Testimony Tuesday

I am very excited to tell you about my testimony. When I was still young and I was about two years old my father died because he was given poisonous food. We suffered without mother and were six in number, two brothers and three sisters. Our mother struggled for getting us some food to eat. In two thousand one (2001), when war began and I was about four years old, my mother was ordered to kill all her children but my mother said, “I can’t kill my children you can kill me instead, but please leave my children,” and she was killed and the LRA told us “run away from us”, but our last born was unable to run. My elder sister tried to carry her and LRA said if that stupid “dog” cannot run you leave her hear for us. Then we started running hoping to meet our grandmother, we met her and told her the story she gave us some food because we were very hungry. We could remember our father, mother and younger sister and we began to cry and our grandmother encouraged us. When we were still with our grandmother, we heard that the LRA is coming. Then my grandmother was also burnt in the house because she was unable to run and we cried and I heard my elder sister praying “God you should also kill me.” We suffered for three days without eating. My sister said we should go to our aunt but she is very rude and likes mistreating children but we had no choice. We went there and she was unhappy to see us, we slept there for one day and she told us that she couldn’t manage to care for all of us but my sister knelt and begged her at least let us stay for only three weeks, then she agreed. Then my sister struggled to get some little money then we went to IDP camp and we could eat once a day, no clean dress to put on, no schooling and above all, there was no parental love.

The CLM people came and register my name. I was very excited and I started to study, wearing clean clothes and sleeping in good shelter. I am thirteen years old, I am in grade seven and in the future I would like to be a doctor.

Irene Apio, 13