only on me -- i am just one person there -- but there are thousands and thousands of people who have their own stories to share about what has happened with the lra. when i left my village after being abducted, when i escaped and i rescued my dad and we walked for 60 miles to look for safety with my father, the lra retaliated in my village, first of all, by killing my uncle, who was taking care of our property, and then, secondly, in one night, in the morning, i lost 21 of my cousins that were killed just in one night, you know, because my parents come from a family of servant people and each one of them had an average of about five or six children. and these are my cousins that i grew up with but entirely in one

night. today as i talk, their graves are shallow and i think two months ago when i went and i ask my dad, i said why can't we rebury these people properly? so this pain is still in me. and then i still see the same pain happening in central african republic. and that is why i still stand very loud and i say this war has to come to an end no matter what it takes. when i went to congo last year towards the end, i met up with the victims. what touch me the most was the young girl who's 14 years old who came, and when i turn to her and then i say, i thought she speaks french, and we don't share any language with the people, but when i turn to her and i started speaking to her in ocholi, and she turned to me, answering me in ocholi.

they made me break down because i exactly saw in her eyes what happened to me when i was growing up. and that became very, very hard on me. and then when i met up with a group of women who were in a workshop in civil society and i could see in their eyes i was the only ugandan seated there, and all of them had these questions of, like, why are we being fought by this one guy, joseph coney, that we don't understand. and the thing that they raised, they say our voices cannot be heard, how did you people do it that the world had your voice, and now the war in northern ugandan is able to get stopped. and one thing that they all echoed was that they all say that because they feel their voices can not be heard, they feel this is a trick of eliminating their ethnic group,

which is the zanda tribe, because when you look at central african republic, sudan and congo, it is it will zanda tribe that joseph coney is harassing. it was difficult for me hearing from them. i told them, there are people out there who can listen. we need to do advocacy, and we need to speak loud so that your voices can be heard. and i have dedicated my life to work for these young people. right now, even if northern uganda is relatively peaceful, but when i go to the congo, seeing the congo, these girls who have come out speaking to them in my own language, people from central african republic, i want to urge the world to stand strong. the war of the lra, whatever approach it is going to take, we need to take a realistic approach of making sure this war

come 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 say if we had an hf radio long time ago i wouldn't have been abducted because the information would have come to me early enough and then i would have hide. if i had, you know, like a communication that could stop me from going out, i would not have suffered as a girl. and 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 narrated 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. but one day i know that this is a story which is very difficult, and why i appreciate the effort of the american government. and yesterday when i heard the president speak, i was very, very impressed because i relate with my own story one day when my son was 12 years old, paul davis, read a story about me in the "african woman" magazine and ask my daddy that, daddy, where 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 those opinions can be taken together, but we have to give a time line. because it will not end unless the perpetrators are brought to book. so i think briefly this is what i have to share. my story is very big. i cannot share it in a brief amount of time. but this is 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 also for your written testimony, which goes into great detail about your personal sufferings and experiences and 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. akai. >> mr. chairman, may i just say before jacob speaks, i'm going to have to leave to go to an energy and water mark-up, of which i'm one of the ranking

members. i'm so grateful. but i'm so grateful for jacob for telling his story. i thank this committee again. i want to mention resolve, as well, which is one of the nonprofits that's been working. they're here in washington with invisible children. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you so much, senator landrieu, for joining us today. jacob, mr. akai, if you'd like to offer your testimony today. >> thank you so much, mr. chairman. on behalf of the survivors and those who are still going through the hardship in central african republic, congo, and sudan, i want to testify and share my story in a struggle for bringing this war which has lasted for more than two decades to an end. being someone who was born through the war, i went through a lot. some were directly to my life and some indirectly.

when i say indirectly, it touched many of my friends, relative, and people whogs here now with me and many of the people who are back at home. i will go into the direct one which has touched my life and try to connect to many who has touched their life as well. they came to me at the age of 12. i was abducted from my village by the lra. and taken. and the way i was abducted was in a way the rebels came around midnight, just in the middle of our sleep, and they broke down our door and got inside where i was sleeping with my cousin and tied us up. and they also went and woke my parents who are sleeping the next door up, and they were seeing us being taken.

but knowing that the rebel soldiers would always find us, they could not do anything that would stop the rebels taking us from away from them. and we walked through the whole night because 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 talked 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, which is 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 me. 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 became

happy, i was, like, wow, so i can see my brother again today. and a week after staying with him, my brother had always been thinking of escaping and coming back home. but it's so hard to do it because someone who knows you are likely to escape. and he tried it. unfortunately, the same group catch up to him in a few minutes after he tried to escape and they brought him back to where we were, where he tried to escape from. and to, like, scare us who have been abducted, alongside 42 kids who were with us, they say whoever tried to escape will be example to the ones who are still here in order to, like, not try to escape. and when they brought him back, they tied him and they killed

him in front of us. 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 feeling still and escape as well. so i pretend and see as if i'm liking what they're 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 called it bullets. i think the group that abducted us were running short of ammunition. so, like, the next group that came from sudan came and brought this ammunition. and their commander ordered someone who was young to carry

for him. and by then i 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, like, talking with the other commander who abducted me. do you have any kid who can come and help me carry small shell? so me being the youngest among the group, the person who abducted me handled me over the this new guy who came from sudan. jacob, you are going to go with this guy and he's heading back to sudan. we shall find you when we get there. just travel on your way to sudan. like, i had no option. i had no decision. 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 alongside 41 kids whom i knew. they were from the same as me. i was a little compatible with them. we can talk and, okay, there's nothing we can do, much as we want to escape, it's hard.

