The Foreign Service Journal, November 2003

was sad, quiet and halting. His emo- tional affect was flat and he hardly smiled, until I asked him to try. The LRA had abducted him from his home in the middle of the night about six months before, and forced him to perform back-breaking labor. After suffering many days of brutali- ty, he resolved to escape, which required careful, surreptitious plan- ning. His chance finally came one night while the other soldiers were sleeping. He sneaked out of the camp and ran for his life. He ran all night long with shrapnel in his feet and lower legs, stumbling, tripping, but continuing toward what he hoped might be safety. The next morning he met someone along the path who directed him to a military outpost and holding center. There he rested until he was well enough to be transported to one of the reha- bilitation centers in Gulu. Incredibly, despite his ordeal, Benjamin still hopes to be a teacher someday and to lead a normal, happy life. After Benjamin finished telling me his story, I thanked him for his courage and told him how proud I was of him. I told him that I believed he would be a wonderful role model for children once he became a teacher and that he is an inspiration and example of brave survival. I put my arm around his shoulders and we sat quietly in that corner for several minutes. Afterwards I looked at him, smiled and winked and called him my hero. Then Benjamin mustered a weak smile and my heart was flood- ed with joy. I left the rehabilitation center deep in thought. How many more children will be abducted and forced to suffer at the hands of the LRA? How many more children, like Benjamin and the thousands of others, will forever suffer the physical and emotional scars inflict- ed by Joseph Kony? How many will be reabducted into his twistedmovement? The LRA must be disbanded and all children held captive by it returned to the security and well- being of their homes to grow and thrive in an atmosphere of safety, comfort and adult protection. These children should never be subjected to additional violence and robbery of childhood, nor should they live in fear of forever being stigmatized because of their history. Anything else would be even more tragic. It is incumbent on international donors, human rights groups and activists, and all concerned civilians to protest violations of this kind, so that Benjamin and the tens of thousands of boys and girls like him in northern Uganda and around the world have a chance to experience a real and nor- mal childhood, to grow, to learn, thrive and be. This is the very least that all children worldwide deserve. And that is precisely what I wish for Benjamin and the thousands like him around the world. Let it be so. ■ N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 3 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 45 MCG FINANCIAL PLANNING Former State Department Employee Stationed Overseas Understands Unique Financial Situation of Foreign Service Services Include: Retirement Planning Tax Preparation and Strategies Analysis: Insurance and Investments Lump Sum Retirement Options MARY CORNELIA GINN 4630 Montgomery Avenue, Suite 220 Bethesda, Maryland 20814 Phone: (301) 951-9160 Fax: (703) 938-2278 E-mail: mcgfin@erols.com S ECURITIES OFFERED THROUGH N ATHAN & L EWIS S ECURITIES , I NC ., M EMBER NASD & SIPC. MCG F INANCIAL P LANNING AND N ATHAN & L EWIS ARE NOT AFFILIATED ENTITIES . HelenWeinland’s memoir of her twenty years in the Foreign Service • Stories about her posts in Central Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa • Descriptions of Foreign Service life • Reflections — good and bad — on the Department of State Order from1st Books Library for $13.25, www.1stbooks.com 1 (888) 280-7715 Available for $15.95 through bookstores and on-line booksellers. ISBN 1-4140-0182-7