to an end because if we don't do that, there are people who are suffering every day in the same life. one thing that i ask the world to come strong and i want to appreciate the effort of the u.s. government is that i today said if we had a radio long time ago i would not have been abducted because the information would have come to me enough and i would have hid. if i had like a communication that could stop, you know, like me from going out, wouldn't have suffered as a girl. then i ask also the international community to push the government of central african republic, democratic republic of congo, sudan, and uganda, to take ownership so that the population, the local population whose voices are not being heard, if you are not

ready the world cannot understand but the life there is so difficult. especially seeing young kids who their future have been lost so that that pressure can help the intervention of eliminating joseph kony. i know that time is not so much on my side. one day i know that this is a story which is very difficult and why i appreciate the efforts of the american government and yesterday when i had the president speak, i was very, very impressed because i relate with my own story one day when my son who is 12 years old, read a story about me in the african woman magazine and asked my daddy that daddy, why were you when mommy was being taken. mommy, couldn't daddy protect you. and that is what has compelled me to do what i do today no matter what it will take, there

are people out there that have their own opinions about how this war has to be ended. but all these opinions can be taken together but we have to give a time line because the atrocities will not end unless the perpetrators are brought. i think briefly this is what i have to share. my story is very big. i cannot share it within a short amount of time. but this is briefly what i have to share with people out there and people in this house. thank you so much. >> thank you so much, jolly. and thank you for your written testimony which goes into great detail about your personal sufferings and experience and your tremendous work of recovery and then of regional strength and then of investing your life in making sure that others do not suffer similarly. mr. acaye. >> mr. chairman may i say before jacob speaks i have to leave to go to a markup of which i'm one

of the ranking members and i'm going to have to leave, but i'm so grateful for jacob for telling his story. and i thank this committee. i want to mention resolve as well which is one of the nonprofits working closely, they are here in washington with invisible children. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you for joining us today, senator. jacob, mr. acaye. >> thank you so much mr. chairman. on behalf of the survivors and those going through the hardship in the congo and sudan i want to testify and share my story in the struggle of bringing this war which has lasted for the last -- for more than two decades, to an end. being someone who was born during the war, i went through a lot. and some of them were like directly to my life and some were indirectly.

and when i say indirectly i mean it shall touch many of my friends, relative, and people like grace who is here with me and many of the people back at home. i will basically go into direct one which has touched my life and try to connect to many who has touched their life as well. at the age of 12, i was abducted from my village by the army. and taken. the way i was abducted was in a way that the rebel came around midnight, the middle of our sleep, and they broke down our door and inside where i was sleeping with my cousin and tied us up, and also went and woke my

parents sleeping next door up and they were seeing us being taken. but knowing that the rebels were always fighting they could not do anything. that would stop the rebel from taking us away from them. we walk the whole night. always when they do attack one place they always try to go far away, as fast as they can because they know the next morning they might be following them. so we walk through the whole night. and we continue walking like that for the next three days, we were in the different like in the next district. it's about 90 miles away from my village. and when we got there, it was surprising that i actually met with my brother who was abducted a year before. that was -- i was shocked to see him again because i stayed for a whole year not knowing where he was, like not even expecting to

see him again. but when i saw him, i again became little happy. i was like wow, so i can see my brother again today. and a week after staying with him together, my brother had always been thinking of escaping and coming back home but it's so hard to do it because someone who brought you knows that you are likely to escape. and he tried it and unfortunately like the same group recapture him in few minutes after he had tried to escape. and they brought him back to where he tried to escape from. and to like scare us who have been abducted along side, 42 kids with us, they say whoever tried to escape will serve as example to those. you try to escape. and when they brought him back,

they tied him -- they knew that he's my brother and they tied him, they like killed him in front of us when we were seeing. it was so hard in my sight. and when i saw that happening, i like -- i couldn't cry because they would think that -- i would have that negative feeling towards them and escape as well. so i was pretend and see as if i'm liking what they are doing. it was so hard in my sight. but like the next day we met with a group that came from sudan. that brought ammunition, we call it bullets. i think the group that abducted us were running short of ammunition so the next group that came from sudan they came and brought ammunition. and their commander wanted

