in april of 2006, i was living in virginia. on the evening of the 29th, i left my house and walked to downtown lynchburg, slept on the streets with many others, got up the next morning and walked home.
it was called the global night commute. and it should have changed my life.
and it did. momentarily. we walked downtown and slept that night, just as many did around the USA and the world to show support for the children of uganda, who walk from their homes {sometimes many, many miles} every single night to the center of their city to sleep in order to not be abducted by the LRA, the lord's resistance army. monsters, at best.
they abduct these ugandan children and turn the girls into sex slaves and the boys into soldiers. they rape these children, force these children to kill their parents, force them to mutilate and kill others, and kill them. for absolutely no reason. there is no cause. just power. this guerrilla group exists for the sake of power. and kill and enslave to reinforce that power.
in 2007, many friends of mine participated in displace me. i wasn't able to attend but a year after we showed support at the global night commute, they did again with this event. i urge you to google both events.
in 2008, i began donating monthly to invisible children, the organization that fights to bring awareness to this crisis and also fights to stop it. in 2008, i became one of the apathetic. writing my check, feeling good about myself, and forgetting their faces.
i "follow" invisible children on Facebook and i knew from posts that they had a short film coming out. i made a mental note to watch it. and then when it premiered the other day, i forgot. last night, i couldn't sleep. i like to think that was divine. i got on my phone to pass the time and saw the link to the video. perfect, i thought. i'll watch it now.
30 minutes? i didn't want to stay up 30 more minutes. i told myself i'd watch a few minutes and finish it this morning. 30 minutes and a fair bit of weeping later, i watched it again.
i realize you are busy. but this will be the most important 30 minutes you give today. please. watch this video. you can find it HERE. there are moments it is hard to watch. but you need to watch it. we all need to be aware.
i have talked on occasion about social media and wondered with friends whether Hitler would have terrorized as long as he did if people were more aware of what was happening. it's fact that the reports of genocide were delayed - normal citizens were limited to what the government told them about that crisis. with things like facebook and the internet, we are not.
we can tell anyone and everyone about what is happening in uganda.
what has been happening in uganda for 26 years. 26 years. and no one knew. no one talked about it. no one stopped it.
and now we can. the LRA's leader joseph kony was indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity in 2005. and you don't know his name.
but now you do. the more people know, the more people care, the better chance there is of finding him and putting a stop to this crisis once and for all. you'll see in the film that america has recently started aiding uganda in finding him. but if it's not important to the masses, they'll likely stop. we have to tell them it's important.
the invisible children organization says that where you live shouldn't decide whether you live. and i agree. and i believe you do too. there are thousands of causes all over the world and we are asked to donate, to help, to aid someone or some cause all the time. i get that. i don't want to say one cause is more important than another. but i would say that stopping the murder, rape, enslavement & torture of CHILDREN is something we would all say is of the utmost importance.
write a letter to washington. hang a poster. wear a bracelet, call your congressman.
make joseph kony's name famous.
i'm 26 years old. this started when i was born. learning about the holocaust in school, i remember thinking "i'm glad stuff like that doesn't happen now." i have been confident that the world i live in wouldn't let this happen. but if you don't know it's happening, how can you stop it?
now we know. and we can do something, give something, stop something, change something, heal something, vindicate something.
and we could do this very simply.
not asking for thousands of dollars. just your VOICE.
let's make kony famous.
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visit www.invisiblechildren.com and www.facebook.com/invisiblechildren to make the pledge, watch the video, track the progress, get addresses for american politicians, get the kit, and find out about the night we can change everything - april 20, 2012. if nothing else, watch the video. it will be the best thing you do today. we can change this world. use your voice.
