THE ISSUES

The Children Of Africa:HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS has left the world in disarray. This deadly epidemic is the worlds greatest social, medical and economic crisis and is devastating millions of lives in its path. In the wake of this virus are multitudes of widows and orphaned children who are destitute, without hope or purpose. According to a UN report, there will be 50 million AIDS orphaned children by 2010. This estimation paints an extremely bleak picture for the children of Africa.

There is hope. There is an answer. This hope is found in the radical outpouring of love through the revived church of the Lord Jesus Christ “one by one” these children can be reached. Watoto has been part of this answer for over a decade and has witnessed dynamic changes and tremendous results.

The War Affected Children of Northern Uganda:
CHILD SOLDIERS
Since 1987 rebel leader, Joseph Kony, has reigned with terror over Gulu (which means “heaven”), in Northern Uganda. In the name of the Lord, he has been fulfilling a “religious mandate” to overthrow the Ugandan government under the guise of the 10 Commandments. For 20 years he has led the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) on a spiritual crusade of murder, mutilation, abduction and destruction of whole communities. Unimaginable atrocities have been inflicted on a whole generation of innocent children.

More than 30,000 children have been stolen from their homes to join the LRA, where they are brainwashed and forced to serve as a part of the militia. These children, some as young as 8 years, are forced to join in on the horrific acts that destruct their own families and communities. In addition to being beaten and raped, these children also have to participate in the killing of the children who try to escape from the LRA. Often little girls are sold as sex slaves to warlords, traded or even given as gifts for arms. Alarmingly, children make up over 80% of the LRA.

CHILD MOTHERS
Female abductees are often forced into sexual servitude, becoming the de facto “wives” of senior LRA commanders. “Girl children are offered as rewards to senior officers” says Chulho Hyun, UNICEF Communication officer in Uganda. “The result is that a significant number of returnees are child mothers”

UNICEF launched the State of the Worlds Children 2005 report in the province of Gulu as a way to focus on the terrible dilemma facing child mothers. Gulu is one of the eight provinces embroiled in the civil war. Of 840 recently returned abductees, thirty percent are estimated to have given birth to children as a result of their ordeal.

These young mothers find themselves stigmatized and rejected often by their immediate families. Their chances of re-marrying are small and many abandon their babies. They must also live with the fear that their so-called husbands will return to claim them.

PARENTLESS GENERATION
Most frightening is the state of the future leaders of these communities. Often cited as a generation of parentless children, the youth of Northern Uganda are some of the most affected by war. Motherless girls are raped and become pregnant, while fatherless boys continue to stumble out of the jungles, shell-shocked, named murderers by their communities from where they were abducted years before. The immense number of AIDS orphans, ex child soldiers and sex slaves is as daunting as their courage to go on.

INTERNALLY DISPLACED PEOPLE CAMP
As this de-fragmentation of families and communities takes place, up to 1 million people have been forced to live in squalid camps where the lack of food, clean water and sanitation is critical. Overcrowding and impoverishment are pertinent in these camps, while HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other life-threatening diseases plague the people. As these makeshift villages begin to assume an air of permanence, Northern Uganda faces new struggles.

When abductees eventually return home, their problems are not over. Most, however, do not return to their displaced families, because of the atrocities they have committed, they are labelled as murderers. Much needs to be done to help the Acholi (the people of Gulu) build a sustainable society.