someone who was young to carry for him a chair. and by then i had stayed with this group that abducted me for like -- that was the second week. and then this guy came and the commander came and was like interacting talking with the other commander. like do you have any kid who can help me carry my chair. the commander, have small chair that help them sit in the jungles. so me being the youngest among the group, the person who abducted me handed me over to this new guy who came from sudan. you are going to go with this guy heading back to sudan. you have trouble on the way to sudan. like i had no option. i had no decision like. i had to go with this guy. and for me when i was going i felt so bad because when i was being abducted i was abducted along side 41 kids. whom i knew them. from the same village so i was a little comfortable with them. we can talk and like okay, there

is nothing we can do much as we want to escape but now i'm taken away from this group, going to the next one, whom i know nobody. so i was a little scared. but at some point i realize that was my luck. that made me come back home. that made it like easy for me to escape because they met actually briefly and they had no time like this guy, this commander abducted me. so while staying with this new commander he wanted to know more from me. and like he wanted to get to know how long i had stayed with the other commander who abducted me. then to gain his trust, had to lie to him. because like the more time you stay with them, the more time that they -- more freedom they give you because they think you are now loyal to them. so he wanted to know how long i stayed with the other commander, that is when i told him i said okay, i've been with that commander for like three month

and i'm liking how you guys operate and actually i think i'm willing to stay. so hearing that, he give me freedom of movement. that i can do what i want, saying i stay for so long i know how they operate but then i should come early and wake him up when he's sleeping and carry his chair and we go wherever we are going. so i did that for like two, three days. but every time i take a new move. like when he's sleeping, i make sure i go a distance from him. and then see if he will react negative towards it. all the time he had trusted me that i had stayed for three months so he thought maybe i could not do anything like escaping. so i would go a distance, come back and wake him up and carry his chair and we go. i did that for three days. and on the fourth day we were heading to the border of sudan, and he told me like jacoby need to get ready. tonight we're not going to go

anywhere. we're going to be in the same position because we want everyone to prepare their food, tomorrow we're going to have a long -- it's going to be about three days and if we are resting in between it will be less than an hour. so you need to pack all what you need for three days like food and whatever because we are crossing the border and we have to go straight to sudan. so i was like yeah, that's fine. i have to get ready. it's okay if i stay up late tonight because i want to get -- like yeah, you're fine. like get ready because it's not going to be easy. so what i did was i had all in my mind right from day one that i need to find way out. i don't need to go, fighting is not the way of solving any problem. but i could not tell them in the face. so i thought that was the last night, that is going to be possible for me to escape. because now i'm going to cross the sudan, the tribe i don't know, the language they speak is different, and it will be so hard for me to escape from them

and they will look at me like this people, and you escape and travel it will be so fard for me. so you had to find my way out that night. i was so scared, but i felt like that was the only chance that i have. i should try. and like bearing in mind if they get me, i will serve as example. but it was also like i decided like i'd rather die in uganda than go to sudan and die in sudan, a country i have never been. so that way i kind of got encouragement by myself, and tried to find my way out. and the way i found my way out was really hard. because being a serve tear commander we always stay in the middle. and they are all this intelligence who are gathering and trying to guard the commander. but because of the freedom of movement that i had during that day i was trying to move and see

how it was setting up, trying to guard the commander so at least i knew where to go and like -- people were trying to guard the commander. at night i was trying to move. i thank god i made it out and it was very far, it took me all night walking trying to find out how i can get to the -- to the authorities who can bring me home. but i'm so happy when i got to idp had that knowledge, at least i knew how to read and i saw a police post, so i entered there and told them my problem and how i got there. and i was brought back to my village. so when i came back to my village, it was so hard for me to like sleep and stay in the same house where i was abducted from. and i felt like -- that was

where kids used to go and sleep because the abduction was mainly done during nighttime so to avoid being exposed at night, people would sleep in the city center. but i could not move down on my parent are still in the same place where i was abducted. so what i did along side thousand of kid was like every evening we would walk to town, which is about four or five miles and sleep in the city center. and then we come back in the morning. so i did that for about a year. and during the time when i was sleeping is when i met the filmmakers. the city center was flooded by kids, all these kids for the abduction. and when these guys came, they were shocked because coming from the u.s., seeing how children

