Obaya Community Association (OCA) is one of IRT’s new partners in Uganda. IRT’s funding supports several community-led tree nurseries and bee keeping projects. OCA came across the following story and passed it on to IRT.  

This is the remarkable story about a teenage girl abducted from her boarding school in Uganda and forced to be the wife of Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) leader Joseph Kony. Thirteen years after her abduction, she managed to escape and return to her home town. Catherine Ajok was forced to live in the LRA’s jungle camps, moving from one camp to the other across Sudan and the DR Congo. She was trained as a child soldier, married her captor Joseph Kony and had to bear his children.

Memorial for the Aboke Abductions at St Mary's CollegeCatherine Ajok was a student at St. Mary's College, a boarding school in Aboke, northern Apac District, Uganda. On the night of October 10 1996 rebels of the LRA raided the college. The rebels broke into the dormitories and abducted 139 of the girls. “They [the rebels] forced the doors open and removed us out of the dormitories. We were tied together using ropes and pieces of clothes the rebels got from us,” Ajok recounts events on that fateful night. “We were then ordered to start walking to a destination we didn't know. We crossed through several villages as many others abducted from the villages joined us.”

“Hours after the abduction, a UPDF [Uganda People's Defence Force] plane came and the rebels ordered everybody in the group to hide. No one got hurt. We walked throughout the night and by daybreak, the rebels told us to stop.

"It was then thatSister Rachele Fassera, deputy head mistress of the college, pursued the rebels and managed to free 109 girls. 30 girls remained with the LRA. we saw Sister Rachele Fassera [the deputy head mistress of the college, who had pursued the rebels]. On seeing her, we all broke down into tears. The Sister pleaded for our release but the commander called Lagira (Ocaya) first refused. After some time, he told the Sr. to wait as he consulted. Lagira then called all the girls together. The rebel leader picked 30 girls he took to one side and 109 he handed over to the Sister. Sr. pleaded that she should be given all the girls but the commander refused."

“The Sister told the rebels to take her instead of the girls but they still refused. And Lagira even threatened to change his mind and take all the girls. That is when Sr. Rachelle decided to leave us behind. It was an emotional moment as the Sr. left with the 109 girls. We cried for her not to leave us behind but the rebels became furious at us and started beating us to keep quiet,” Ajok remembers.

“We then marched through the bushes and joined other LRA groups. At this point we [the Aboke girls] were divided in different groups, to stop us from staying united and planning an escape,” she explains.
After weeks of wondering in the wilderness, they were taken to Sudan to a camp called Aruu. “Crossing the Nile was a problem,” she recalls. “We used jerry-cans tied together. But we did not stay long at this camp, the UPDF attacked Aruu camp and we relocated to Jebelin.” They then relocated to Rubanga Tek, because the UPDF continuously attcked Jebelin.

The 30 Aboke girls suffered horrors and were assigned as wives to rebel commanders who raped and abused them, she says. “We were beaten, tortured and taught to kill. Through brainwashing and abuse, we were made to believe that the rebel leader, Joseph Kony, was a disciple of God who possessed supernatural powers”.

While they were camped at Rubanga Tek the UPDF launched Operation Iron Fist, and again the operation kept them wondering in the wilderness.

Finally, after 13 years of being forced to live with the LRA, Ajok had the opportunity to escape. “We had been staying at Camp Swahili in DRC, when Operation Lightning Thunder by UPDF, DR Congo and South Sudan was launched in December [2008],” Ajok narrates. “Joseph Kony had got wind of the attack, so we were ordered to vacate the area.
“While I was tying my things to leave, a plane started dropping bombs. Joseph Kony had already left with some rebels. My child cried in the beginning but as the bombing continued, he kept quiet and slept. I was hiding under a tree as the bombs kept dropping,” she recalls.

Ajok was in the group of Binany. But after some time, chaos and tension arose in the group and she was left behind. “I wondered in the wilderness for days and nights all by myself and the baby. One day I came face to face with a lion. I was sitting under a tree when I saw the lion climb a tree nearby. I had to tactfully pick up my things and sneak off,” she says, then smiles broadly.

Ajok survived for two days on groundnuts she had carried from Swahili Camp. When they ran out she discovered a cassava patch where she continued to get supplies from for weeks. She was then discovered by Congolese soldiers who had spotted her footprints. She was held at gunpoint and asked if there was anyone else with her. They searched the area to ascertain there were no rebels. The Congolese soldiers handed her over to the UPDF who then transported her to Uganda. “I am so grateful to the Congolese Commander who helped me and the UPDF who helped evacuate me to Uganda”.

Catherine Ajok was escorted back to Uganda by the Uganda People's Defence Force

The Aboke abductions received a lot of media attention. Over the years, families and friends of the girls abducted from St. Mary's College in Aboke have continued to advocate and pray for their return, slowly seeing most of the girls released. Five of the girls died while being held captive. Those who survived are now left with the challenge to find a way to carry on with their lives. Ajok must reintegrate into a life she left long ago, and she will never be the same. She returned with a toddler whom she says was fathered by the LRA leader. She will be left with trauma’s from her life as a wife to Joseph Kony, and some of the bloody attacks within and outside the country which she participated in. Out of the many wives Kony has, four of them were from the St. Mary’s College Aboke abductions.

Catherine Ajok and her child back in Uganda as free people.

“I went through a lot that has put a heavy weight of pain in my heart. For now, I am grateful I was lucky to make it back home alive,” Ajok concludes.

IRT reported earlier this month that a Hollywood film company is looking to make a film out of the Aboke abductions, starring Uma Thurman. IRT hopes that raising the profile of this event will create awareness of the ordeals civilians in the region have to live with.

Further reading:
http://www.obayacommunity.org/

http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/news/Last_of_abducted_Aboke_girls_back_home_81437.shtml