We often talk about our defection programs because so many returnees cite our “Come Home” fliers or messages as the reason they chose to leave the bush. But what happens after these people return home? Unfortunately, there is a serious disparity in resources dedicated to the rehabilitation and reintegration of former LRA members. Depending on age, sex, and nationality, a returnee can receive some or no support at all.
The Lord’s Resistance Army abducts children, forcing the girls to become “wives” to commanders and the boys to become soldiers. These children are also compelled to witness and carry out terrible war crimes. Some abductees have been with the LRA for more than 10 years, and therefore need extensive help to recover from the trauma.
The LRA left northern Uganda in 2006, spreading out into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the Central African Republic (CAR), and South Sudan. The mobility of the LRA means that those who escape are often across international borders, thousands of miles from home. Thus, in many cases, escapees also need practical assistance locating – and being reunited with – their families and communities.
Uganda
In Uganda, men go to the World Vision Center, where they benefit from psychosocial support and rehabilitation to ease their reintegration into society. These are the highest risk individuals because of the difficulties they face in social and economic reintegration, as well as the high level of trauma they have experienced. Women and children go to a center operated by the Gulu Support for the Children Organization (GUSCO).
Our team uses information provided by recent returnees to map each individual’s family history and location. Often with minimal details, the team reaches out to communities for help to physically locate the families. They then meet with the families to assist them in preparing for their child’s return home. A variety of NGOs are tasked with the logistical challenge of moving LRA defectors from the point of reception to their home community and Invisible Children often supports that process with familial information.
Democratic Republic of Congo
Invisible Children partnered with Congolese leaders and international rehabilitation experts (including The Commission Diocésaine Justice et Paix and Sponsoring Children Uganda) to establish Centre Elikya in Dungu, DR Congo. Centre Elikya was the region’s first rehabilitation center for children affected by the LRA.
The program was run by professionally-trained Congolese rehabilitation specialists and is equipped to serve up to 150 children at any given time. It was designed to serve children for six-months before they were reunited with their families, preparing them for successful reintegration into society by seeking to restore their mental health, equipping them to return to school, or, if beyond school age, helping them develop a marketable skill that can be used in the workplace. Most of the activities were focused on teaching children to cope with and understand their trauma. Centre Elikya hosted 200 LRA-affected children from DR Congo in rehabilitation and reintegration programs. Due to a lack of funding, the rehabilitation center is currently functioning as a community center with transit services provided by a few international organizations still in place today.
South Sudan
South Sudanese women and children go through a government center that provides basic psychosocial and rehabilitation services before being reunited with their families. Men, however, receive very little support, if any. The government tracks down their families and they are immediately repatriated to their home country after they have received a mere few meals and a new set of clothes.
Central African Republic
For Central Africans, almost no reintegration systems are in place. The sole available support generally consists of a few basic meals. Tracking the families of returnees is a very long process, and the rehabilitation of a defector is often left to the family after months of delay.
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