Sunset in Northern Uganda. The Jaska children, living in a village near the city of Gulu, bid their mother, Amono, farewell.

It's a nightly routine; carrying blankets, pillows and bedrolls, walking several miles to urban shelters where they bunk down until sunrise.

They conclude their day playing games and finishing up homework assignments. After bathing, it's lights out.

Tens of thousands of children in northern Uganda and south Sudan known as the night commuters repeat this routine every evening. Some have done so for more than two or three years.

Why? They fear the man Joseph Kony, one of the most wanted men in the world, and his cult-like band of terrorists known as the Lord's Resistance Army – the LRA. Kony has been offered amnesty by the President of Uganda if he pledges to give up terrorism. The amnesty offer comes as peace talks between Uganda and the LRA are set to begin in Juba, South Sudan.

Last year, the International Criminal Court indicted Kony and four of his lieutenants on charges of committing crimes against humanity.

However, Kony denies the LRA has carried out atrocities, calling the allegations "Ugandan Government Propoganda."

But for more than 15 years, Kony and his militiamen have terrorized the people of this East Africa region raping, murdering, mutilating and abducting innocents.

Sophia Apiro saw her husband hacked to death during an attack on her village. She was disfigured when an LRA soldier cut off her lips and ears with a razor blade.

"I prayed, Jesus come and help me,” Apiro said. “A spirit of peace surrounded me and I felt Jesus saying, you will not die. You will live so that you may look after your children."

For 25-year old Florence Lamaka and her mother-in-law Feliciana, tilling this garden is tedious and painful. Their left hands were severed when they were abducted by the LRA. But it wasn't an LRA soldier who dismembered them. Florence was forced to cut off Feliciana's hand with an axe. Maimed and bleeding, Feliciana was then ordered to do the same to her pregnant daughter-in-law.

"An LRA soldier stood behind me with a gun and he said if you do not cut the hand of this one, I'm going to shoot you…It was hard, but I had no other choice. I did it to save our lives," said Feliciana.

On a typical day in the village of Alogwi, not far from Nimule, south Sudan, you'd see much activity: Children playing, women tending to these crops.

But no longer. It's a virtual ghost town. That's because the LRA came in here and raided this village in early May. They killed several people, they abducted children and they raped several of the young girls."

During a raid on the village of Pagari last spring, 11-year old Alex Lagu and 5-year old Steven Obulejo witnessed the slaughter of their parents. Alex was shot in the shoulder and left for dead. His left arm was amputated as a result. Stevem lost his left arm when an LRA soldier attacked him with a machete.

American missionary, Sam Childers, has rescued more than 400 Ugandan and Sudanese children from the LRA during the past three years. He has given them a safe haven at his Children's Village in Nimule.

CBN News witnessed Alex and Steven's arrival and Childers' response.

"Tell them they both can come tonight or tomorrow, it doesn't matter,” Childers said. “They're welcome to come stay… Tell them, Tom-Tom will not come here and harm them."

Last May, the LRA also attacked a village not far from Childers's compound. That prompted the construction of this chain-link fence financed by Cornerstone Television of Pittsburgh. Childers has armed guards patrolling the Children's Village around the clock, especially late at night – the LRA's preferred time of attack.

While the security measures help reassure the children that they'll be safe, these youngsters are still chained by horrifying memories that torment their minds.

"If you sleep here on the compound there is not at night that goes by that you won't hear the cries and screams in the middle of the night,” Childers said. “These children got to re-live what happened to them."

Childers said he is praying that God will send experienced Christian trauma counselors to Children's Village to minister to those abused by the LRA.

Girls, like Mary and Betty, have been abducted by the LRA and forced to service the sexual desires of their captors.

Childers rescued 11-year old Betty in 2003.

"She came with us when she was nine and she was sexually abused very bad,” Childers said. “She couldn't even hardly walk when she came. And now, these two are the leaders of our choir."

This nightly ritual of song and dance by the Children's Village kids contrasts with that of the nightly commuters. For a few moments, these children forget the horrors and atrocities they've witnessed and experienced.

Childers said he will continue to rescue children until the terror spread by Joseph Kony and the LRA comes to an end.

In the meantime he's building more housing-4 dormitories for the kids.

"This building here is one that was fully funded by CBN," Childers said.

The building is significant for the children. "Instead of one big building where there's 50 kids sleeping inside, now they have a home,” said Childers. “Now this first house that we have done, the children will be moving in I hope within the next couple of days. We're going to put the older children inside of here. They're older and everything so they need their own privacy."

This visit was longer than usual for Childers. After a stay of nearly three months, it's time to bid farewell to his African children and return to his American family in Pennsylvania. He'll return to Sudan perhaps in the fall. He leaves Children's Village reassured – the new fence has made the compound more secure. He knows the new dormitories will mean more children will be rescued. And Childers is confident new orphan arrivals Alex and Steven are now living in a safe place, a home filled with love and hope…

"You know, a lot of these young children – they've never experienced God in the way that we have,” said Childers. “We lift everything to Heaven because it's our only hope. These children, all they know is their only hope could be us."