A few years ago, the northern Ugandan town of Gulu was dusty and depressed and its streets were lined with thousands of children seeking overnight sanctuary from attacks by the rebel Lord's Resistance Army.
Today, with peace in the air after decades of war, hotels are packed and new banks, bars and businesses line those streets. Motorcycle taxis speed past trucks ferrying goods into town and on to neighbouring Sudan.
Situated in the heart of Uganda's north and just to the south of Sudan-areas that have seen some of Africa's longest conflicts-Gulu has long been a frontier town and a byword for misery. But things are on the up.
"It is a boom town," said Francis Odokorach, a Gulu resident in his 30s. "I have seen this town grow. We were used to only two or three streets."
"The influx of non-governmental organisations has brought money and employment. The banks are coming as this part of Uganda could be the breadbasket and the peace in Southern Sudan has meant dollars are flowing from there," he said.
Over the last two decades, Gulu has been surrounded by a brutal conflict-the war between Uganda's government and the Lord's Resistance Army.
The war has killed tens of thousands and displaced 1.6 million more. Many children became known as "night commuters" as they trekked every evening into town to avoid abduction before returning to schools in the bush.
Now, after nearly two years of negotiations, the warring parties are closer than ever to peace and hope to seal a final deal later this month.
"If it happens, I will be very happy," said Christine Atiero, who was forced to flee her village as the LRA roamed the bush, killing many and kidnapping children to swell their ranks.
'MANY BEERS':
"That day I will take many beers," she added, her face beaming with an enormous grin. LRA negotiators are consulting with their leader, self declared prophet Joseph Kony, but a stumbling block to peace remains the International Criminal Court's indictment of him and the rebel leadership for war crimes.
Kony said this week he would not sign a deal until the warrants are lifted. But residents of the north are desperate to consolidate any chance of peace.
"Things are better now. We can move things on the road without any problems," said a man called Alfred, a former LRA recruit who showed off an old scar on his arm as proof of his war experience.
"This peace will be good. It will allow us to rest from this war," he said, as he restocked his small shop selling sodas. The LRA are now based in the forest of neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo and civilians in Uganda are being encouraged to return to their abandoned homes.
Uganda's conflict also has roots in neglect of the north. Promising to reverse this, the government has vowed to spend $660m there over the next three years on reconstruction.
In the Yub Bedo Pork Roasting Joint, where customers sip their beers and watch music videos over lunch, people already have more money to spend.
"Security wise, things have also improved. But things are rather pricey" said medical student Samuel Nono as he had his hair cut at the God's Gift Barber Shop nearby.
"Since the Sudan border opened, acquiring the basics has become difficult because so many things are going to Sudan," he said of Uganda's neighbour, which ended its own, similarly long war in 2005.
Sudan is due to profit from vast oil reserves but life in Juba, the remote southern capital, remains expensive and many goods have to be trucked hundreds of kilometres, up through Uganda's rough north.