After approximately two decades (1986-2008) of war between Government troops and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army, no accurate information is available as to who unleashed the agony, suffering, tyranny and death among the civic population of Northern Uganda. In one of the accounts though, the Barlonyo massacre in Lango sub-region on February 21, 2004 was one of the worst atrocities committed by the Lord’s Resistance Army. 121 people mostly men and boys were said to have been slaughtered by the so-called rebels.

One of the survivors (name withheld) narrated that on the night of February 21, 2004, men armed with AK47 rifles marched into their compound and ordered them out of their hut. They massacred her husband and two older sons. She survived with two other younger children upon delaying to come out of the hut. The killers made off to their trail to other homes after.

She gained courage and escaped into the dark jungle with those two children and that is how she survived this ordeal. It is the particular moment, which inspired me to produce the painting (on the right) as she cried to her God for help. In empathy particularly for the innocent population that underwent this carnage, the two paintings below are dedicated in part to the unwavering spirit and stamina of the dead and the survivors who were caught in the vortex of this gruesome conflict.