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 bac

mr. jacob acaye. >> thank you so much mr. chairman.ike to tell you i appreciate the big effort you have put to make sure this will come to an end. it has been going on for the last 26 years. i want to thank senator isakson for being involved. when i met you in gula i was also touched and i want to thank you for all the passion you have to ensure that the children who are suffering in the hands of joseph kony get a second chance as the way i am right now. i want to thank the government so much for being involved in this agenda on top of all of the other issues that they have. it means a lot to us. it shows a lot of love for the people, especially the people of northern uganda, central african republic and the democratic republic of congo. i want to share my personal story. i grew up in northern uganda and from day one, i saw what is now called lra and i lost my teenage to this war. i could not finish it out because i got involved and got abducted and started fighting alongside the rebel groups. my life, see young girl i was tortured. re

mr. jacob acaye who share with us their personal experiences of working to help communities in ugandan recover from the lra and their personal experiences of being victimized by the ra, which i think will add some strength and breadth to today's hearing. as we all know for more than two decades, the lord's resistance army has committed brutal attacks against civilians in central africa that resulted in displacement, kidnapping, mutilation and rape. kony and his commanders have abducted thousands of children forcing them to commit terrible acts and today as i mentioned we're privileged and humbled to hear from two victims, jacob and jolly both about their enduring horrific experiences in uganda and their efforts to live forward and to make positive change in the world from that experience. joseph kony epitomizes the worst of mankind and while the lra has left uganda in 2006, it continues to burn a path of destruction through the whole region. as you can see from this chart, in the past four months alone, the lra has committed 132 attacks in three countries. the central african republic, the dem

acaye. jolly. >> thank you so much, mr. chairman. i would like to appreciate so much the big efforts that you have put to make sure that this will come to an end. it has been going on for the last 26 years. i want to thank senator isaacson personally being involved, when i met you i was also touched to see that and i want to thank you, mary, for you know like the passion you have to ensure that the children who are still suffering in the hands of joseph kony get a second chance like the way i am right now. i want to thank the u.s. government so much for being involved and you know, putting this agenda on top of all other issues that they have. it means a lot to us. that has shown that there is a lot of love for the people, especially the people of northern uganda, central african republic and democratic republic of congo. i want to share my personal story that i grew up in northern uganda. and from day one when this war started i saw it as it transitioned to what is now called the lra, and i lost my teenage to this war, i couldn't fi