In Uganda, a Fresh Start For Former Child Fighters

"The thing to remember is that there are two Ugandas," Rodriguez said. "One of relative peace, and then one where children suffer more than in any country on Earth."

The country boasts a lush and serene capital, and international tourism campaigns lure visitors with slogans such as "Uganda, Gifted by Nature." But in northern Uganda, most residents survive on food aid and live in congested camps for people displaced by the fighting; government troops patrol the desolate countryside.

The war was rarely mentioned during campaigning for elections last month in which President Yoweri Museveni secured a third term, said Philip Lutara, Gulu coordinator for the Concerned Parents Association, which was started after rebels abducted 139 young girls from a Catholic school in 1996.

The rebel movement is commanded by Joseph Kony, an elusive figure who has said in radio broadcasts that he has cut off the lips and ears of people who do not acknowledge him as a divine leader.

Children fill the ranks of his ragged army. Parents across this region are so terrified that the rebels will snatch their offspring from their beds that thousands of children are sent to special shelters each night.

The Sudanese government, which long backed Kony, recently allowed Ugandan troops to cross the border to pursue him. But Kony fled into lawless eastern Congo, and his army still sporadically launches attacks in northern Uganda. The International Criminal Court in The Hague issued warrants for Kony and his top commanders last year, but no arrests have been made.

"Here we are months later, and not a single arrest has been made," Lutara said. "There are still more than 5,000 missing children. Their parents are still distraught."

The Children of War Rehabilitation Center was started after a young girl escaped from Kony's army. She returned home but eventually killed her mother, thinking she was being attacked during the night, Oroma said. After that incident, community leaders realized that former child fighters were in dire need of help, she said.

World Vision International, a Christian charity, helps fund the project, which takes in about 100 children a month and provides them with medical care, fresh clothing and counseling sessions.

In the center's healing hut, Richard Odong said he hoped to see his family again. The center frequently makes radio announcements listing the names of children who have returned from combat, but no one has shown up for Richard. The counselors worry that his parents are dead.

When the therapy sessions end, the children play cards or kick an old soccer ball around.

Pamela Amena, 23, who also escaped from the rebels and completed counseling sessions years ago, frequently returns to the center to help younger Ugandans such as Richard.

"At first, Richard, I felt so short-tempered, and I wanted to hit someone," she told him, explaining that she had been raped by the rebels. She escaped, but learned that her father had been killed in the conflict.

"I would nap and cry in my mother's dark, hot hut all day," she said.

Then she began receiving therapy. The counselors told her to draw, talk, exercise or even sing when she felt angry. "Now when I lie in my bed, I sing quietly to myself nice songs I wrote," she said. "These small therapies help."

The two sat in silence, watching a soccer game and picking at the purple flowers that had fallen from the trees.