WWII vet in Acholi land?

I walked down the dirt path very eager to see the home of one of the students from Anaka named Denis. He had invited me to visit his village while we were working in the garden at the Parish transplanting trees the previous day and I immediately accepted. We approached the three huts that make up his family's homestead. The huts sat on freshly swept dirt and were surrounded by fields of simsim, g-nuts, and corn. Baby goats grazed outside of Denis' personal hut, they were trying to get milk from their mother as we walked inside. We were waiting for Denis' mother to come and greet us. After a few minutes, she came and I found out she did not speak any English. However, she expressed to me that I was more than welcome by the bright smile she wore and the gift of millet and g-nut paste that she brought for us to eat.

After lunch we walked about 70 yards to his grandfather's house who I was very excited to see and interview. The day before, Denis had told me that his grandfather had actually fought in WWII. This came as a shock at first, but Denis explained that his grandfather and many other Acholi people had been rounded up and forced to fight by their colonial masters, the British, during the war. As I walked onto his grandfather's land, we found him taking his rest under a shade tree sitting in a chair. We exchanged greetings and Denis, who acted as the translator, got his permission for me to interview him on my video camera. Here is his story.....

When Denis' grandfather was 16 years old, he was taken out of school and forced to fight in a war that he didn't have much knowledge or stake in. He was a member of the Acholi tribe who were seen by the British as a being very strong and brave and therefore useful as manpower in their fight against the axis powers. So at a young age he was put on a plane and shipped to Ethiopia to fight in a land he didn't know and for a country he didn't belong to. Without the motivation of a sense of duty or patriotism, his sole reason for fighting... was survival. Kill the enemy and get back home was what drove him. During his time he met people from all over the world, Israel, Japan, America, Europe, etc. but he really desired to be back with his own people. After two years when he finally did make it back, he danced for joy on his native soil that he thought he would never see again.

I was thrilled to have had the opportunity to hear this man's tale, but the last question from our interview was for me. He asked if I thought the British were ever going to pay him and his people the money that was promised for the work that they did during the war. I felt a little awkward, but told him I was unsure of Britain's intentions. However, in my head I was thinking that there is no way that this man is ever going to see a dime for what he did during those years of war. I thanked him for his time and Denis and I walked back to the school.

It is so amazing the people that God allows us to meet in this life. I am forever thankful for moments like these and it really makes me value the power of people's story to help us better understand ourselves and our world. May we all continue to have an open mind, to have conversations, and to have a greater awareness as we journey. Peace.