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Lord Joseph Kony and the LRA in Eastern Congo 2009
Democratic Republic of Congo
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On the back of the bike on the only route to Aba, Eastern Congo, an area held by Joseph Kony's LRA rebels. The only way there is by bike through one hundred miles of mud in the pouing rain.     —Candace Scharsu, August 2009

November 8, 2008 Lord Kony’s (LRA) rebels first attacked Aba and the UN (Monuc) removed its six unarmed “observers” in helicopters, never to return. The only way to arrive in Aba was by motorbike through a 100 miles of slithering mud, being submerged in massive puddles, pounded upon by torrential rain between spells of steamy hot-house heat and exist in a state of hyper-vigilance since the LRA attacked the day I arrived, August 5, 2009

                                                                                                                       -- Candace Scharsu

    
Victor Pamba's house in Aba, Congo from where he was ab   With nearly the entire population having fled, and those few remaining in hiding, the whole town is overgrown and silent. A ghost town.  
   

The homes of the abducted are indefensible, like this home of Victor Pamba. Lord Kony's armed LRA rebels smash in its flimsy door with rifle butts, demanding that the children be sent outside; or they knock, holding lit torches outside, shouting, “Send your children out or you all burn alive inside."                                                           -- Candace Scharsu

  

Ghost Town of Aba: Unkempt, flora takes over the unoccupied Belgian colonial buildings; schools closed; rebels looted Nyalanya hospital and killed Pastor Tagamile Michael, closing his church; and a general exodus to Sudan ensued. A few brave souls remained along with desperate squatters who occupy abandoned homes and buildings. Whispers of where Lord Kony's LRA last attacked, or whose children they took, are all that shatter the oppressive silence.

-- Candace Scharsu
       
Tokosa Madaleine, age 12 and Mondiyo Munialeko, age 15 were abducted by Joseph Kony's LRA together on March 18, 2009.

Tokosa Madaleine, age 12 and Mondiyo Munialeko, age 15 were abducted by Joseph Kony's LRA together on March 18, 2009, along with both of their sisters, Benadette Meli and Aroyo Pamba, and seven other children from their village. Only Tokosa and Mondiyo survived this nightmare.

-- Candace Scharsu

  
 

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