Gulu is known as the capital of the north. It is 250 miles from Kampala.There are a cross work of 3 or 4 streets in the central town with shops and a market. It is seemingly not that big, but the shocking thing about it, is the sheer volume of people (125,000 at present) there. The streets are never empty.

The Acholi people of the north are agriculturalists and not used to living in crampt conditions. The war which has been raging here for more then 19 years has forced many to come into the town to take shelter.

Thousands of children every night are forced to walk into town from surrounding villages to sleep at night. This is owing to fear of abduction from the Lord's Resistance Army.

There are aproximately 40,000 children who sleep in towns at night time in the north.

Some take refuge in purpose built centres others sleep rough in town centres.

As dusk falls you will see many children carrying bags walking from villages into town. some as young as 5 years old.

Many children have been abducted since the war begun. It is estimated that about 40,000 children have been abducted since it started. Everyone is affected by this in the north and most people have lost family members through abductions. In some cases children are reunited with their families many years later, but the trauma that they experience will scar many of them for life.

It is a frequent practice that when the rebels abduct children, which is usually in the middle of the night, they are forced to kill members of their family. They are told to kill a brother, cousin or sister or they will die themselves.

They are then marched to a LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army) camp many miles away roped to each other. They may face being killed if they cannot keep up. Once with the rebels they are made to fight and brutal initiations take place. If they try to escape and are captured the other children must kill the escapee. This is usually with panga knives or some other form but not by shooting them. This is used to control the new children and prevent them from leaving. Girls are often given to the commanders as sex slaves.

Dennis now in his early thirties described how he was taken as a teenager. He was marched through the night with many other children a similar age to himself. When they arrived in the camp he was the first in the line roped together. The rebel responsible for his arrest decided to shoot him. But his life was spared because the rebel leader at the camp said that Joseph Kony (leader of the LRA) had declared it a time of peace.

Joseph Kony believes he is administrating God's commandments out. It is said that he can quickly change from laughter to killing, if he feels the command from a higher source to do so.

Despite the efforts of the UN and Uganda's government the war still continues and people lack the security to go back home and rebuild their lives, as they are living in Internally Displaced Camps.

According to UN sources approximately 1.8 million people in Uganda live in IDP camps. The camps are government patrolled military camps.

There are many over the north, they are generally the size of small towns. The largest camp is Pabbo Camp which has over 20,000 people all living in mud huts tightly packed together.

Living in close proximity to each other poses certain social problems such as noise and disturbance from neighbours, people turning to alcohol and depression. Suicides have been reported in some camps. The schools at camps are often oversubscribed with up to150 children in a class. Few people can afford to send their children to secondary school as most people are farmers and because of having to live in a camp, cannot go back to farm their land. Finding ways to make money is a big problem for most people.

In traditional Acholi society many people live in huts but a family would live in a group of huts gathered together so they had room. In camps there can be up to 8 people living in a small hut. The camps are destroying a way of life and a culture held precious to many people. Even those who live in towns describe a disintegration of their lifestyle as most have left their homes in rural settings, and families have been dispersed. Everyone is affected by the war in the north and most people have lost loved ones.

read more: Life in Kochogoma Camp

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