The night was black and silent. The dark clouds were hiding the glow of the stars and moon which would have penetrated the night of ebony. I could not see my hand in front of my face. A candle dimly lit the building we were approaching and I could begin to faintly see the shadows of children on the verandah. They were sitting quietly in the dark. The rain had chased them from the grass where they normally slept.

I was viewing the desperate reality of the "night commuters" of northern Uganda. Their situation of hopelessness has been created by a war of 17 years. They are the victims of this evil which forces them to flee their homes each evening and walk up to 4-5 miles to find shelter which is safe for sleeping. Otherwise, they live with the reality that they very well may be abducted into the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) to be trained to kill or used as sex slaves.

Their parents send them to safety each night. When the morning sun peaks its face over the horizon , they arise and walk barefooted down the dusty road to their village. They are given no water or food.

As we approached the building I waved and smiled to a young boy standing on the verandah. There was no response, only a blank and lonely gaze. I worked my way to the door of the classroom stepping over and in between the children’s bodies. Inside, the children were sleeping and I stared in disbelief as I surveyed the candle lit room. I looked to my left and a bare- breasted, nursing mother was sleeping with her infant on the concrete floor. The baby was wrapped tightly in a blanket, but the mother had nothing to sleep on and nothing with which to cover herself.

I saw three little boys about 3 or 4 years old who were huddled together sharing one blanket. The night was chilly because of the rain, but most of the children did not have even the basic provision of a blanket, so they just slept on the damp and cold concrete floor. Some had a straw mat.

I threaded my way through the maze of lifeless bodies laying on the floor. Most were asleep because it was now 9:00pm and they were weary from the long walk. The ones who were awake didn’t talk to each other. I never heard a giggle or a laugh, only deadly silence. The joy has been sucked out of these little ones who have seen the ugly face of war ravage their families and villages.

I finally made my way to the back door and walked across a large grass opening. I could only see the blackness of night. As I approached the next building where children were sleeping I saw some of the children sitting on the verandah trying to read their school lessons. They had only the indirect light of a dim candle from inside the building shining on their books. I thought to my self, "Why would these children even have the desire to study?" Their schools are overcrowded – hundreds in a classroom because of the displaced children who have had to come to the city from the villages. Many of them have been abducted and escaped. Many are orphans because their parents have been killed by the rebels.

Even though we have lived in Africa for six years and have seen a lot of poverty, I have never experienced the oppressive and desperate situation I saw in Kitgum.

The Archbishop’s wife, Phoebe Orombi, traveled with me to Kitgum, along with a person from Kenya and a small team from America. Phoebe spoke words of hope and love to the Bishop of Kitgum, Benjamin Ojwang, and his wife when we were having nightly prayers in their home, and they were deeply blessed for her concern and prayers. They were very grateful for our visit as they do not receive many visitors because of the danger in Kitgum. In fact, the day before we arrived a caravan of buses with military escort was ambushed on the Gulu-Kitgum road and 16 people were killed. The night we stayed at the Bishop’s home we were awakened about 3:00 am to many rounds of gun shots – we knew the rebels were close. We laid in the dark and prayed for Jesus to reclaim the land and for the Spirit of Light to push back the evil and spirit of darkness. I woke up in the night feeling as if I was being choked by someone or something. It really was quite scary. We prayed for the spirit of death to flee from northern Uganda and for Jesus to breathe life into the people.

We wanted to visit one of the large displaced person camps about 7 miles outside of town, but the local council would not allow us to go because the night before about 13 children were abducted by the LRA and they said it was not safe. We visited a camp closer to Kitgum where 13,000 people live – a relatively small camp compared to most that have nearly 40,000. The living conditions are almost indescribable. Each family is allowed one jerry can of water a day (5 gallons) . Since there are only three bore holes from which to collect water, there is a constant stream of people standing in line. They have to wait in line for 7 hours with hundreds of others fighting the intense heat to get their allotted water. Disease is rampant as sanitation is poor. We saw many children who are not attending school, whose clothes are torn rags and stomachs are distended.

Where is the hope for their future? The only hope we can offer them is the love of Jesus. We felt just our going brought the love of Christ and let them know they haven’t been forgotten.

What can we do? Our friends from America have decided to join hands with us to help these children. The Bishop of Kitgum has made land available to us and we are going to build a structure for the night commuters where they will sleep in safety and where each child will be provided with a blanket. We will also give them spiritual food. The building will be used during the day for a nursery school.

Please pray for this vision to become a reality. When Owen left for boarding school my heart was very heavy and I began to pray asking God where he wanted to direct my attention now that Owen was away. The word "Kitgum" came to me. I dismissed it because I had read about the danger in northern Uganda. A few days later in prayer I again asked God to guide me, and again the word ‘Kitgum" came to me. So I shared it with Phil and as we began to pray I heard these words, "Can’t you hear the children crying?" I knew I had to help the children in Kitgum because God had spoken to my heart. Please pray for God to bless this project and provide for these children.

Phil and I will travel to Kitgum soon to begin the planning and development of this project. We also want to take a team with us for worship and teaching because the leaders in the church are spiritually parched. The Bishop said, "I have been a Bishop for three years and have not been able to do anything because of the war." God wants us to bring hope and encouragement to them through His Word.

Many of you prayed for us as we traveled. Thank you so much. We give thanks to
God for bringing us back safely . Please pray for the children of war and
for the way God might want to use us to bring His love and hope to the
people in northern Uganda.