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CNN Sunday Morning
Surviving in Uganda
Aired July 20, 2003 - 10:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: Fear gripping some young hearts in Eastern Africa. Tens of thousands sleep outside their homes every night in northern Uganda. It's an effect -- it's an effort to avoid abduction by a terrifying army of rebels. CNN's Katherine Bond reports on Uganda's night commuters.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATHERINE BOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It begins at dusk. And then as darkness closes in, an army of ragged children invades the northern Uganda town of Gulu, flooding in to bed down for the night on the hard ground almost anywhere you look. In workshops, bus terminals, on shop verandas.
BOND: At night this town turns into a giant camp ground with thousands upon thousands of people, many of them children like these coming in to sleep. For most, this trek from their homes outside the town is a nightly ritual to avoid abduction by a brutal group of rebels roaming the countryside. Some, like this girl, who for her safety we can't name, have been doing this every night for most of this year.
Did you walk into Gulu tonight?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
BOND: How far did you walk?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Five miles.
BOND: Why you have walked five miles to come sleep here?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Rebels.
BOND: What do the rebels do?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They keep people.
BOND: Others tell us that the rebels tie together the children they spare, like slaves, forcing them to act as porters, carrying food, guns or clothes, bludgeoning to death those who can't keep up or who try to escape.
REPORTER (off camera): How old are the rebels?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are below 18. BOND: So they're also like you? They're also children?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. They're children.
BOND: It's estimated by aid agencies that some 13,000 people pour into Gulu every night. At another location, this could be a prison. In fact, it's a sanctuary, an old nightclub that provides cover but in crowded and filthy conditions. Children literally packed into halls and catering tents where they sleep on dirty mats under donated blankets.
Ten hours later it's just before dawn, but already some children are leaving, clutching their bed rolls. Blurry eyed, others are just beginning to stir. It's a poignant scene. Townspeople call them night commuters, but some are so young, they have to be carried home piggyback. Barely refreshed, most face the long walk back into the territory frequented by the rebels who so terrify them. Then a day of school and household chores before retracing their steps to repeat this unbearable night all over again.
Katherine Bond, CNN, Gulu, northern Uganda.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired July 20, 2003 - 10:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN ANCHOR: Fear gripping some young hearts in Eastern Africa. Tens of thousands sleep outside their homes every night in northern Uganda. It's an effect -- it's an effort to avoid abduction by a terrifying army of rebels. CNN's Katherine Bond reports on Uganda's night commuters.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATHERINE BOND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It begins at dusk. And then as darkness closes in, an army of ragged children invades the northern Uganda town of Gulu, flooding in to bed down for the night on the hard ground almost anywhere you look. In workshops, bus terminals, on shop verandas.
BOND: At night this town turns into a giant camp ground with thousands upon thousands of people, many of them children like these coming in to sleep. For most, this trek from their homes outside the town is a nightly ritual to avoid abduction by a brutal group of rebels roaming the countryside. Some, like this girl, who for her safety we can't name, have been doing this every night for most of this year.
Did you walk into Gulu tonight?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
BOND: How far did you walk?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Five miles.
BOND: Why you have walked five miles to come sleep here?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Rebels.
BOND: What do the rebels do?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They keep people.
BOND: Others tell us that the rebels tie together the children they spare, like slaves, forcing them to act as porters, carrying food, guns or clothes, bludgeoning to death those who can't keep up or who try to escape.
REPORTER (off camera): How old are the rebels?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are below 18. BOND: So they're also like you? They're also children?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. They're children.
BOND: It's estimated by aid agencies that some 13,000 people pour into Gulu every night. At another location, this could be a prison. In fact, it's a sanctuary, an old nightclub that provides cover but in crowded and filthy conditions. Children literally packed into halls and catering tents where they sleep on dirty mats under donated blankets.
Ten hours later it's just before dawn, but already some children are leaving, clutching their bed rolls. Blurry eyed, others are just beginning to stir. It's a poignant scene. Townspeople call them night commuters, but some are so young, they have to be carried home piggyback. Barely refreshed, most face the long walk back into the territory frequented by the rebels who so terrify them. Then a day of school and household chores before retracing their steps to repeat this unbearable night all over again.
Katherine Bond, CNN, Gulu, northern Uganda.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
