Do you know who the “night commuters” are? They are not third–shift workers making their way to their jobs. They are the people, mostly children and young adults, who make a dangerous nightly trek from “internally displaced persons” (IDP) camps in northern Uganda to sleeping shelters in nearby cities. They go because they are in more danger if they stay where they are.

Soldiers from the Lord’s Republican Army (LRA) often raid the camps, where some people have lived for two decades, and the Ugandan army does little to stop them. The “soldiers” are looking for children they can abduct and conscript into service.

Girl Soldier, by Faith J. H. McDonnell and Grace Akallo, paints a horrific picture of the situation in Uganda. In alternate chapters, Faith paints the landscape in broad strokes and Grace draws a vivid, detailed foreground as she tells her own story.

Grace was abducted by the LRA, led by warlord Joseph Kony. Grace, Faith tells us, is one of 50,000 children who have been taken.

“The LRA [attempting to overthrow the Ugandan government] perpetuates a hideous cycle. Children abduct and kill children,” writes Faith. “These kidnapped children are brainwashed and transformed into killing machines.”

The LRA smashed into St. Mary’s College, a girl’s boarding school in Aboke, Uganda, on the night of Oct. 10, 1996. Grace says rebels forced their way into her school with their AK–47s, ripped 139 girls from their beds, and forced them into the cold night.

“Jesus, help me,” was Grace’s whispered prayer. Her belief that God would one day rescue her kept her spirit strong through forced marches, near starvation, rape by an old soldier named as her “husband,” and much more.

As the months dragged on, Grace and her classmates, known as the “Aboke girls,” awakened the world to the plight of child soldiers in Uganda.

Grace escaped during a battle when she heard a voice say, “Get up and move away from here.”

“I obeyed the gentle voice, picked up my gun, tied my cooking pans on my back … and walked across the camp.” A bullet hit a pan, and Grace fell. But she wasn’t hurt, so she moved on. Other girls joined her. As they crossed a river, they abandoned their guns—and some thought, all hope.

But the girls found their way to some Ugandan soldiers, who took them to World Vision. Faith, the daughter of Salvation Army officers, is part of that organization.

Grace’s personal story is riveting, heart–breaking, and ultimately, hopeful. Faith’s counterpoint “big picture” chapters are a wake–up call to the struggle still raging in Uganda.

Faith ends the book by providing suggestions about how readers can get involved—politically, physically, and spiritually. She challenges some to use their gifts by going to Uganda to help. You just might be spurred to do that—or at least to become a prayer intercessor for the children—if you read this book.

Girl Soldier is available in bookstores.