are valued and now you are in the middle of this town where children are sleeping outside in the cold and it's raining, they were like wow, we need to find out why these kids sleeping outside. and that is when i kind of felt like maybe they want to know more about why we sleep here. it was not my first time doing that. being someone who could speak a little language like a little english i always told these things to journalists who come almost every night from different countries. so when i told these three boys i didn't expect anything this big to come. i could never imagine myself being where i am right now. but i just wanted them to know why we were sleeping outside. and the first that they had the camera, it wasn't a big deal to me because i like camera is like -- whoever is going there

at least have a camera so it wasn't a big deal. so like these guys after i told my stories, i think they felt touched and they really wanted to help. and they asked me i think you saw the clip in the video, jacob, what do you want us to do, how can we help. it was a very challenging question. because like i think 80% of the kids in uganda look at white people as being money. so it was a very challenging question because the first was maybe they should give me money and i move away from the land uganda. and i realize that it was not good for me to get money because it won't last. you can give me thousand of dollars but remember, i'll be spending it, i'm not getting more. so the only way i realize that these people can help me was to put me in school.

that is what i asked from them. put me in school since i want to be a lawyer and try to work towards it. so they started paying my school fees. and when i met them that is when i met jolly. and she opened up a scholarship program that has helped thousands of kids, me being one of them. and education has changed my life and i feel like there's still so many who need the same thing that i went through. like being put in school, after coming back and parents, had no money to like pay their kids in school since education is expensive so to go to school, i feel like an idle mind is a place for the devil. i see like kony went to the bush, said -- if we leave all these kids to stay at home, they are likely one of them might go

somewhere. and the fact that the war is still terrorizing people around the world, the same war, i'm calling upon the world to come up and join the youth who are advocating for the end of this war. and i also know that you lead us, our representative, and if there is something that we want we go through you people. and if we put you like send our voice out you should care about what we are demanding for. and then the second thing that i want to say is i want to thank all the people, all the different organizations that are working along side with me to bring this war to an end. we have so many organization. that i cannot mention them now. but also thank you guys for like letting us share our story and tell the world what is going on.

thank you very much. i welcome any question but this story is just like something the war has been going on the last 26 years. i cannot summarize them in 10 minutes or five. >> thank you jacob and jolly for your testimony which both in writing and in speaking is a powerful, one of my objectives as the chair was to include more in our hearings african voices to help as we discussed on the train the other day. strengthen the understanding and appreciation in the united states, not just in the senate but among all who watch the committee hearings, that many of these challenges have african solutions and that the folks who are leading and doing the work and in the forefront of responding to the atrocities of the lra are african and our allies we need to support. as was mentioned by senator landrieu and also by you, i was

pleased that president obama in speaking yesterday at the holocaust memorial emphasized the on going commitment and support and ranked the lord's resistance army among the great morally challenging atrocities of the last 50 year, and emphasized his commitment to continuing. you've both spoken about the importance of being able to defect, to escape, and then the importance, the previous panel spoke about how important that is both so that we have intelligence about what is going on within the lra but also so we can help those who have been abducted recover. i'd be interesteding in hearing from both of you if we could, how ke encourage and support defector, escapees currently in the hold of the lra? what more could we be doing? second, what more should we be doing to help with recovery and development efforts in which

you've been very active? please? >> i want to say thank you so much for that question. the first thing that i think we need to encourage which i think worked very well in northern uganda, is the effort to support the information flow, especially to those while still in the jungle. like building up more fm radio stations and, you know, sending a message of peace and as well one thing that would always encourage someone hoop formerly abducted, when they have hope when they get back, there's a second chance in life, and this second chance comes with a lot of issues here. one, they have to be given the opportunity to go back and live as a child once again, and then another opportunity that is good and strong is that these people

need rehabilitation, because personally, from my personal experience it took me ten years to completely get over it, but even now i'm not over it. when i go back to my home, eve an sight of a tree that i saw 20 years ago is a reminder of what happened in my life. but the fact that i go through education and i got rehabilitated and i have a skill and i am able to get a job, this is one way that has moved me forward very positively. and, also, one thing that i feel we need your support more in, how to integrate these people in the community. today as i talk, in northern uganda, as much as ugandans are silent, there are many more formerly abduct hood haed who r home but have not had the same

