BRIEF SYNOPSIS
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Three boys embark on a difficult mission to rescue their best friend from slavery.
Written in simple English with an African point of view, this award-winning story will tug at your heart strings. Edgar is on his way home to visit his mother after finishing high school exams, when his bus is ambushed by the rebels belonging to the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Along with other passengers, most of whom are students, Edgar is abducted and taken to the LRA headquarters deep in the mountains of southern Sudan. He finds himself caught up in a nightmare he never imagined possible. His life is changed forever.
Edgar's friends learn of his fate and embark on a very challenging and unpredictable rescue mission full of twists and turns. Can they find the strength to continue the difficult search? Can Edgar's faith sustain him long enough to escape the hell he is in? Find out in this compelling narrative about a young man and his faithful friends whose story will remain with you for quite some time.
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This story was inspired by actual events that happened to many young boys and girls in 1990s in northern Uganda, who were abducted by the LRA rebels.
CHAPTER 1
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I was feeling relieved after my high school exams. I also felt confident about my performance, though I tried my best not to show it to my fellow students. Education hadn’t been easy, especially for us students from northern Uganda. Endless wars that brought about untold misery and poverty had been going on for as long as I could remember. Fortunately the constant encouragement by my mother coupled with the fear of disappointing her transformed me into a good student.
I always remembered my mother saying, ‘Edgar, your father worked hard but had no education, and look how he ended up.’ She would pause and then continue, ‘Mark my words, son. With education, people may not like you, but they will respect you.’ She even insisted on fetching water herself from the borehole a mile away so that I would not take time away from my studies. Luckily for me, I had been given financial support by the Catholic church to fund my education.
All these thoughts went through my mind as I walked towards the nearest pub with my three best friends: Wilbur, Sam, and John. We had decided to celebrate the end of the final exams by having drinks.
‘Eddie, you are too quiet. What’s the matter? Aren’t you happy we have finally completed the exams?’ Wilbur asked me.
My friends called me Eddie most of the time. Wilbur, or Willy, as we called him, was very carefree. His family was well-off and lived in the capital city of Kampala, so I wasn’t surprised by his easy attitude. At six feet, Wilbur was the tallest of the group. Sam, John, and I were about an inch shorter, but Sam and I were bigger in size.
I smiled and patted Willy on the back. ‘Relax, Willy. I am coming to the pub with you to celebrate, aren’t I? And here we are.’
All four of us were joking and laughing as we entered the pub. At my insistence, we chose the booth farthest from the door. I didn’t want any of my teachers to see us in a pub. I still respected them even though I had finished high school.
Wilbur ordered some beers, and we started drinking and talking about everything else but school. This went on for a while as Wilbur, good on his promise, kept our bottles coming. We talked about our plans for the next several months while we waited for the exam results.
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