Abductions by Joseph Kony’s rebel army have contributed to thousands of missing children throughout East and central Africa. This is a story of ones still missing.
Odong Santos and his wife lost two sons to abduction by the LRA
“I lost two of my sons to the Lord’s Resistance Army,” said Odong Santos. Okello Denis, 16 and Odong Francis, 13 were abducted in 1997. Denis was in his last year at a technical school where he was training to become a mechanic, while Francis was in primary school.
Santos said that on that particular night, the LRA had abducted a boy close to their home and the boy directed them to where his sons were sleeping. “The LRA then ordered them out of their hut while we – their mother and I – watched, and took them away.”
“There are times when I think they are dead, and sometimes I think they are out there and are just afraid to come back home,” Santos said. In the past, defectors from the LRA brought news that the boys were still alive, but with time and fewer defections they have not heard anything.
Santos described his sons as hardworking, obedient and passionate about everything they did.
“Denis was the tough one, he had a temper, but his brother was always very calm,” Santos said. He added that there is no pain like losing two children in a few hours and not knowing where they are, how they are doing, or, if they died, how they met their death.
“I don’t like talking about my two sons because of the pain it brings. Whenever I think of them I recall the day they were abducted and sometimes blame myself for not being able to protect my children.”
He calls on them to come back home, adding that many who have returned are living peacefully with their families. “As a father I want to encourage them to come back so it can wash away the pain their mother and I feel – it is devastating.”
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