Uganda - 2004
These photographs were taken in May 2004 in Lira and in Gulu, in northern Uganda. Nearly 50,000 children in northern Uganda come from surrounding areas each night to the cities in northern Uganda to escape kidnappings, recruitment by the militia - the Lord's Resistance Army - and other acts of violence. They sleep without any shelter in the open air and return to their villages and schools in the morning. Most of the children are between 8-10 years old, though some are as young as two. Gulu receives about 15,000 of these night commuters every evening. The Lord's Resistance Army, led by Joseph Kony and for the most part made up of child soldiers - has seminated death and destruction in northern Uganda for the last 18 years. The government in Kampala has been unable to stop the violence from a military standpoint or succeed in negotiations. An estimated 100,000 people have been killed, over 20,000 children kidnapped and between 1,000,000 - 1,500,000 northern Ugandans have become refugees.