First Kill Your Family

Posted on 17 March 2018 by Peter Eichstaedt

Richard Opio has neither the look of a cold blooded killer nor the heart of one Yet as his mother and father lay on the ground with their hands tied, Richard used the blunt end of an ax to crush their skulls He was ordered to do this by a unit commander of the Lord s Resistance Army, a rebel group that has terrorized northern Uganda for twenty years The memory racks Richard s slender body as he wipes away tears For than twenty years, beginning in the mid 1980s, the Lord s Resistance Army has ravaged northern Uganda Tens of thousands have been slaughtered, and thousands mutilated and traumatized At least 1.5 million people have been driven from a pastoral existence into the squalor of refugee camps The leader of the rebel army is the rarely seen Joseph Kony, a former witchdoctor and self professed spirit medium who continues to evade justice and wield power from somewhere near the Congo Sudan border Kony claims he not only can predict the future but also can control the minds of his fighters And control them he does the Lord s Resistance Army consists of children who are abducted from their homes under cover of night As initiation, the boys are forced to commit atrocities murdering their parents, friends, and relatives and the kidnapped girls are forced into lives of sexual slavery and labor In First Kill Your Family, veteran journalist Peter Eichstaedt goes into the war torn villages and refugee camps, talking to former child soldiers, child brides, and other victims He examines the cultlike convictions of the army how a pervasive belief in witchcraft, the spirit world, and the supernatural gave rise to this and other deadly movements and what the global community can do to bring peace and justice to the region This insightful analysis delves into the war s foundations and argues that, much like Rwanda s genocide, international intervention is needed to stop Africa s virulent cycle of violence. New Download Kindle ePUB First Kill Your Family by Peter Eichstaedt – kino-fada.fr His lack of insight is sometimes astounding on p 97 Appeals to the Aristotelian notion of man s highest aspect, the soul, are littlethan deceptive sales gimmicks, crude tricks on a street corner that rob the poor of what little they have, even life and limb Everyone and everything is fair game And it is all done for the aggrandizement of the hucksters and the silver tongued preachers he is, in fact, trashing witch doctors taking degrading descriptions from the local Catholic prie His lack of insight is sometimes astounding on p 97 Appeals to the Aristotelian notion of man s highest aspect, the soul, are littlethan deceptive sales gimmicks, crude tricks on a street corner that rob the poor of what little they have, even life and limb Everyone and everything is fair game And it is all done for the aggrandizement of the hucksters and the silver tongued preachers he is, in fact, trashing witch doctors taking degrading descriptions from the local Catholic priests he seems to entirely miss the irony that he could be trashing priests and taking descriptions from...Interesting book on the ongoing war in Uganda Does a great job explaining many of the things that confuse me about Africa, tribalism, problems caused by post colonial borders that don t take the pre colonial factors into account, the seeming abandonment of kidnaped child soldiers an...This is a brilliant telling of the story of the Lord s Resistance Army and how they ve affected northern Uganda, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic over their twenty year reign Written by a journalist who specialized in the area at a time when no one knew what the LRA was, the book is part history and part investigative journalism, talking in detail of the origins of this cult army responsible for the death and displacement of millions of Ugandans while also explainingcurrent d This is a brilliant telling of the story of the Lord s Resistance Army and how they ve affected northern Uganda, South Su...For comparison s sake I would say that this book is the Ugandan equivalent of Philip Gourevitch s book We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families on the Rwandan genocide and that s very high praise, just for the record In fact I wouldn t be surprised if Peter Eichstaedt had this book in mind while he was writing it has the same combinati...Can we all get along By the time I staggered to the end of this book, I thought of Rodney King and his plea for calm during the 1992 L.A riots Apparently, L.A to Uganda, just getting along is quite the challenge Take a very polite mana peaceful farmer cum witch doctor who then becomes a revolutionary force and returns to viciously attack his h...This was a bit dry being that it was written from a journalists point of view, however, the information that he put forth is very disturbing It seems that there is nothing that anyone can or will do to stop the devastation that the Lord s Resistence Army continues to perpetuate I found it incredible that the World is not doing anything to stop...This book really explains the 20 year war that has been going on in Northern Uganda and now spreading to neighboring countries it s origins, major players, the politics involved, and notable events I was relieved, at the end of the book, to learn that even the author still doesn t understand the motives of Joseph Kony and why this war has lasted so long I especially appreciated learningabout the role of the Ugandan government and the conspiracies involved There is so little availabl This book really explains the 20 year war that has been going on in Northern Uganda and now spreading to neighboring countries it s origins, major players, the politics involved, and notable events I was relieved, at the end of the book, to learn that even the author still doesn t understand the motives of Joseph Kony and why this war has lasted so long I especially appreciated learningabout the role of the...Eichstaedt puts forth a detailed accounting of the often ignored horrors taking place in Uganda, including kidnapping young children to serve as soldiers or brides i.e sex slaves , the beating, mutilation and murder of dissenters, and the overall destruction of the country as it spirals out of control through violence, avarice, and greed While the book takes ajournalistic approach, it does include copious first person accounts and leaves the reader wondering why we know so little or Eichstaedt puts forth a detailed accounting of the often ignored horrors taking place in Uganda, including kidnapping young children to serve as soldiers or brides i.e sex slaves , the beating, mutilation and murder of dissenters, and the overall destruction of the country as it spirals out...The book follows the Ugandan history of Joseph Kony and the Lord s Resistance Army It is a terrible history and therefore not always an enjoyable read Still i believe it is very important to know about the situation Africa s wars and problems have been generally overlooked, something i find horrible Peter Eichstaedt portrays s...I thought this would beabout child soldiers and less about the Lord s Resistance Army so I was disappointed when it really was about the LRA Good information to read before going to Uganda but not a book I d ever pick up again.

English
17 March 2018

Peter Eichstaedt