Choose Your Own

Adventure
Fate of African Children by Laurain Park

You are a 14 year old teenager named Themba

Okello, living in Uganda. Because compulsory
education is not common in Africa, you decide
to
Go to school. I want
to learn.
(Go to 3)

Dont go to school.
Education is overrated.
Farming sounds fun.
(Go to 6)

Stay at home. Ill figure

something out.
(Go to 4)

Stay at home. I cant

study when my family is
living in poverty.
(Go to 5)

You go to school. The guerrilla soldiers from

Lords Resistance Army(LRA) attacks and
abducts you and your classmates.
You are taken by
LRA soldiers.
(Go to 8)

The Lords Resistance Army(LRA) threatens to

attack your village if the villagers wont provide
certain number of children. Your villagers
decides to send you and your neighbors.
You are taken by
LRA soldiers.
(Go to 8)

Due to extreme poverty and hunger, you are

volunteered to join Lords Resistance
Army(LRA) by your parents.
You are taken by
LRA soldiers.
(Go to 8)

You go to your family field to farm with your

parents. Armed Lords Resistance Army(LRA)
soldiers with stolen Ugandan army uniforms
surrounds you and your parents. The man with
the bayonet asks, Are they your parents?
Say yes.
(Go to 7)

Say no.
(Go to 8)

They make you kill your parents, so you would

have no other choice other than to go with the
soldiers. Your village wont welcome a killer and
you are now an orphan.
You are taken by
LRA soldiers.
(Go to 8)

They take you to their commander to force you

to join the army. You remember one of your
friends talking about how they are not very
interested in recruiting the children of your
opposite gender. You say...
Ill be useless! What
can a little boy do in
LRA?
(Go to 12)

Ill be useless! What can

a little girl do in LRA?
(Go to 9)

About 40% of the child soldiers are girls. They

either cook or do other chores. They are forced
to be wives(i.e. sex slaves) for male soldiers.
You are forced to be a
wife of a
commander.
(Go to 10)

You soon become pregnant after being forced to

become the wife of a rebel commander, but
the hard labour caused you to miscarry. You go
through an agonizing operation without
anesthesia. After the operation, you
You mourn for your
childs death. Still, it
was your baby.
(Go to 11)

Act like nothing

happened. You didnt
want the baby anyway.
(Go to 18)

10

THE END
You get caught crying after your childs death.
Soldiers decides that you are now useless and
both physically and mentally weakened, so they
kill you.

11

They ask you to write your name. You expect

them to provide pen and paper, but instead, four
teenagers beat you up with a large club. They
say theyll kill you if you scream.
You completely
abandon any hope of
better life.
(Go to 13)

12

The day after, they ask you if you want to rest.

Honesty is the best

policy. Say yes.
(Go to 14)

Act like youre okay. Say

no.
(Go to 15)

13

THE END

They take you under a tree and kill you.

14

One of your friend suggests to escape with him.

Hopeless, you dont think you can escape, and
even though you escape, you have nowhere to
go. Alone, your friend tries to escape and gets
caught. The soldiers make you kill your friend.
You cant kill him. He
is your friend.
(Go to 16)

You have no other

choice than to kill your
friend if the soldiers
make you do so.
(Go to 17)

15

THE END

Both you and your friend gets killed.

16

Now, you feel like youre part of LRA after your

first murder. There is no going back. You are not
innocent anymore. You are aggressive and it
seems like youre now enjoying the life as a
brutal killer.
Now, you feel like
every living people
around you should be
killed.
(Go to 18)

17

After few years, you see slight hope of escape.

You decide to

Escape. This place is

hell.
(Go to 20)

Stay. You know you

cant escape.
(Go to 19)

18

THE END

You die in the battlefield. Ah, what a grim life.

19

You escape and you seek for another chance for a

better life.

20

THE END

Your name, Themba, means hope.

Hope is alive and well for you, and so is for
Africa.

21

Work Cited

Information Sources:
Coughlan, S. (2015, February 25). South Sudans struggle for school hit by abductions BBC News. Retrieved
from http://www.bbc.com
Storr, W. (2014, February 12). Konys child soldiers: When you kill for the first time, you change. The Telegraph.
Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk
Child soldiers. (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.warchild.org.uk
Craine, A. G. (2015, January 18). Joseph Kony Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from http://
www.britannica.com
Photos:
Child in Uganda. (n.d) Retrieved from http://wallippo.com
Security Council Condemns Actions of LRA in Central Africa, Demands End to All Attacks. (n.d) Retrieved from http://
un.org
Uganda. (n.d) Retrieved from http://irishaid.ie
Security Council Urges Regional Cooperation to Tackle Lords Resistance Army Threat. (n.d) Retrieved from http://un.org
Social Conditions - AP Geography MUN Uganda. (n.d) Retrieved from http://sited.google.com
Le Recrutement Denfants Soldats Augmente En Rpublique Centrafricaine. (n.d) Retrieved from http://
www.foundationchirac.eu
Quotes On War Strategy (n.d) Retrieved from http://bodysmartinc.com
Resistance Studies. (n.d) Retrieved from http://resistancestudies.org
Abandoned People: Central African Republic. (n.d) Retrieved from http://pulitzercenter.org
Former Child Soldiers in Uganda Have Renewed Hope for Future. (n.d). Retrieved from http://www.thestar.com
7th Annual San Fransisco International Womens Film Festival April 6-10 CultureMob (n.d). Retrieved from http://
culturemob.com
Hope The Clarion Call to Leadership! (n.d). Retrieved from http://www.clarionenterprises.com