opportunity as others to integrate and have something to do in the community. match an guard who came back with a kid who's very young and this kid now being called bush children, because these kids were not wanted, how do we, as community, as ngos, as governments, you know, come up with an approach that will help these people get an opportunity in life? as someone who has taken leadership in the programs on the ground, we are trying, but has is not enough. there are many people out there. there are social services, which is not enough. you know, like roads, especially in central african republic and democratic republican inof cong it has made it very, verdict hard for t very hard the people or the ground so they're able to move and get the best they can have in their life, and i still ask -- i still say this as which

is custom and referred to, i said, your voice as american government to, the four presidents of the lra, do not turn your back because the war is no longer on ugandan soil. i watch our president say we pushed lra out of our way but what about in the congo, very fresh? where people are also being displaced? is that enough for the president to say we have pushed the lra away and yet there's another group who are still being affected? so i think you putting a lot of force and emphasis on them taking the ownership and collaborating together and bringing their forces together to apprehend joseph kony is the best way that i would request

maybe you people to be strong on a diplomatic approach, because when i spoke to the civil society, the women, they think their voice, not being heard, and in that workshop there are even people who are saying, no. the lra is not a big threat, but every day there are people who are sleeping out in the rain and you can tell the fear. there are children in central africa public that have no future and they're not being able to go to school, and how do we give them a second opportunity? because the displacement in central african republic is so huge. how did we get humanitarian intervention into central african republic? so those are the few questions that i would answer. >> can i interrupt? senator isaac has been caused to the floor and would like to gave brief closing comment. he has to depart. i'm going to stay. we'll continue the conversation. >> thank you for meeting me in gulu when i was in uganda.

i appreciated it and enjoyed our meeting. jacob, your testimony is compelling. as i listened to both of you i was reflected last thursday in the rotunda of the capitol where we had the holocaust remembrance and honored a swede. i'm part swedish. from auschwitz and i thought about how in history, it's littered with individuals who speak out, work to right wrongs and both of you are in that courageous category and i thank you for your willingness to make this issue visual, because as the chairman knows, out of sight is out of mind, and africa is a long way away from the american media. it's a long way away from our country and some of the tragedies that have gone on in that country, they're terrible. you're helping to bring those visibility -- visibility to those issues and help us ultimately shine the light of day on joseph kony and bring limb to justice. you both are heroes as far as i'm concerned and i appreciate your willingness to do that.

i have a tough question to ask you, but i want to ask one before i go back. my experience, you're talking about -- i know the sudan is in deep trouble in the south now in the north and there's a possibility of further deterioration there, but i also know in darfur, some organizations use rape against women as a military tactic. is that what joseph kony does? >> yes. that is what joseph kony does, and as i speak right now, joseph kony, according to some of the people who have defected, including his wife who defected recently, he has more than 50 wives around him, and the wives is what he uses as a protection, as a shield so these are young girls that have been raped and these are young girls who have been raped, and many have returned with children. so joseph kony is still continuo continuously, him as a leader

having 50 wives and what about the other commanders who have even many more we'ves? so joseph kony is still raping and abducting children. >> the reason i asked question is that one of the good things usa id is going through its uais in uganda and darfur, empower women and help recognize it's abuse that's taking place in africa like what joseph kony is doing. in fact when we were there, we had the speaker of the house or the parliament of uganda, it's a woman, and women are becoming empowered in that country and ridesing to power out of respect and equality for them, which is san important thing in a nation has tha has been the victim of people like joseph kony, and jacob, i have to leave to make a speech on the floor, but you're my hero. thank you for being willing to tell the story, being willing to come here and i don't blame you if you want to sit next to a

pretty lady like jo lee, i'd be there, too. >> i'm grateful for our opportunity to work together on this. if i could, just by way of conclusion, since we need to bring this hearing to a conclusion, but jacob, if you've got any input for us on whether you think joseph kony and the lra commanders should be brought to justice in uganda or in the hague if you've gotten advice on what measures are most helpful as we try to help those who have escaped or defected to rebuild their lives, and last i would be interested to hear how it has turned out for you, your study of law, your interest in becoming a human rights lawyer, and i think many upon first hearing of your personal story in the video then also are hopeful to hear about the progress that you've made in your own life, not just in recovering but in becoming educated and strengthened and skilled to be able to use your experience to fight for justice. >> thank you very much ain