Intermed. Nightwalkers FINAL, anusiek27
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The night-walkers of Uganda
Level 1
l
Intermediate
1
Key Words
Fill the gaps using these words from the text.
toddler rags warden thug rebellion
abduction beat aid agency damage alcoholism
1. An
is an organization that helps people affected by wars or natural disasters.
2. A
is a violent criminal.
3. A
is a very young child who is learning to walk.
4. A
is someone whose job is to be responsible for a place and check that rules are obeyed.
5. An
is the act of taking someone way from their home or family using force.
6. If something causes
, there is strong opposition to it.
7. To
someone is to hit a person violently several times.
8. To
something is to break it or spoil it.
9.
are clothes that are old, torn and dirty.
10.
is a medical condition that makes it dificult for people to control the amount of drinks such
as wine or beer that they drink.
2
Find the information
Look in the text and ind this information as quickly as possible.
1. What country is Mary Aciro from?
2. Where is this country?
3. What is the LRA?
4. When did children start going into towns?
5. Approximately how many children spend the nights in towns?
6. What problem has existed in Mary’s country for 19 years?
The night-walkers of Uganda
Mary Aciro has spent the day gathering grass to feed the cattle, weeding the vegetables and helping her
mother cook dinner over a ire: the life of any African girl in any African village. But before the sun sets, Mary
leaves the family’s tiny mud hut and walks down a sandy track into the nearest town. The adults in the town
of Lacor in northern Uganda are going home for dinner on buses. Mary and hundreds of other children are
going the other way. They are dressed in rags and lip-lops; some carry sacks or rolled-up blankets on their
shoulders. They are on the way to the night shelters, which are guarded by government troops.
In any other country, a 14-year-old girl leaving her home and an anxious mother for the night would cause
rebellion. Here, it is necessary to survive. “We fear the rebels, we fear thugs and robbers who come at night
to disturb us,” says Mary as she walks.
© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2006
Downloaded from the News Lessons section in
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The night-walkers of Uganda
Level 1
l
Intermediate
On a continent with many wars, the war in this region is particularly bad. It is Africa’s longest civil war, and
perhaps the only conlict in history in which children are both the main victims and the main attackers. Mary
and the other children walk to safety every night because they fear, with good reason, abduction by the
Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a religious rebel group that uses children as soldiers, porters and sexual
slaves. The LRA attacks the villagers at night, killing adults and forcing children to beat their parents before
taking them away to camps deep in the bush.
Mary’s 15-year-old brother, Geoffrey, was abducted by the rebels. He was held for three months. “They
made him carry heavy things, beat him at times, gave him no food,” says their mother, Agnes. Geoffrey only
escaped when a government helicopter attacked the rebel camp he was in. Mary’s neighbour, a girl named
Florence, was abducted too. She spent three years with the rebels: she was forced into sexual slavery and
became pregnant.
In 2002, desperate parents in northern Uganda began sending their children—about 40,000 of them—into
nearby towns at night. Aid agencies built shelters to give them somewhere safe to go, and it’s one of these
that Mary is going to. Mary lives near the town, but some of the other children walk for hours to reach safety.
When she reaches the shelter, it is already full of children of all ages. The shelter is made up of concrete
buildings and giant white canvas tents.
Lillian Apiyo, 14, is already inside. “I come here for protection,” she says. “I always get new friends from
here. There is nowhere to stay at home.” The children walk through the gates looking sad, but a party
atmosphere soon develops. A dozen or so children begin dancing. At other shelters, they sing songs that
cheer them up. The children are not given anything to eat. The shelters are busy enough as it is, and if food
were provided, they would be even busier.
Adult wardens patrol with torches, stopping occasional ights and checking on children who look scared or
upset. “When I am here, I feel I am somebody,” says Gabriel Oloya. “When I am at home, I’m always upset.
Here, I forget my worries.” Gabriel, 15, is responsible for the four younger brothers who walk with him to the
shelter. “My parents are dead, killed by the rebels,” he says.
Childhood is short in rural Africa, but it is even shorter in this society damaged by the war. The children who
come to the shelters are in need of affection. Many of them live with their extended family because their
parents were murdered by the rebels.
