A War Victim’s Opinion on Invisible Children’s KONY 2012
Victor OCHEN, Director for AYINET Uganda
In light of the recent publicity around Invisible Children’s ‘Kony 2012’ documentary and campaign, and speaking as a survivor, a young man born and raised in the midst of the LRA war, growing up in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps and avoiding abductions in many ways, struggling with my security, feeding and education, my life story represents the realities of the Kony’s LRA war and its aftermath. As the director of the organization, African Youth Initiative Network (AYINET) that was founded in 2005, and working with the most dedicated group of young people whom some are direct war victims, former child soldiers. Our painful childhood experiences didn’t make us less but instead created in us the conviction to care and save lives of our people who are hurt, and are struggling with physical and emotional pains.
It’s against this background that I would like to make a response to Kony 2012, in the following four points and from the survivors’ point of view.
First, it is important to take stock of the efforts by the Government of Uganda, the African Union, European Union, the United States and other key international partners to help end the LRA threat once and for all. These actions are important but much more needs to be done. In particular there is a need for much greater protection of civilians in South Sudan and the DRC and Central African Republic where the LRA is now active. Furthermore, many of the devastating effects of the war between the LRA and the Government of Uganda have still not been addressed in northern Uganda, even though the LRA has not been active here since 2006. These include the most serious physical and mental health effects, the weakening of key social and protective services, the nearly complete absence of remedy for harms suffered, and an utter lack of accountability.
Second, as someone whose brother and cousin were abducted and who are among the thousands of disappeared whose fate is unknown, I join with other Ugandans who hope our relatives are still in captivity and will come back home alive. Any advocacy aimed at military bombardment of the LRA rebels remains therefore very sensitive throughout northern Uganda, and I imagine the DRC and South Sudan and Central African Republic as well, because thousands of children and adults have been abducted and have still not come home yet. My own father is deeply traumatized due to my brother and cousin’s abduction, and every time he hears about any report of killing LRA rebels he is not sure whom they have killed and wonders if people are celebrating his beloved son’s death. These are the feelings many families have. I agree that Kony must be stopped as soon as possible. However, it must be done in a way that avoids further civilian casualties and the loss of the lives of innocent children. Raising potentially false expectation such as arresting Kony in 2012 will not rebuild the lives of the people in northern Uganda. Rebuilding communities and rehabilitating victims’ is what we need. The stronger survivors become, the less Kony remains an issue. Restoration of communities devastated by Kony is a greater priority than catching or even killing him.
Third, one of the main criticisms launched against Invisible Children is in regards to their financial accountability. I completely understand how generous donors generally feel if their funds are not better used. Working with victims demands more or physical and human accountability. Tangible and practical life changes that brings about smiles in the teary faces is much better than well designed financial report. A typical example is my own organization which in the last five months received $100,000 from the United Nations in Uganda under the Peacebuilding Fund for Victims’ medical/surgical rehabilitation(Response and Redress for Victims of Serious Violations Project). With this small amount of money, we provided critical reconstructive surgeries to 447 victims of war. On average it only takes about $350 to provide the intensive and reconstructive medical rehabilitation. This money allows us to help children with severe burns, girls and women who have suffered terrible sexual violence, it helps rebuild lips, ears, and noses that have been cut off, it helps heal debilitating gun and shrapnel wounds, provides extensive psycho-social care, and restores hope and dignity to victims of the war. To date we have helped over 1500 victims of war suffering from such horrific and inhuman pains, but there are thousands more victims from Northern Uganda, Southern Sudan, DRC, Central African Republic and yet, we do not have the resources to help all in need. There are definite, life-changing needs in northern Uganda, and there are ways to directly help victims now. Let us bear in mind that some of these victims were infants when they were mutilated. They have, if they have survived at all, been living in pain throughout their childhood.
Fourth, for whatever efforts are put forward as a result of the media storm about this film, let’s put the real victims first. As such, simply killing or catching Kony will not improve the lives of the victims in northern Uganda. I agree that people’s generosity must change lives, but why spend millions on Kony alone while thousands of survivors are dying of repairable physical and psychosocial pain? Any strategy to deal with his capture should be complemented by a strategy to help his victims. The survivors I work with daily and those I meet in my work have shown incredible strength and dignity, while struggling to move forward against seemingly insurmountable odds, and trying to build a better life for themselves, their children and grandchildren.
The more we are connected directly to the victims, the more real our support becomes. Given that millions all over the world now have a better understanding of the plight of the war’s victims, now is the time to work together for regional peace and a better, reconciled and stronger Uganda.
Victor OCHEN
Director for AYINET Uganda.
