NORTHERN UGANDA IN THE EARLY 2000s

The story below was told by Rodney Suddith after one of his trips in Gulu, Uganda in 2009. It gives a glimpse into the conditions there, and why it was so vital for Sports Outreach to send workers there, both to provide infrastructure and to share the hope found in Jesus Christ.

“Recently a traveling team from Charlotte, NC was on the field playing soccer with a team of young men from the Koch Goma Internally Displaced Person Camp in Northern Uganda. During the game I visited with the camp leader John Oliyo. He shared with me how the families in Koch Goma Camp were forced to move here years ago by the government of Uganda due to the civil war. Rebels would raid the villages, looting, killing and abducting children. Now it appears that peace is slowly returning to Northern Uganda. John told me the government has ordered the people in the camp (over 18,000 people who live in Koch Goma) to leave the camp and return to their home. Unfortunately, most of those in Koch Goma have no home to go to. Their villages were burned to the ground, the wells poisoned or destroyed, and the once productive farmlands are now overgrown with tall grass, scrub brush and small trees. In fact, most of the children have never even seen their “home” as they were born in the camp. Now they are being told to go home … but where’s that? How will they survive? There is no water ... many have no skills or knowledge of farming ... they have so little.”