UGANDA-NORTH/YOUTH Lost generation - children raised in IDP camps struggle to make a life in northern Uganda

Record ID: 143859

  • Title: UGANDA-NORTH/YOUTH Lost generation - children raised in IDP camps struggle to make a life in northern Uganda
  • Date: 12th August 2015
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Acholi) JACKSON MURPHY, FORMER INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSON (IDP) SAYING: "If only the youth could get mobilised into groups, taught hands-on-skills and about sexually transmitted diseases like it used to be in the IDP camps because they are leading a risky life at the moment."
  • Embargoed: 27th August 2015 13:00
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  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVAGRZO3BE4ARDPU6QEGZCRXZ1Q
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: PLEASE NOTE: VIDEO WAS REISSUED WITH CORRECTIONS IN DURATION AND SHOTLIST
    PLEASE NOTE EDIT CONTAINS 4:3 MATERIAL
    Nineteen-year-old Jackson Murphy is an easy going young man. He lives in Pabbo town, Amuru District in northern Uganda.
    When he was just a child, he was forced to leave his home and move to a camp in Pabbo, housing thousands of people displaced by the Lord's Resistance Army or LRA.
    Jackson's father was killed in an LRA attack. The rebels operated in northern Uganda between 1987 and 2006.
    He now earns a living making sandals from old car tyres. It's not well paying but it gives him something to occupy his time.
    Many of his agemates also grew up in internally displaced people's (IDP) camps.
    "A lot of the young people here hate working. They like hanging out in town instead. But some are changing for the better and are doing things to try make their lives better. But many youth still do not want to work and these are the ones that want to get good things in life without sweating for it," said Jackson.
    Having earned a reputation for carrying out massacres and mutilating victims, the LRA left Uganda about a decade ago and has roamed across parts of Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan and CAR since then, eluding efforts to defeat them.
    The LRA is led by Joseph Kony, a former choirboy who claimed to be guided by spirits only he could hear. The group has been accused of abducting children to serve as fighters and sex slaves.
    In 2005, the warlord was indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands. He remains at large.
    According to analyst Stephen Oola, the devastating legacy of the LRA can also be felt in the lives of children born and raised in the IDP camps.
    "The second generation that we have lost were those who were born in the IDP camps, many of whom by the time they left the IDP camps or by the time encampment ended in Northern Uganda, they were fifteen, the youngest would have been fifteen-years-old. This generation knew nothing about production, knew nothing about social life, knew nothing about culture, knew nothing about aspirations and dreams of a young person but survival and hopelessness, alcoholism, drugs addictions," explained Oola.
    With little education and no vocational skills, gambling and drinking are popular choices for the youth here. They grew up depending on relief handouts, far away from the farms that supported their families and the region's economy.
    The situation is further complicated by the fact that many either lost their parents or chose to stay in the urban centres that developed after the IDP camps shut down.
    Nokrach Bernard is 21 years old. He spends most of his day gambling with his friends.
    "Life is short and it is very hard to save money. When you have something like 30,000 Uganda shillings, you call your friends and drink it all away. You will not have any worries," he said.
    For Jackson, however, all is not lost. He is also a budding musician and records his songs in a local studio.
    His lyrics urge people to love one another and encourages industry and hard work.
    "If only the youth could get mobilised into groups, taught hands-on-skills and about sexually transmitted diseases like it used to be in the IDP camps because they are leading a risky life at the moment," he added.
    Jackson believes his music sends a messages to the youth in northern Uganda to put the experiences of life under the LRA behind them and build a future for themselves. However, it will take much more than positive lyrics to give the young people here hope.
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