54 Responses to A War Victim’s Opinion on Invisible Children’s KONY 2012
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Well said brother
Mr. President. Much respect.
MUCH RESPECT, Victor!! Beautifully said.
Ocen, I like most views you have shared but I believe stopping Kony is also important because as long as he is still out there, we might only reconstruct for to him to come back and destroy again. As such, your best view for me is and I quote from your essay, ‘ Any strategy to deal with his capture should be complemented by a strategy to help his victims’. I strongly believe the two should go hand-in-hand.
However, I am most bothered most by the issue you raised in the last clause of your first point and I quote again, ‘ the nearly complete absence of remedy for harms suffered, and an utter lack of accountability’. I have been bothered by this since 2006 when I interviewed a number of victims who strongly felt their justice has been ignored in the constant call to ‘forgive’ and ‘reconcile’ AND YET some perpetrators have been rewarded under amnesty with cars and good houses for resettlement. And I am constantly asking myself:
HOW DO WE RECONCILE AND RECONSTRUCT WITHOUT JUSTICE FOR VICTIMS? HOW DO WE IGNORE VICTIMS WHO FEEL NEGLECTED, EVEN COERCED TO FORGIVE?
As a lecturer of drama at Makerere University, I went for a research in the use of drama therapy in 2006 at the world vision center but after these interviews, I dropped the research and instead wrote a play that shares the feelings from these interviews, which I am working on staging some time this year.
BUT I WORRY SO MUCH THAT WITHOUT ACCOUNTABILITY AND PROPER JUSTICE FOR VICTIMS, OUR PEACE COULD BE BUILT ON A WEAK FOUNDATION AND SUCH WE WOULD ONLY BE KILLING THE FUTURE-AND MY PLAY EXPLORES THIS NOTION OF KILLING THE FUTURE!
As part of the play project, I will also be holding panel discussions around this topic and maybe you could be one of my panelists, if all goes well.
Thanks for the sharing these insights!
ADONG
Great article Victor, well said.
Thanks Victor, and thanks to you Adong. With much respect i do appreciate Victor’s efforts to reframing Kony 2012. Well done for taking your readers from the furry that this video elicited to how better to use the little resources available. I also appreciate you for coming out and actually show that you were a victim and you cannot really be reduced to an Invisible child, but rather you are Visible. And you along others that are working for the same cause are breaking this Invisibility tainted by foreign NGOs. There has been a long time a failure to show that communities Africa have resources like you and many other. We have always been portrayed as those incapable. Instead of showing Africa as half full of resources, they portray us as half full of resources. Enough on that.
However, i feel like you should have tried to explain (and you have done so only in disguise) that not all NGOs especially run under the management of Uganda misuse funds as it has been shown in the case of the Invisible Children. To quote The Daily Monitor that came out on 9th March “The NGO also came under strong criticism after it emerged that it spent only 30 per cent of the $8.9m (Shs 20b) it mobilised for the children in their names from well-wishers.” My problem with this is, that amount piles up on all funding that goes to Africa Every year. In 10 years, it will be accounted of Uganda as that which went to help in Uganda and yet all that should be accounted for in expenditures on Ugandan citizens should be he 30% of $9m not all of it.
Adong, the issue you raised and i quote ” I interviewed a number of victims who strongly felt their justice has been ignored in the constant call to ‘forgive’ and ‘reconcile’ AND YET some perpetrators have been rewarded under amnesty with cars and good houses for resettlement.” This situation is really absurd, but i also think that its the good people failing to do something that would result in evil such as this to prevail. Why in the world would the perpetrators be rewarded, for what? Maybe what needs to be done is to emerge a Truth and Reconciliation body whose focus should be on the victims and not perpetrators. That is ridiculous!
I would like to commend you on the work you are doing and please advertise the name of the play when it comes out and hopefully if we are back home we will look for it either on DVDs of go to theaters to see it.
Thanks y’all for sharing.
Deo
Victor, excellent post thank you for sharing. It sounds like you are continuing to do great work. I hope all is well in Lira, send my best to Jackson, Denis and the rest of our friends at AYINET in Lira and in Barlonyo.
Director Ochen, Thank you for this valuable insight.
As long as Kony is lurking out there you’ll continue to have more victims to rehabilitate because he’s continually creating victims, so your work may never actually be completed and doesn’t that make you feel tired? You’re dealing with the outcomes of Kony–which is great–and am avoiding using the medical term symptoms. But isn’t it even more necessary, without making your work seem light, to arrest the cause and hence have no more symptoms to deal with when you can be sure that the last of the victims have been rehabilitated and there won’t be any more creation of new ones or even attack on the former ones?
