Page 1 of 1

Invisible Children

PostPosted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 10:41 pm
by c-girl
YES!! THIS SUBJECT IS WORTH YOUR TIME!!!
THIS IS AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE ABOUT THE CHILDREN AND THE REST OF THE PEOPLE OF UGANDA! Please read!-----------------

Image

Image


Now that I've got your attention..............................

Recently my school had an assembly about the terror going on in Uganda. Which I've only heard once before about last year in the news paper before the assembly.
Here was an article given to us before the assembly, to give you a background of what has been going on.

[I]With an armed rebellion threatening to undermine Uganda’s progress to economic development, child soldiers emerge as central figures amid deadly violence and growing humanitarian emergency.

The bustling capital city of Kampala, located in the south, exemplifies Uganda’s transformation from a country plagued by economic decay to prosperity. With a revitalized GDP growth of more than 8% over the past three years, Uganda comes across as a compelling story of hope for other African nations. However, an armed insurgency in northern and eastern Uganda has created one of Africa’s largest displaced populations.

The 18-year old rebellion of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) against the government has forced over 1.6 million Ugandans - half of them children - to flee to squalid and overcrowded camps in order to escape wanton attacks and killings. The number of internally displaced persons has almost tripled since 2002. Attacks on soft civilian targets continue, carried out by child soldiers much younger than their victims.

The most disturbing aspect of this humanitarian crisis is the fact that this is a war fought by children on children - minors make up almost 90% of the LRA’s soldiers. Some recruits are as young as eight and are inducted through raids on villages. They are brutalized and forced to commit atrocities on fellow abductees and even siblings. Those who attempt to escape are killed. For those living in a state of constant fear, violence becomes a way of life and the psychological trauma is incalculable. Fearing abduction, streams of children, often with mothers in tow, leave their homes every night and walk for hours from surrounding villages to reach the relative safety of major towns, only to trek their way home in the first light. Some 40,000 “night commutersâ€

PostPosted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 11:03 pm
by c-girl
Lol! >^-^< Propaganda for all of ya!~<3

Image

Image

Image

Image

(I know this is last years advertisement for the Displace Me Event but it's still really cool lookin'!!)

Image

PostPosted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 11:06 pm
by Fish and Chips
Saw the original Invisible Children documentary back when it was "New." The UN needs to get up off of its laurels and be more active over there.

PostPosted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 11:08 pm
by c-girl
>^-^< Last year they had a Displace Me commute. I didn't go, since I didn't know anything. But I'm going this year with some friends. >^.^< I'm so excited.~<3

PostPosted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 1:00 am
by mechana2015
ever heard of the Darfur conflict?

PostPosted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 4:05 pm
by c-girl
I know very little about the Darfur conflict. I was reading about it, but got kind of lost. >X_x<

PostPosted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 4:11 pm
by ChristianKitsune
I saw the same move last year...around this time actually lol.

It was very heart breaking I think I remember crying.

I also wrote a story about this for my high School paper last year...it's a very important topic...

Here is some "propaganda" from me too. :D :WARNING: old image XD

Image

PostPosted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 4:18 pm
by c-girl
>"< Yeah, prolly 'cause the rally is held around the sametime each year. It's really hard watching the video. It's disgusting.. Yet it really encourages me to help out more. Especially since my family has a very strong love and motivation to help kids.

PostPosted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 7:02 pm
by ChristianKitsune
christiangirl wrote:>"< Yeah, prolly 'cause the rally is held around the sametime each year. It's really hard watching the video. It's disgusting.. Yet it really encourages me to help out more. Especially since my family has a very strong love and motivation to help kids.


Actually, I think last year was the first year wasn't it?

I know I was so passionate about this topic that I BEGGED my teacher last year to let me cover it...and she did..it was a pretty big story too. ^_^;

It is unfortunate that I had to cover it, but yeah...I felt it was important.

It's very sad that people have to bring children into violence like this...it's THAT attitude that breeds more violence and hatred.

I really hope this issue gets resolved children shouldn't be fighting a war their parents made...children should be fighting period.

PostPosted: Sat Apr 14, 2007 9:19 pm
by Yojimbo
I'll be going to Displace Me in Chicago on the 28th anyone else planning on going?

I'm pretty passionate about the Uganda/Darfur situations and I am seriously looking into going to help out a Northern Ugandan school my church at school sponsors next summer.

PostPosted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 10:19 am
by IZ&Trigun4life
OMGosh! I was JUST going to post about this!!! I saw the documentary witha friend of mine just two days ago. The begining was a hoot, but once the guys got settled and found their story, it was the most heart wrenching thing I've ever seen. I was really moved by the film and would like to make efforts to donate to the cause and was thinking about participing in Displace Me. The only issue is that it's not a strictly christian function, and sleeping out in the street may not be safe. I could talk to my youth leader about it, to see if we can go, but theres no way my friend and I can go there on our own. Anyway, I'm so glad someone brought this up.

PRAY FOR THE CHILDREN!!

PostPosted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 10:06 pm
by c-girl
I just went to Seattle this weekend to visit my cousin, and omg, I forgot how long that drive is. >X_x< Lol. >^-^< But the care ride oughtta be more fun with a group of friends. I think we got about 5 or 6 kids in our group now! Heh heh! I feel sorry for the adult takin' us. XD All of us together = chaos and spazzy fun!
>"< Which city are you going to for the Displace Me event Trigun4Life? (If you don't mind me asking. >^^< )

PostPosted: Thu Apr 19, 2007 5:30 pm
by rocklobster
I think it's so sad that this sort of thing happens. I wonder why Mangafanatic hasn't posted here yet. She's had something up on her sig about them for the longest time.

PostPosted: Sun Apr 22, 2007 6:58 pm
by IantheGecko
I watched that video on Friday at school. Loved it. I wanna go there so badly!

"Where the streets have no name, where the streets have no name..."

PostPosted: Mon Apr 23, 2007 1:15 pm
by Taliesin
It is amazing that the LRA has been able to get away with it for this long. I agree that the U.N. should do something about it, but doubt that they will do much.