The efforts by young Americans to bring about International awareness of the crises in Northern and Eastern Uganda, under dictator Yoweri Musecebeni Kaguta regime, is quiet commendable. Hopefully with this kind of pressure the US Congress and Senate will do something to address the crises in Northern and Eastern Uganda with a goal to end it once and for all.
Matek
Seeing the invisible children
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| North Middle School students, from left, Hannah Clausen, Candice Schoenherr and Brittney Anderson show some of the rummage sale items tghat will available today from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Leeds Legion Hall. (Staff photo by Jerry Mennenga) | ||
A boy walks barefoot through a city street in northern Uganda. A straw mat is slung over his shoulder. He is walking briskly, trying to get to the hospital before night falls -- before the rebels have a chance to abduct him.
Similar stories and images as documented in the film "Invisible Children," have inspired two North Middle School seventh-graders to organize a rummage sale and bake sale today to benefit northern Ugandan children, who flee their villages each night to hide from the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group intent on overthrowing the Ugandan government for the past 20 years.
Candice Schoenherr and Hannah Clausen learned about the invisible children during a unit on children's rights in their reading class. Their class watched the film "Invisible Children," a documentary produced by three young Americans from California who traveled to northern Uganda in the spring of 2003.
Similar stories and images as documented in the film "Invisible Children," have inspired two North Middle School seventh-graders to organize a rummage sale and bake sale today to benefit northern Ugandan children, who flee their villages each night to hide from the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group intent on overthrowing the Ugandan government for the past 20 years.
Candice Schoenherr and Hannah Clausen learned about the invisible children during a unit on children's rights in their reading class. Their class watched the film "Invisible Children," a documentary produced by three young Americans from California who traveled to northern Uganda in the spring of 2003.
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The film tells the story of northern Ugandan children, as young as 8 years old, who are kidnapped from their homes by the LRA. While in the custody of the LRA, the children are trained to fight and kill.
The United Nations estimates 300,000 children under 18 are currently fighting in conflicts around the world. Hundreds of thousands more are trained for combat or used as laborers. According to Invisible Children Inc., 1.7 million people have been forcibly displaced and an estimated 20,000 to 50,000 children have been abducted to fight as soldiers in Northern Uganda.
"If you just saw the movie it would make you cry," Clausen said. "Some people on the news have it bad, but I don't think they have it as worse as these kids."
Fleeing on foot every night, the invisible children head for the hospitals, bus stations, verandas and other public places to take refuge. Conditions are claustrophobic and space is precious. Thousands of children cover the floors of a few rooms each night.
Although the film's images and stories were striking, Schoenherr said it was a visit from representatives from Invisible Children Inc., a nonprofit group inspired by the documentary, that encouraged them to do something to help.
"After we saw the video, they came to our school and did a presentation and they told us we could help them," she said. "(The children) were poor and they said they wanted to go to school and they wanted to be lawyers and teachers. Maybe if we sent them enough money we could help them with some of this stuff."
The girls, with a little help of their mothers and their teacher Pat Anderson, went to work.
"These young ladies went out and did this on their own," Pat Anderson, Clausen and Schoenherr's teacher said. "They took it upon themselves to do something to help."
Clausen's mother, Becky, said her daughter couldn't stop talking about the invisible children and what she might be able to do to help them.
"When she came home that day all she could talk about was what can we do," she said. "We went online and tried to find some information and we went from there."
Even though her situation is quite different from that of the invisible children, Clausen said she could identify with them.
"I think we're kind of the same, but they just can't fulfill their dreams because they can't pay for school and stuff," she said.
Through the rummage sale and bake sale, Clausen and Schoenherr said they hope to raise between $500 and $700 to help the invisible children achieve some of their dreams. Several local businesses have already given Clausen and Schoenherr contributions.
Proceeds raised will be sent to Invisible Children Inc. The nonprofit group uses donations to raise awareness and advocacy. Funds also benefit the Invisible Children Education Program, which sponsors children from elementary through high school age.
The rummage sale and bake sale will be from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. today at the Leeds Legion Hall. Bracelet making will also be available for children.
Schoenherr's mother, Tammy, said she is proud of the girls and hopes they will make fundraising an annual event.
"I think it's wonderful," she said. "They see this video at school and then just instantly they want to do what they can to raise money to let these kids over there have at least some stuff that they have."
The United Nations estimates 300,000 children under 18 are currently fighting in conflicts around the world. Hundreds of thousands more are trained for combat or used as laborers. According to Invisible Children Inc., 1.7 million people have been forcibly displaced and an estimated 20,000 to 50,000 children have been abducted to fight as soldiers in Northern Uganda.
"If you just saw the movie it would make you cry," Clausen said. "Some people on the news have it bad, but I don't think they have it as worse as these kids."
Fleeing on foot every night, the invisible children head for the hospitals, bus stations, verandas and other public places to take refuge. Conditions are claustrophobic and space is precious. Thousands of children cover the floors of a few rooms each night.
Although the film's images and stories were striking, Schoenherr said it was a visit from representatives from Invisible Children Inc., a nonprofit group inspired by the documentary, that encouraged them to do something to help.
"After we saw the video, they came to our school and did a presentation and they told us we could help them," she said. "(The children) were poor and they said they wanted to go to school and they wanted to be lawyers and teachers. Maybe if we sent them enough money we could help them with some of this stuff."
The girls, with a little help of their mothers and their teacher Pat Anderson, went to work.
"These young ladies went out and did this on their own," Pat Anderson, Clausen and Schoenherr's teacher said. "They took it upon themselves to do something to help."
Clausen's mother, Becky, said her daughter couldn't stop talking about the invisible children and what she might be able to do to help them.
"When she came home that day all she could talk about was what can we do," she said. "We went online and tried to find some information and we went from there."
Even though her situation is quite different from that of the invisible children, Clausen said she could identify with them.
"I think we're kind of the same, but they just can't fulfill their dreams because they can't pay for school and stuff," she said.
Through the rummage sale and bake sale, Clausen and Schoenherr said they hope to raise between $500 and $700 to help the invisible children achieve some of their dreams. Several local businesses have already given Clausen and Schoenherr contributions.
Proceeds raised will be sent to Invisible Children Inc. The nonprofit group uses donations to raise awareness and advocacy. Funds also benefit the Invisible Children Education Program, which sponsors children from elementary through high school age.
The rummage sale and bake sale will be from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. today at the Leeds Legion Hall. Bracelet making will also be available for children.
Schoenherr's mother, Tammy, said she is proud of the girls and hopes they will make fundraising an annual event.
"I think it's wonderful," she said. "They see this video at school and then just instantly they want to do what they can to raise money to let these kids over there have at least some stuff that they have."
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