but now i'm being taken away from this group and going to next one, whom i know nobody. so i was a little scared. but at some point i realized that that was my luck. that made me come back home. that made it, like, easier for me to escape because they met actually briefly and they had no time to discover more about me with this commander abducting me. so why staying with the this new commander they wanted to know more from me and, like, he wanted to get to know how long i had stayed with the commander who had abducted me. then to gain his trust, had to lie to him because, like, the more time you stay with them, the more time -- the more freedom they give you because they think you are now loyal to them. so when 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 months, and i'm liking how you guys operate.

actually, i think i'm willing to stay. so in hearing that, he gave me freedom of movement that i can do what i want, since i've stayed for so long now, i know how they operate. but i wake him up whenever he is sleeping and carry shell and go wherever we are going. so i did that for, like, two or three days. but every time i take a new move. like when he's sleeping here, i make sure i go at this time from him. and see if he will react neg tich towards it. but all the time he had trusted me that i stayed for three months so he thought maybe i could not do anything like escaping. so we go out this time and come back and wake him up and i carry shell and we go. i did that for three days. on the fourth day, we are actually heading towards sudan, and he told me, like, jacob, you need to get ready. tonight we are not going to go anywhere. we are going to be in the same position because we want everyone to prepare their food.

tomorrow in the morning we are going to have a long journey. this is going to be about three day, and if we are resting in between it can be less than an hour. so you need to pack all you need for three days, like food and what have you, because we are crossing and we have to go straight to sudan. so i was, like, yeah, that's fine. i have to get ready. is it okay if i stay up late tonight because i want to get -- yeah, you're fine. he just say get ready because it's not going to be easy. so what i did was i have all in my mind right from day one that i need to find way out. i don't need to go to stand. fighting is not the way of solving any problem. but i could not tell them in their 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

people from gulu in sudan and you escape and come to us. it will be so hard for me. so i had to find my way out that very 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 that if they get me i would serve as example. but it was also, like, i had -- i decided i'd rather die in uganda than go to sudan and psi dye in sudan, a country that i've 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 with the commander, we always stay in the middle and there are all these intelligence who are gathering and trained 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 they were setting up, trying to guard the commander so at

least i knew where to go and, like, how to -- people who are, like, trying to guard the commander. so at night i was trying to move and dodge all this thing. but i made it out, and it was very far from where they were going. it just took me the whole night walking, try to find out how i can get to the public who can -- the authorities who can bring me back home. but i'm so happy that when i got to the camp, had that knowledge of at least i knew how to read. and i saw a police post, so i end up 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 the city center was a little safe and that was

where thousands of kids used to go and sleep at night, because the abduction was mainly done during nighttime. so to avoid being exposed at night to abduction, people would go and sleep in the city center. but i could not move to stay while my parents are still in the same place where i was abducted. so what i did, alongside thousands of kids, is at 6:00 every evening we would talk to town, which is about four to 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 process, when i was sleeping there, that is when i met the filmmakers, because the city center was flooded by kids, all these kids who feared for the abduction. i went this guy's camp and 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 a way for these kids sleeping outside. and that is when i kind of felt, like, oh, maybe they want to know more about why we sleep here. and it was not my first time doing that. being someone who could speak a little language, a little english, i talk to people every night who used to come from different countries. so when i told these three boys i didn't expect anything of to speak, to come, i could never imagine myself being where i am right now, but i just wanted them to know why we are sleeping outside. and the fact that they had the camera, it wasn't a big deal to me because i -- like camera is like a brother to white men in africa because whoever is going there at least carry a camera,

so it wasn't a big deal. so, like, these guys, afteri 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 all these kids need to go to school. i feel like an idle mind is always 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 alongside 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 so much, jacob, and thank you, jacob and thank you, jolly, for your testimony, which both in writing and in speaking is a powerful -- one of my objectives as the subcommittee chair was to include more regularly 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 ongoing commitment and support and ranked the lord's resistance army among the great morally challenging atrocities through the last 50 years 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 interested in hearing from both of you, if we could, how can we encourage and support defectors, escapees who are 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 who are 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 who was formerly abducted, is when they have hope when they get back, there's a second chance in life, and this second chance come 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 up to now i'm not over it. when i go back to my home, even the 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 abducted who returned home but have not had the same opportunity as others to integrate fully and have something to do in the

community. imagine a girl who came back with a kid who is very young, and this kid now being called bush children, because these are kids that were not wanted. how do we as community, as ngos, as government, 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 that 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 republic of congo, it has made it very, very hard for even the troops on the ground and the people on the ground to access social services so that they're able to move get the best they can have in their life. and i still ask -- i still say this as we discussed on the train, as you referred to, i

said your voice as american government to the four presidents of the areas affected by the lra, to take full ownership. the government should not turn their 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 where it is still very fresh? what about in south africa and the republic where people are 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 forward, 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 voices are not being heard. and in that workshop there are 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 do we get humanitarian intervention into central africa republic? so those are the few questions that i would answer. >> thank you. if i might just interrupt for one moment. senator isaac has been called to the floor and would like to give a 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.