Charles'story

Sometimes I get pensive and sit and reflect on my life.  I wonder things like “what if I had stayed a psychology major”, or “what if I had gone to a different medical school, would I have ever met Stuart?”  There are so many decisions we make – big and small - that along with Gods sovereign plan influence the direction our lives take. 

Tonight I went to dinner with some muzungus as well as several of the residents here.  One of the residents, Charles, is from the north of Uganda – the part which shares a border with Sudan.  I haven’t had many conversations with Charles yet, but one of our other dinner partners had, and towards the end of dinner they asked him to share “his story” with us.  He laughed and gave a big smile, so I figured he had something humorous to tell us – like how he fell off a bodaboda once, or got chased by a hippo.  Somehow he kept on smiling and told us this story:

Charles lived in northern Uganda during the time that the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) was terrorizing thousands of citizens during their attempt to overthrow the Ugandan government, and unfortunately the government soldiers fighting against them weren’t much better.  They are most infamous for abducting children and forcing them to become soldiers to kill other villagers, as well as rape, looting, etc.

Charles lived in a village that hardly anyone was brave enough to venture outside of for fear of being killed or (probably worse) captured by the rebels.  Sometimes they would walk to school, hear gunshots, and turn around and run back to safety.  But the village wasn’t always safe.  Charles liked to hang out with boys his age, just as any child would.  Sometime around the age of 7, he was spending the night in an empty building with about 10 friends his age.  He and his friends always slept with large knives just in case the rebels tried to capture them.  In the middle of the night they heard noises, and eventually there was someone banging on the door telling them to come outside.  They knew they were in trouble.  Two boys were so scared they ran outside naked, and the rebels laughed at them telling them to put on clothes and come back – that they would wait for them.  Charles saw the two boys get tied together with ropes and they disappeared.  Another boy jumped up with his knife and shouted at the rebels to go away.  He was immediately severely beaten with a club, and taken away.  Charles was left alone.  The rebels came in to get him.  He told them he didn’t want to go with them, but they told him if he did he could see his friends and family again.  He knew he didn’t really have a choice.  Instead of tying him together with all the other prisoners (which turned out to be many people from his village), they made him a personal servant to one of the rebels.  He was made to carry very heavy cargo as the rebels marched themselves and their prisoners north to Sudan.  They walked miles and miles through the night, to the point where Charles’ feet were swollen and wounded.  The packs he carried were so heavy that he once had to stop – and immediately his life was threatened. 

As they marched to Sudan the rebels told the newly captured boys that if they fought with the LRA they would have special powers.  They were told that bullets could not kill them, their enemies could not see them, and if they threw rocks at the enemy – they would turn to bombs (from what I’ve read – this along with hallucinogenic drugs and fear are how they convinced these children to become soldiers).  All along the way Charles saw fellow villagers being killed or beaten by the rebels.  Some had their lips cut off, or their limbs and were left to die.

At one point in the walk gunshots were heard ahead.  The rebels made everyone lie down in the bush beside the road.  While the rebels were distracted, the prisoners, including Charles, figured this might be their only time to escape.  He had found his father in the group, and during a moment of gunfire ahead they jumped up and ran left of the road, toward a river.  Some other prisoners ran right, some were too scared to run at all.  The ones who went to the right got re-captured by the rebels, but Charles and his dad ran freely until they came to the river.  Charles could swim but his father could not.  They both jumped in, and Charles had to save his father from drowning in the river before reaching pseudo-safety on the other side.  Without food, water, or money, they spent the night hiding under bushes from the rebels who were looking for their lost prisoners.  The next day they were able to start walking, and ultimately made it safe back to their village.

Our lives are shaped by every decision we make.  My life has been shaped by choosing to come to Uganda and hearing a story from this amazing man who is now a doctor because he chose to run to the left rather than to the right.