And isn’t it time we realized that we can’t have the same goals. Yours is helping the victims regain what they’ve lost. Excellent. IC is catching the perpetrator if indeed they catch him. Excellent. Me might be going for the arms dealers. Will you then turn around and say i should instead be taking care of the nodding illness? Somebody else can see that as another good cause and take it up. Another person can use drama and God forbid that we should stop him or her on grounds of having other issues and approaches to employ. And so on… Only then will we realize a holistic approach that doesn’t legitimize or make a hierarchy of the problems in our midst but only acknowledges that we have a lot of work to do and we can all have different approaches towards making a sane society, and we can’t necessary do the same thing because that’s not the nature of humans to agree on whether the chicken or egg came first. As long as you have folks taking care of the egg and others the chicken, etc. Pole sana.
Brilliantly said! How has the world, and 90% of the commentators on this article, missed this point???!!!
Well put. Two different strategies, equally important, both having applaudable intentions. My heart goes out to all the survivors and their families.
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I agree that more needs to be done, and tremendous kudos for the portion you have undertaken, for the KONY 2012 campaign can’t possibly solve all residual damage caused by Kony. That said, it’s a start and it’s what civilians can do from afar with limited means. There is NO PORTION of the relief effort that is NOT NECESSARY, correct? Let’s applaud the effort to catch KONY as we applaud those such as yourself who are picking up the pieces of his reign of terror and mending them. We are all in this together!
Blessings to all who suffer from Kony.
Hi Victor, your story is very powerful and in fact its one of the many stories that made me react to “KONY2012 with my block here.
Again those are very important remarks from you.
I totally agree with you!
Hope to see you soon brother.
Hello Bro I absolutely agree with you, these some of very issues we have been raising concerns for how this called VISIBLE CHILDREN as they are now called by many could have spent US dollar millions on making a film yet people are seriously in need of basic necessities of life. Its good INVISIBLE CHILDREN has brought everything to limelight (they exposed their incompetency nature and nakedness). You know there is a saying in my language that the more the monkey climbs high, the more it exposes its nakedness. So the whole world has come to know INVISIBLE CHILDREN and they use their hard earned donations.
Imagine AYINET was given 8 million US dollar, how many families could you bring smiles to their faces.
Bro thanks for coming out and enlighten the world,
Our hopes, dreams in making this world a better place are with you
Stay blessed
nassar
xxx
I salute you Victor for you are speaking from the perspective of truest active activist on ground. I hiwever could not agree more with Ms Mildred Balya’s approach. Let’s embrace the combined effort approach, I truly believe that just as Kony’s attacks remained latent between 1989 and late 1996, it’s the same remission period northern Uganda could unknowingly be experiencing since his last attack in 2005: it’s safer to be vigilant towards his capture as much as it is to mend the lives of the victims, we cannot risk a vicious cycle when it comes to human life!
I thank you and God bless.
Victor, thanks for the piece and well said.
I would like to react to Mildred Barya comments of taking an holistic approach of put an end to the war. Well said but I do think you miss the point. What we are calling for is a solution to the problem once and for all, and I think a military solution is NOT an option and for that matter may only treat symptomatic signs as you rightly put it. What victims/surviors and people who have lived and experienced the conflict want are sustainable options in putting an end to the underlying cause of the conflict. I think and I hope others share in my opinion that we need well articulated political solution to end the conflict once and for all which a military solution does not provide nor does catching Kony bring because the problem will remain. Unless we carefully think through those underlyling causes and the effects the war has had on the individual victims and theri families/communities, we cannot claim to put an end by merely arresting Kony, that in my opinion is being too simplistic. It ignores the deep rooted cause and long terms effects of the conflict.
Secondly, as we explore the political solution to address the causes and effects, we cannot ignore the every day pain that victims/survivors experience when trying to rebuild their lives. The challenges they face today are cannot be resolved through a military solution.They need immediate and sometimes urgent help to be able to function amidst a complete lack of services to rebuild their lives as you may be aware. Putting resources to address these immediate medical, mental and livelihoods needs of survivors is making sure that they remain visible and play an active role in crafting a sustained and long term solution to end the conflict. We cannot sit in our comforts, air conditioned offices and decide their fate. They need to be active players and visible not ‘invisible’ in the process — because they have the capacity to engage with the right support. What I argue here is supported by the fact that even the on going KONY 2012 campaign is not known to the survivors/victims on whose behalf we claim to be making the campaign. So to ask, whose priority do we represent in the campaign?
Thirdly, taking a military option does not only put the children, men and women disappeared by the LRA in Uganda, DRC, CAR and South Sudan at great risks but also their families continue to habor great emotional pains and trauma each day without knowing what could have happened to theitr loved ones. Telling such families that a military option is best is like asking them to sign the death warrant of their own children — as a parent, sister or cousin, would you do that to your loved ones? This is the every day agony of the families that i have met and been working with for over ten years let alone living/coming from a community ravaged by war.
