Book Review: The Spill of Blood by Fr Paul Peter Rom

Imagine that you are part of a group of people, the Acoli of North Uganda, a group that has seen their people massacred, looted, abducted and raped by a bizarrely christian-sounding organisation called the Lord's Resistance Army or LRA. How would you respond to this monstrous violence as a Christian?

Fr Paul Peter Rom is a Roman Catholic priest from the Acoli people and his response in this book is simply magnificent. Writing this review as a white European, the first part of Paul Peter's book could have been written by any Western-educated intellectual or academic: The Spill of Blood is a chilling and factual account of the nightmarish history of the Acoli people and their sufferings at the hands of the LRA.

The second part of the book, the Lamentations of Lamalo, however, is a powerful and inspirational epic poem blending the eloquence and righteousness of an Old Testament Prophet with the idioms and language of Africa. I believe that this work will come to represent the very best of the African-Christian response to violence.

As Fr Paul Peter realises too well: "If we do not write, no one will know that we know... and that it happened."

"The LRA is accused of widespread human rights violations, including murder, abduction, mutilation, sexual enslavement of women and children and forcing children to participate in hostilities..." extract from Wikipedia entry on the LRA.

The Spill of Blood by Fr Paul Peter Rom published by Rossendale Books today, is available from: www.lulu.com/product/paperback/the-spill-of-blood-the-lamentations-of-lamalo/18549362