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Some rescued children opt to stay in town, mostly Gulu and Kitgum towns. While some have relatives or places to stay, most do not and become homeless and involved in destructive life styles. However, living in town, even on the street, is considered safer and more desirable by many children rather than returning to or living in IDP camps.

Still others become “night commuters,” in which tens of thousands of children march from their homes in IDP camps or nearby villages to Gulu Town and Kitgum Town to be protected from LRA abductions at night. Some of these are school children as young as six or seven; others are older. Most are sent by their parents to be safe at night, leaving as it become dark and walking three to four hours into town. There, they sleep on the street on cardboards and share blankets, while others stay at shelters or churches. Before dawn, they walk back to their camps or homes, sometimes as distant as 15 kilometers. Although providing temporary safe haven for children who are subject to LRA raids, night commuting is breaking down the social fabric of Acholi society. Children are together in large number, unsupervised by parents or mentors. The older children bully the younger, and older boys rape younger girls. Children become urbanized, and acclimated to street life. Night commuting compounds the growing generational divide between young and elders in Acholi society and further weakens a culture that has always been traditional and family oriented.

Most children and youth, however, are sent from reception centers to the IDP camps where they face harsh conditions and uncertain futures. Of Northern Uganda IDP camp’s 1.6 million residents, the vast majority are women and children, of whom large numbers are widows and orphans. Many are former child soldiers, girls and boys who were abducted, victims who became perpetrators, girls who became sex slaves and mothers. Most children are suffering post traumatic stress disorders from their ordeals. Some are children who were born in the bush. Former abductees were almost all exposed to large amounts of violence and severe traumatic events including witnessing or participating in the killing of family members, neighbors, teachers and friends. In addition, almost all former abductees were forced into separation from their families, forced to bury bodies, forced to participate in or were exposed to torture, forced to hide for long periods of time, engaged in forced labor, destroyed property, took significant risks for food and water, participated in robberies and other crimes, and witnessed killings. Almost all girls were raped and many boys were forced into committing acts of sexual abuse. Many former child soldiers were forced to drink their own urine when there was no fresh water. Many burned houses. Most suffered significant injury, from bullet wounds to knife wounds. Many became diseased. All were traumatized.

Their needs therefore are many and holistic, including needs for counseling, mentorship, adequate nutrition, primary health care, management or treatment of diseases, education, skills training, reproductive health services, reconciliation and healing. Although some of these needs are accommodated, such as traditional reconciliation and healing ceremonies and rituals, most of their needs are not provided or sustained. Hence, in Amos’ case, for instance, he was sent to Pader Town Center IDP camp as an orphan without resources or surrogate family. Two years later, he struggles for food on a daily basis, and is forced to choose between attending Grade 7 level school classes or working in an IDP camp garden as a condition for being allocated food. The World Food Program provides the food for Uganda’s 1.6 million IDP camp residents, sacks of dried food delivered by military convoys, but it is not enough in quantity or nutritional value and many, especially orphans like Amos, fall through the cracks in the system. Since he is determined to become educated and succeed in life, Amos chooses his classes, and friends bring food to him most evenings. If he passes Grade Seven, Amos wonders how he will attend high school and who will pay the school fees. Amos’ plans: to attend secondary school outside Pader, graduate and go on to university as a science and math major. He wants to build his life and make a lifelong contribution to the Acholi community as an educated person. He also wants to contribute to the peace building efforts, and is one of the many whose story needs to be told. In the meantime, Amos has no access to predictable support, no family to rely on, and his hope is based on his own self-determination, the work of grassroots organizations, surrogate family, mentorship and camp leadership. However, with 24,000 camp residents and so few human or material resources, Amos’ support base is stretched out among more people than his supporters can accommodate. Thus, Amos, like many youth, remains in doubt about his future.

The suffering endured by women in Northern Uganda has few comparisons. Many are widows, their husbands having been killed by LRA rebels during this war, or by government soldiers during the Amin regime or have died from AIDS related diseases. Most women in IDP camps have also endured personal trauma in the form of rape, beatings, torture, loss of family and exposure to a wide range of traumatic scenarios. Women are responsible as caregivers for their children and surrogate children, and for the care of elders, but without sufficient resources to do so, many women suffer from severe forms of depression. Most telling: suicide rates and attempted suicides of women in Northern Uganda IDP camps are amongst the highest in the world. This is all the more dismaying since suicide runs counter to cultural norms in Acholi society. In addition, many women are unable to contend with their own health conditions, such as being HIV positive, cannot provide medical treatment for their children and elders and do not have access to basic sanitary and hygiene supplies. Women are also consumed with day long tasks of waiting on long lines in IDP camps to pump and carry water, work in the few gardens permitted in the camps and gather firewood. Gathering firewood is dangerous because going outside the camps exposes women to attacks from the LRA, and also the wrath of soldiers for venturing outside the camp. Women need more means and support to improve their coping mechanisms as well as the physical and material support for basic food, water, medical and health needs.

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