In the shelter the wardens keep boys and girls apart, but outside its gates young couples are alone in the
semi-darkness. This sort of thing worries Mary’s mother. “We can’t follow our children up to the shelter,” Agnes
says. “Sometimes a girl says she has gone there, but she has gone to a boyfriend, and she becomes pregnant
and leaves school.” But then there is more to worry about than teenage boys. The tribes of northern Uganda
were once farmers who kept cattle and grew maize. But 19 years of war have destroyed everything: almost
the entire population of the north, 1.5 million people, now live in crowded temporary shelters on the outskirts of
towns. There is alcoholism and violence, and the horror of war is part of everyday life.
The hope of returning to a normal life is slowly disappearing. This is a culture with few written records. When
their parents are gone, the children’s link with their villages will be lost. Who will tell the children the bounda-
ries of farmland or the distance to the nearest stream? “For me, the worst thing that may happen here is a
situation where there is no war, but everybody stays in the camps,” says Father Carlos Rodriguez Soto, a
Roman Catholic priest who has spent 18 years in Uganda.
© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2006
Downloaded from the News Lessons section in
www.onestopenglish.com
The night-walkers of Uganda
Level 1
l
Intermediate
The wardens wake up the children before the sun rises. After a prayer and a wash, some children roll their
blankets on to their shoulders and the older ones gather up younger brothers and sisters. They walk out of
the gates on to the road. By 9 am the sun will burn, but now it is gentle. It is a good time to walk home.
3
Comprehension check
Choose TWO correct answers to complete each sentence:
1. In northern Uganda 40,000 children
a. spend the night in shelters built by aid agencies.
b. leave their homes at the age of 14.
c. are afraid of being captured by the rebels.
2. The LRA is a rebel group that
a. captures children to use them as slaves.
b. attacks villages and murders people at night.
c. takes adults away to camps in the bush.
3. The shelters
a. provide children with food.
b. are a safe place for children to stay.
c. are guarded by government troops.
4. The war in Uganda has lasted so long that
a. it has completely destroyed society.
b. there is little hope of returning to a normal life.
c. people will have to stay in camps forever.
4
Vocabulary 1 Descriptions
Match the words in the left-hand column with those in the right-hand column to form descriptions from the text.
1. a mud
a. building
2. a sandy
b. tent
3. a concrete
c. hut
4. a canvas
d. shelter
5. an extended
e. track
6. a crowded
f. family
© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2006
Downloaded from the News Lessons section in
www.onestopenglish.com
The night-walkers of Uganda
Level 1
l
Intermediate
5
Vocabulary 2 Word building
Complete the table. Check your answers in the text.
Noun (person)
Noun (thing)
1. governor
_____________
2. rebel
_____________
3. abductor
_____________
4. slave
_____________
5. child
_____________
6. farmer
_____________
6
Vocabulary 3 Find the wrong word
Cross out the word or phrase that CAN’T complete the sentence. The irst one is done for you.
1. The children are dressed in
rags
/
torches
/
lip-lops.
2. Some children carry
tracks
/
sacks
/
blankets.
3. Villagers fear
wardens
/
thugs
/
rebels.
4. The rebels use children as
soldiers
/
slaves
/
victims.
5. Shelters are
safe
/
desperate
/
crowded.
6. Some children are
full
/
scared
/
upset.
7. Children need
alcoholism
/
affection
/
protection.
8. In northern Uganda, the society is
damaged
/
destroyed
/
murdered by war.
7
Discussion
Of all the problems in Uganda, which do you think is the most serious of all? Why? What could be done to help
solve it?
© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2006
Downloaded from the News Lessons section in
www.onestopenglish.com
The night-walkers of Uganda
Level 1
l
Intermediate
KEY
1 Key Words
1. aid agency
2. thug
3. toddler
4. warden
5. abduction
6. rebellion
7. beat
8. damage
9. Rags
10. Alcoholism
2 Find the information
1. Uganda
2. in Africa
3. the Lord’s Resistance Army / a rebel group
4. in 2002
5. 40,000
6. a (civil) war
3 Comprehension check
1. a, c; 2. a, b; 3. b, c; 4. a, b
4 Vocabulary 1 Descriptions
1. c; 2. e; 3. a; 4. b; 5. f; 6. d
5 Vocabulary 2 Word building
1. government
2. rebellion
3. abduction
4. slavery
5. childhood
6. farmland
6 Vocabulary 3 Find the wrong word
1. torches
2. tracks
3. wardens
4. victims
5. desperate
6. full
7. alcoholism
8. murdered
© Macmillan Publishers Ltd 2006
Downloaded from the News Lessons section in
www.onestopenglish.com
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