So put many factors into consideration as we think of more sustained solution that puts the victims/surviors at the fore.
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Victor…great job for articulating some of the realities of dealing with a war-torn country and the victims left behind. One thing to point out that has not been considered are the children abducted into the LRA. They too are victims in a sense who have been forced to murder and do hideous acts upon their own people. They are a part of the healing that has to take place here in Uganda. If forgiveness and justice is to come together both sides need to reconcile through acts of community restoration and making what was wrong right. That will mean the ending of Kony and the men supporting such a group, but also restoring the LRA victims back into their community where victims on both sides can reconcile and move beyond the pain of the past. This I know is what you hope to do with your organization and something worthy of every ones support.
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Hi Victor. Thanks a lot for the good work you are doing. Please keep it up.
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Hello, thank you for your article, it helps a lot to understand the situation from a survivals point of view.
Just speaking as an complete outsider of the situation having only proof that relies on the media; as far as i have understood invisible children raises money to help the victims in education for example. However, I do not support giving the money to Kony 2012 program. Invisible Children have other programs, such as Schools for Schools that raise money to rebuild the war torn schools and the School Scholarship program to help the kids to have a stable education that will help them for the future.
Whereas I think Kony 2012 is a campaign that raises awareness, which is important, I do think further research has to be done by any person who supports it’s program. Reading about for example your point of view, being from Uganda and having to go through this LAR personally.
I personally support the work of Invisible Children, and I think Kony 2012 campaign is there to just raise awareness, and personally I think rather than donating money to find Kony, people should donate to the other Invisible Children campaigns or other organization campaign if they prefer which provide help to victims and their families directly. Like Victor said, catching the one to blame won’t help the lives of the victims. Education and health care are the most important things we should as a world focus on in this case and as much as i support raising awareness about Kony, I support the fact that the help given should be given directly to the victims.
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This was extremely well written and informative. I am a 17 year old Canadian citizen trying to grasp an understanding of the situation in Uganda and other Central African countries concerning the LRA. I first learned about the LRA through the video “Stop Kony”. Many of my class mates fully support and endorse Kony 2012. I have been trying to understand both this situation in Uganda as well as the reaction of many of my classmates.
my interpretation of the mass support of the “Invisible Children” : People like fixable problems, band-aide affects, they like to feel good. I believe, a lot of people struggle with visualizing the problems of the world, that feel so far away and detached from day to day life in Canada. I think some Canadians also feel a degree of helplessness because they do not know what to do about all these problems. “Stop Kony” feeds into many of these feelings. The video is relatable to western citizens in the way it tells the story through the eyes of Russell trying to understand and help child soldiers by raising awareness. This helps western citizens connect to the issue of the LRA in Central Africa and feel less detached. The video also gives viewers a sense of purpose a sense that by making one donation they can make the world a better place. Lots of people are not willing to make more of a commitment than one easy solution that only requires the digits on their bank card. This makes the video extremely affective in catching the Western world’s eye.
There are many problems with this approach. Firstly, it means that the video, and possibly the aid, becomes less about child soldiers and more about the people making the donations and the video. It becomes an act of self-glorification. ‘If this is about northern Uganda, how come it’s dominated by non-Ugandans? What is it about now?”. The video became a story of Russell not Ugandans. Secondly, it over simplifies the issue. The above essay sheds light on a completely different Uganda and Central African than “Stop Kony” portrays. Which brings me to my third point. I believe that the parameters of foreign aid are not often enough determined by those in need of the aid. How could those who are not in a given crises know how best to relieve it? Such an approach is dangerous because it can lead to the “aid givers” thinking they can solve others’ problems and, in doing so, viewing people in need, with sympathy not empathy and with pity instead of respect. I believe, that if the world wants to help victims of the LRA they should listen to what Central Africans have to say. More people should read “A War Victims Opinion on Invisible Children’s Kony 2012″ than watch “Stop Kony”.
I feel like I have strayed from the real issue at hand, which is “to work together for regional peace and a better, reconciled and stronger Uganda.” and the above debates on how to achieve this. However, I wanted to provide a sense of why I think the video became so popular and were I interpret many donators are coming from. The why plights are being addressed worries me. It seems that the wrong people are being listened to. In the end I still feel disconnected to LRA victims, and I am not sure what is the best course of action is to help make a difference for victims and improve foreign aid.
I have a great amount of respect for the above essay written by, Director for AYINET, Victor Ochen. It is eloquent and affective.
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Start by ending the GoS support to Kony.
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