he tells his remarkable story of capture and escape, and how he is now looking ahead to a brighter future.
Former child-soldier, David Ojok, has now been re-trained as a bricklayer, thanks to UK support in northern Uganda. Picture: Pete Lewis/DFID
"The day I was abducted, I was walking home from school, playing with my friends, when suddenly one of them shouted 'run, run!' They had seen the rebels, but I was too little - I couldn't run fast enough to get away and they caught me.
"Because I was small, I was first kept as a prisoner. We moved every day. The commander who was looking after me would say: "Are you tired? Do you want to rest?" But I saw what happened when others said yes – they were killed. So even though I was tired and sore from walking all the time, I had to say I was ok.
"After nine months, eight of us younger kids were made soldiers. When they recruited us, they hit us with the flat blade of a panga (machete) seven times, then hit us with a cane 12 times. I pretended to pass out after eight canes, so they would stop hitting me. Then they gave us the guns, and smeared butter all over the gun and our bodies.
"That was when I gave up hope of ever seeing my family again. When they gave me the gun, I resigned myself to my fate. With the guns, they gave us instructions. 'If you try to escape you will be shot; don't eat before you fight, because the bullet will find you; and if you hear gunshots, walk towards them – don't take cover.'"
"Soon after that I was sent to loot maize and powdered milk from a camp (for displaced people). We stole what we went for, but on the way back we ran into an ambush of Government troops. It was the first time I had been in a fight, and I was shot in the shoulder. We ran and I was given first aid by one of the other soldiers. We were attacked again, but managed to get away.
"A year and a half after I had been abducted, I was near a Government camp with another child soldier, when he said 'let’s try to escape'. He gave me his gun and said he was going to turn himself in. I was afraid to go, but I was also scared to return to the rebels on my own – I thought, 'what will happen to me if I go back with two guns? Will they think I let him get away?' So I went with him.
"As we moved towards the Government camp, a rebel spotter saw us and demanded to know where we were going. I lied and said we had been sent ahead. I sent him back to the rebel camp – and then we took a different route, in case he came looking for us.
Please don't run, we need help
"After three hours of walking, we came to the camp for displaced people. The first person we saw was an old lady harvesting groundnuts in her garden. I took off my army boots and shirt, and approached her. She started to run, but my friend shouted 'please don't run, we need help'.
"The lady took us to her house, and told us to leave our guns there. She gave us her husband's clothes and told us she would come with us to the army barracks and do all of the talking when we turned ourselves in.
"As we reached the soldier at the gate of the barracks, she explained that we had escaped from captivity. The soldier was very excited, and gave orders for us to have a bath, clothes and a crate of sodas. After that we were taken to a rehabilitation centre in Gulu town for six months. It helped me to get back in touch with my culture and traditions – all the things I had lost in the bush.
"But I had still not seen my family. After six months, the people at the rehabilitation centre gave me a little money for resettlement, and took me back to my village. The first person I saw was my best friend, Geoffrey, who had been with me the day I was abducted. I told him: 'I'm back, and I want to get my life back.' Lots of people gathered. On the way to my home, I had some kind of panic attack. My heart was pumping, my emotions ran amok. I was shaking.
"When I reached my house, I saw my mother outside, shelling groundnuts. When I saw her I just started to cry. She looked up and ran to me, started hugging me, and crying too. Before I went inside the house, we had a ritual cleansing. I stepped on an egg, to make a new beginning. My family splashed water on me from the roof of the house, and then I could enter my home again.
I was haunted
"That first night at home I was haunted, remembering everything from the bush. I couldn't sleep for a week. But I began to help my parents out on the farm. I couldn’t go back to school – we were too poor to pay the fees. Then one day I heard an announcement on the radio about a new centre that was offering training to young people for free.
"I got on my bike to ride the 32 kilometres to the centre to register. There were lots of people there and I couldn’t register, but they told me to come back the next day. So I rode back to my village that night, and back again the next day.
"The training (in bricklaying) was hard at first, but now I have a job and I love construction. It brings in money, keeps you busy and you see something growing. I earn 60,000 shillings (£20) a week. I have a savings account now, and send money back home to my parents.
"The work takes skill to do. I couldn't have done this job without training. Without this training, I possibly would be dead. I would have been pushed into stealing for food. The centre changed my life."
Changing lives by making countries safer
Nearly a quarter of the world’s poorest people live in countries where conflict and violence put the brakes on any possible progress. When trapped in a warzone, parents cannot risk their lives to go to work. Children are taken out of schools that are in danger of being attacked. And mothers will not go to the local clinic when it is unsafe to travel.
The UK is doing more than helping to end violence – we are also dealing with the aftermath of conflicts and helping to prevent them starting in the first place. To achieve this, we are focusing 30% of UK aid on war torn and unstable countries by 2014.
UK aid is supporting the recovery of northern Uganda with:
- A five year programme that has helped 10,000 vulnerable people to return home from camps
- Vocational training for 4,000 young people like David, who missed out on their education
- Match-funding for the private sector to help kick-start the local economy.