Gulu

Gulu, Uganda. 2009. 

Blue skies, green grass and straw huts. This could be any African community.

Look closer and you'll realise that these homes have been constructed in the past few years. Inside, they're bare; the families who reside in them have few possessions. The young children photographed represent the majority of this community because fathers are few and some mothers are absent.There's sadness here. Like many others around them, they're scared, fearful and uncertain about the future.

Because northern Uganda was a site of violence by the Lord's Resistance Army. This group and their leader were made internationally famous by the Kony 2012 video, yet the damage in Uganda occurred before most of the world knew of his existence. Children were captured to become child soldiers. Men were killed and women were raped. Communities were torn apart and scattered across the country.

Gulu was one of my first experiences of Africa, poverty, and war. We visited this recently formed community who were just beginning to rebuild their lives. They had been living in displacement camps; families had been on the run. Now they were settled, but timidly so. They weren't sure what would happen next. I spoke to one woman who explained how she had lost two of her children. She was 25 years old.

We left the community that afternoon feeling shocked and appalled by what humans can do. And feeling useless and helpless because what could we do? I still remember the resounding ask from that afternoon. It wasn't money, possessions, or even education:

"Tell people what is happening here." 

Their story; an urgent message of desperation. Because stories can inspire us to take action; they encourage us to think, to pray, to start creating change. This photo reminds me of their plea. And of that moment, in Uganda, where I resolved to start telling more stories.
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This post is part of "A Picture is a Story" and other posts can be found under the label, below.