AMNA NAWAZ: How do you
recover from a brutal war?

As Uganda struggles to reconcile
its violent past, education
offers a glimmer of hope.

Special correspondent Fred de
Sam Lazaro reports on one effort
to teach former child soldiers.

It's part of his series
Agents for Change.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The
residents of the Lamunu,
like many communities
in this region, are

trying to regain their rhythm
to bring back some sense of
normalcy with activities that

have long defined community,
like their 35-member dance club.

For nearly three decades,
this region was the epicenter
of one of the most savagely

violent conflicts
in recent history.

The Lord's Resistance Army, or
LRA, was led by Joseph Kony,
who called himself a spokesman

for God.

The LRA's goal was to
overthrow Uganda's government,
a campaign that displaced
close to two million

people.

As many as 35,000 children were
abducted, deployed as servants,
sex slaves and soldiers.

Out of a landscape that
still looks full of
rubble, still shattered
from years of conflict,

a monument to the lives of 28
civilians who were massacred
here in 2002, 28 out of an

estimated 100,000 civilians
who lost their lives.

RICKY RICHARD ANYWAR, Founder,
Friends of Orphans: I can
still remember that clearly

the day I was abducted.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Ricky
Richard Anywar was 14 when he
was abducted alongside his older

brother.

RICKY RICHARD ANYWAR: These
people rounded up our family
members and set them ablaze

while we are watching.

They close the door, and they
set the fire ablaze while
they were asking for mercy.

It was the darkest
moment in my life.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Horrific
as that sounds, it was far
from the most brutal incidents.

RICKY RICHARD ANYWAR: This is
one of the saddest massacres
in Northern Uganda, the way our

people were cooked in
the pot, and people...

FRED DE SAM LAZARO:
Cooked in a pot?

RICKY RICHARD ANYWAR: Yes.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Anywar was
among the lucky few who managed
to escape, returning to his

native town of Pader.

He then learned that his brother
had escaped a year earlier,
only to commit suicide soon

after doing so.

The son of a schoolteacher,
Anywar and two other survivors
founded the Friends of Orphans

School in 1999.

RICKY RICHARD ANYWAR: These
are children of people who
were killed during the war.

These are very bright children.

What they lack is the
resources to educate them.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Two decades
on, about 300 young adults
are enrolled, by now the

children of the
former child soldiers.

They have been shunned
and stigmatized socially,
Anywar says, so the
first task is to provide

them with a safe space to
just relax, play soccer,
or play an instrument.

RICKY RICHARD ANYWAR: We use
our stories to tell these
children what happened to us.

And with that, they get
connected and open to us and
begin working on the journey of

their life.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Then it's
on to learning skills that are,
at least in theory, in demand

in the region, sewing and
tailoring, masonry and building.

Ricky Anywar guided me
through the area's towns.

We visited a welding shop.

MAN (through translator):
The electricity is
always on and off.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO:
Power cuts are frequent,
including on this day.

It seven workers are paid by the
piece, so no work means no pay.

Next up, a music recording
studio, Big Sound Productions,
was started in 2011 by a former

student at Ricky Anywar
school, 30-year-old Charles
Anywar, who's not related.

How is business now?

CHARLES ANYWAR, Owner, Music
Recording Studio: Business now,
it is OK, but, then, I don't

have enough machines.

I have the knowledge for
the work, but I don't
have good machines.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Nearby 1,000
children attend this primary
school in abysmal conditions,

far worse than
elsewhere in Uganda.

Anywar's group provides basic
supplies for about 100 of them.

RICKY RICHARD ANYWAR: Most of
these children, either they
have worn-out uniforms, or they

don't have footwear.

We select the children, those
who are extremely needy.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO:
Just how needy?

I asked teacher Andrew Komakach.

How many of these
children have breakfast?

ANDREW KOMAKACH, Teacher: None.

None of -- none of children.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO:
How about lunch?

ANDREW KOMAKACH: No, there's
no lunch for children.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: You
think they are learning much?

ANDREW KOMAKACH: I don't think
so, because, when you are
hungry, you cannot even study

well.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO:
One of the paradoxes
about trying to bolster
education in this area is

that the best and brightest
are more than likely to
leave cities like Kampala.

The Friends of Orphans
organization says,
over the years, that
it has about 100 youth

who have gone on to
earn college degrees.

Of those, only one has
stayed in the area.

His name is Ronald Okello.

He was abducted by the
LRA at age 11 in 2001.

Four years later, he lost his
right arm in a gun battle,
was captured by the Ugandan

military and taken to a
hospital, before being released.

Ricky Anywar found him by
chance wandering on the
street as he drove by.

RICKY RICHARD ANYWAR:
I had to stop.

And I reversed back and
asked him who he is.

And he say, it is Ronald.

RONALD OKELLO, Uganda: So,
he took to Kampala, a very
good school in Kampala.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: And then
did you also go to college?

RONALD OKELLO: Yes.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: He scrapes
by, he says, buying used shoes
and household items in Kampala

and reselling them in local
markets like this one.

Even for a degree holder,
the prospects here are bleak.

RICKY RICHARD ANYWAR: Most of
the international donors do not
want to fund projects in this

area, because they feel
the war is now over.

The international media's
attention always goes to where
there are fresh wars around

the world.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Some
aid has slowly trickled
in, like roads and power.

It's hardly enough.

And there's even less for social
or reconciliation programs.

Back in Lamunu, where Ricky
Anywar's group has provided some
assistance before, the community

turned out to plead with him
for more help, a well for water,
farm animals, proper clothing

for the traditional dance group.

For the "PBS NewsHour," this is
Fred de Sam Lazaro, reporting
from Pader in Northern Uganda.

AMNA NAWAZ: And Fred's
reporting is in partnership
with the Under-Told
Stories Project at the

University of St.
Thomas in Minnesota.