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Esther Akongo is 47 years old and is the mother to three children.
She is also looking after her sister's eight orphaned children.
Her husband - who worked as a policeman - tragically died of tuberculosis four years
ago.
She has had two tragic encounters with the LRA.
The first was when she and her 18 year old son were taken from their village three
years ago. She managed to escape, but her son was killed.
Another time she and another son crossed paths with rebels who were on the way from
Gulu to the Sudan. They laughed and tormented both of them before killing
her son in front of her. She wailed and begged them to kill her as well.
They mocked her and said that if she was Jesus, she could raise her son. They
left her with her dead son. She carried the body back to the village and buried
him.
Since then she has moved to the town in Kitgum where she is relatively safe.
She used to receive food aid from the UN sponsored World Food Program (WFP) but
failed to register in the most recent registration round and so no longer receives any aid. She sells sardines in an effort to raise money. At the moment,
she is eating beans and cassava once a day.
She wants the ICC (International Criminal Court) to just hurry up
and arrest Joseph Kony - the leader of the LRA - because that would bring peace
to area quicker.
She hopes, that with God's help, she could earn some money and eat twice a day and build a hut for her and her extended family to live in.
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