Since 1986, over 30,000 boys and girls have been abducted in Northern
Uganda and forced to become soldiers, laborers and sex slaves. These
children are taken by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group that
has waged war against the Ugandan government for nearly two decades.
Children abducted by the LRA are forced to carry out raids, beat and
kill civilians, and abduct other children. They are forced to beat or
trample to death other children who attempt to escape, and are
repeatedly told that they will be killed if they try to run away.
To avoid LRA abduction, every night as many as 40,000 children flee
their homes in the countryside to sleep in the relative safety of
towns. They seek refuge overnight at churches, hospitals, bus stations
and temporary shelters before returning home again each morning. They
are known as "night commuters."
The following photographs were taken by Bruno Stevens in June 2005.