Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Fides Service) - Paska was only 14 when she was recruited to fight in the civil war in Uganda. Today she is a woman and she is still fighting, but she is fighting for peace in her country. Paska found the way out of the tunnel of war and put behind her the sad memories of adolescence.
Paska killed people while she was in the rebel ranks. She was forced to for the 18 months she spent with these armed groups operating in the savannah and the forests of northern Uganda against government troops. Her commanding officer was a woman, Alice, who said she could foretell the future and gave orders to attack according to her revelations. In many battles, Paska killed and risked being killed. Twice she was nearly shot for trying to escape from the group.
One day after a fierce battle in which most of the companions were killed, Paska hid in the forest waiting for a chance to run away. “My friends were all dead I saw them lying in their blood. I realised that I would be next”. Paska succeeded n reaching Kenya where she contacted a representative of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees. She was taken to Canada and two years later returned to Uganda, to a place not far from her native village. Now things are different for Paska, but nothing can take away those fearful memories which will be with her for the rest of her life. (M.F.D’A.) (Agenzia Fides 27/3/2004 - Righe 16 - Parole 260)
