The Watoto Story – Child Soldiers NO MORE!

Earlier this year I saw something quite remarkable. It was called The Restore Tour, Child Soldier No More, living testimonies through song, dance and music of young people’s stories of forgiveness.

This is a tale of the tragedy and the triumph of the child soldier and the greater community of northern Uganda, who have endured some of the worst atrocities known to man. As we meet the people and hear the true stories of many, we hear one single story – a story of conflict, struggle, forgiveness and restoration.

I have to admit it changed my perspective on things happening ‘over there’ or in ‘that part of the world.’ This was about real stories of real people, of children taken from their families and forced to be child soldiers, forced in some instances to kill their own mother’s and the most unspeakable atrocities. Young  minds and young bodies deliberately and intentionally being brutalized.

This is their story: After 20 years of civil war, approximately 30,000 children have been abducted and forced to become child soldiers and sex slaves.

Two million people have been displaced and thousands brutally slaughtered by their own children.

The Restore Tour, Child Soldier No More shared their stories:

• True stories of conflict, suffering, genocide, murder, violence, hatred, rape, war…
• True Stories of community in chaos, dignity destroyed…
• True stories of real lives transformed through forgiveness, reconciliation and hope.
• The story of Northern Uganda and her courageous people.

Watoto – Restore Tour Trailer from Watoto on Vimeo.

The miracle of this story is that these children have risen up and shared through this epic show their stories and their path forward to restore their country and rebuild its leadership with hope, love and compassion.

The show if you can call it that, more like an epic to me, shared the amazing things taking place today in the lives of children affected by the war in Northern Uganda. Every testimony is true, as told by the individual. And they were all young, very young to have experienced the atrocities they describe in the production.

Graphic stuff and, stomach churning. As a mother, you are shocked, distressed and more importantly forced to take action, no child should have to be part of what some of these young people have been forced to do.

Yet with the help of a ministry known as Watato which has set a vision and goals to rescue, raise and rebuild these children’s lives YOU can be very much part of The Brave Discussion we need to have in our homes, with our own children, with our friends and work colleagues.

The fact that North Uganda seems so very far away for many of us is irrelevant. We all have a responsibility to our children, for they are our future. Watato is about restoring  Northern Uganda and her people.

About Watoto

Watoto is an holistic care programme that was initiated as a response to the overwhelming number of abandoned and vulnerable children and women in Uganda, whose lives have been ravaged by war and disease.

The Watoto model involves physical care; medical intervention including HIV/AIDS treatment; education – formal and technical; trauma rehabilitation and spiritual discipleship.

It is positioned to rescue an individual; raise each one as a leader in their chosen sphere of life; so that they, in turn, will rebuild their nation.

And that is The Brave Discussion about Watoto, it is about empowerment, about forgiveness, healing, faith and educating these young people, raising them to be the solution – to rebuild their nation.

An amazing project, will you tell someone about Watoto today and have The Brave Discussion.

For further information, please visit www.watoto.com.

About Northern Uganda

Northern Uganda and specifically Gulu, where Watoto is in operation, is becoming liveable again after an unrest that has ravaged the community for more than 20 years. At the height of the war in 2004, more than 2 million people were displaced and forced to vacate their homes and live in IDP (Internally Displaced People’s) camps. It is estimated that more than 20,000 children were abducted from northern Uganda by the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) rebels and turned into child soldiers to terrorise their communities.

Girls as young as 9 years old were turned into sex slaves with lifelong implications as child mothers. Alongside the HIV/AIDS pandemic, northern Ugandans also suffered from disabilities and other injuries sustained from gunshots, landmines and mutilation.

(*Sources: The State Of Uganda 2009 Population Report, Uganda Population Secretariat: Strategic Plan 2006-2015, 2005/06 Uganda National Household Survey)