Annet's Story - Installment 1

Annet was born in Northern Uganda in 1993, six years after Joseph Kony formed The Lord’s Resistance Army to incite an armed rebellion against the Ugandan government. For well over twenty years the LRA has been responsible for pandemic devastation including murder, rape, abduction, mutilation, forcing children to participate in hostilities, and the sexual enslavement of women and children.

For us, it’s a sobering history lesson. For Annet, it’s been a living hell.

When she was young, her father was abducted from their home, leaving her mother and seven siblings to fend for themselves. Two other relatives were told they’d be spared if they killed others in the village. They did and were not. Her best friend was abducted at the age of nine. “One day we were playing,” Annett explained, “and the next day she was gone.” Annet tried to continue with her studies, but it was impossible when constantly having to flee from militant rebels. Her mother eventually sent her to a school many miles away, but shortly thereafter failed to pay the school fees. Annet was left to take care of herself. She fell prey to a life of prostitution at the age of 13.

Annet’s interview is divided into three short segments. In this, the first video, she describes how she and her family were affected by the LRA. In the second video, Annet unravels how she came to live on the streets. And in the final installment, she talks about life in the Total Impact House.

There are, among the POH girls, seemingly countless new achievements, and we want to share and celebrate them all. What we can’t do, however, as we continually move forward, is forget where it is they came from, what they have survived and what each of their harrowing stories can teach us. I am grateful for Annet’s willingness to grant us a glimpse of the incomprehensible.

She represents many. It is nearly impossible to find a Northern Ugandan not scarred, either physically or psychologically, by the war. The statistics vary, of course, but it’s been estimated that nearly one million Northern Ugandans have been driven from their homes because of the LRA. Over a quarter of a million have been murdered, and most sickeningly, thousands of the country’s most vulnerable, the children, have been turned into orphans, sex slaves, prostitutes, or killing machines.

POH’s mission is to provide aftercare to girls who have been trafficked and/or forced into the commercial sex industry. Part of that care includes giving the girls a voice and empowering them through their testimony. It’s my prayer that as Annet speaks, we will listen. Really listen.

Then act.