Child Soldier’s Story of Triumph

A former child soldier, David tells an amazing story of not letting the many challenges he has faced shatter his faith and cause him to give up on his relationship with the Lord.

Beyond that, David recently chose Christmas as his birthday, given that he doesn't know when the real date is.

David's story is published in the December 2010 newsletter from Tim and Angie Sliedrecht, Christian Reformed World Missions missionaries in Uganda. They said they hope his story gives a deeper sense of the work that they do, as well as provides inspiration to people for how God can help them face seemingly devastating experiences in life.

To start, David was only 9 years old in June 2003 when he, his parents and other children in his family were abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebel soldiers in Uganda. Not too long after that, his parents "were brutally killed in front of him," say the Sliedrechts in the newsletter.

David said he was then tied to the waist of other abducted children and forced, without much food and without wearing a pair of shoes, to carry heavy loads of materials for many miles. "If they cried or complained, they would be beaten, killed …" write the Sliedrechts.

When they reached a river or swamp, says David, the soldiers would drag them across through the mud and water. Many young people drowned in the process.  Once they made it to the border of Somalia, the young people were sold as slaves. The soldiers got weapons and bullets in return.

Taken to Sudan, David says he went through training to become a LRA soldier. He was tortured and drugged and underwent rituals designed to instill in him the desire to serve as a soldier who was forced to kill others, steal, pillage, and abduct children. For a time, because of the knowledge he had of other languages, David served as a translator for LRA commanders.

After four years, David tried to escape as they were hiding in a dense jungle in Congo. He was captured, shot, stabbed, beaten and left for dead. But he survived, stuffing his neck wounds with grass. With nowhere else to go, he returned to the LRA and had bullets removed from his back.

"It was not until June 2008, five years after his abduction, that he successfully managed to escape," according to the newsletter. He gave himself over to soldiers in the Congo, who returned him to an Army base in Uganda. Soldiers there mistreated him and tried to get him to fight for them. Fortunately, one kind soldier took pity on him and was given permission to take David back to his village.

"They tried to find his relatives, but no one would claim him," write the Sliedrechts.

The soldier then asked his aunt to care for David. She took him in. But even with a stable place to live, David was beset by horrible memories and demons who told him to do awful things.

David ended up in a police station, from where the police contacted the Sliedrechts. "We were able to find him a temporary place to stay, gave him his first Bible" and had one of their co-workers work with David to help bring him to belief in God. David responded enthusiastically.

"David committed his life to  Christ, confessed  before God all that he had done, been through, and witnessed, and forgave each person that harmed him," write the Sliedrechts.

From that point on, he was free from being stalked by the nightmares and violence of his past. "He was free to fully follow God and has been doing so ever since, even in the midst of many trials he was about to face," according to the newsletter.

But his trials, once again, were harsh. He went to a state-run rehabilitation center and school where he was abused. He then attended a Christian boarding school, but had to leave when he ran out of funds.

He returned to live in the village with the kind soldier's aunt and soon found a small, grass-roofed hut to rent.

Using money raised from the bicycling fund raiser, Ride for Refuge (www.rideforrefuge.org) the Sliedrechts have helped him pay for rent, food, household items and school fees.

If only David's trials could have ended there, but he became the focus of harassment of other young people because he had once been a rebel. In November, they burned down his house. Luckily he wasn’t in it at the time.

"Despite all he has been through, David continues to trust in God," write the Sliedrechts. "In fact, it is because all he has been through and survived that he is convinced God has a great purpose for him and praises God for the life He has given him."

Not knowing the date of his real birthday, David chose this Christmas, December 25, to be that day "to celebrate his life with Jesus," write the Sliedrechts.

"Please keep David in your prayers, that he may stand firm in Christ and thus have the strength and courage to press on. Please pray for us as we continue to support, disciple and mentor David," write the missionary couple. Learn more about the Sliedrechts' ministry by visiting: http://sliedrechts.wordpress.com.