The Murray State News February 01, 2008
'Invisible Children' raises awareness, film encourages help for Ugandans
By Casey Northcutt
The concrete beneath their heads feels cold and hard. The village hospital is dark and cramped. It's too small to hold them all, so they must curl up tightly and try to sleep. Some of the younger ones cry, wanting to go home to their mothers.
But, if they did, the Lord's Resistance Army might abduct them by morning.
Since the 1990s, the children of northern Uganda have left their homes every night, walking miles to the closest schools, hospitals and other community areas in search of safety. In a country torn by civil war for more than 20 years, according to GlobalSecurity.org, they fear abduction and assimilation into the rebel army.
Their bleak and tragic story moved Patrick Wallace, junior from Hawesville, Ky., into action.
"It's so unjust that you really can't help but get involved," he said.
Two years ago, Wallace watched a documentary called "Invisible Children: the Rough Cut" describing the war and violence raging in Uganda.
According to the film, the war began when a woman named Alice Lakwena believed God ordered her to overthrow the government for mistreating the Acholi tribe.
Lakwena created a movement that continued even after her exile. Joseph Kony, a man claiming to be her cousin, took control of her followers and transformed them into the Lord's Resistance Army to rebel against the government. As support for the resistance waned, the LRA resorted to abducting children from homes, schools and villages to stock its ranks, according to Invisiblechildren.com.
"Children are considered the best soldiers," the site said, "because they are impressionable enough to brainwash, big enough to carry a gun and plentiful enough to create huge masses of fighters."
Wallace, along with hundred of thousands of people across the United States, has joined the fight to take M16s out of the hands of children. The three young filmmakers who created the documentary later established Invisible Children, a nonprofit organization devoted to changing the Western point of view.
They said they hoped Americans might do more than empathize with the Ugandan plight; they hoped people might be moved to act.
"I never really thought that there could be a war with children," Wallace said. "I kind of doubted it, at first, when I heard about it, and then I looked online and the images they have and the videos they have are so real. You can't help but believe it and try to intercede for the children."
More than 30,000 children have been taken from their families, comprising 90 percent of LRA troops or serving as sex slaves to the rebel army, according to Ugandacan.org. Because of this, thousands of children leave their homes each night to huddle together on the bare floors of makeshift shelters, hoping to find safety in numbers.
Invisible Children brought attention to this humanitarian crisis in several ways, including screening the documentary across the U.S. and emulating the long walks Ugandan children took each night to find safety.
On April 29, 2006, more than 80,000 people in 130 cities nation-wide walked to designated locations and slept outside as a part of the Global Night Commute, an event labeled one of the biggest demonstrations for Africa in the U.S. By braving the elements, they brought the world's attention to a nation's previously overlooked devastation.
Wallace joined the movement with his own event. Last spring, he organized youth conferences in Murray and in his hometown of Hawesville, Ky., that focused on exposing these horrors. After watching the documentary, participating youth experienced "prayer commutes" in which they walked through rooms decorated to resemble dilapidated African buildings and prayed for the children who had to crowd into them for safety each night.
Through the sale of Invisible Children merchandise, Wallace has also raised approximately $950 so far.
"Once you get others to understand (the situation) and learn from it, I think that's what starts a movement and that's what starts change happening in America and then change happening in Uganda," he said.
Congress passed the Northern Uganda Crisis Response Act in 2004, the first American legislation to address the problem, according to Invisiblechildren.com.
As of Sept. 1, 2006, a few months after the Global Night Commute, the LRA and the Ugandan government called a ceasefire while they held peace talks.
The country, however, still exists in shambles. Ninety percent of the population has been relocated to Internationally Displaced Persons camps, where people suffer from disease, malnutrition and nighttime attacks from the LRA.
Andrew Mittelstadt, a recent high school graduate from Casper, Wyo., became involved with Invisible Children after traveling to Uganda with his church and witnessing first-hand the plight, desperation and capacity for survival.
"I saw these amazing people," he said. "They suffered so much in their lives, but they still had the brightest smiles I've ever seen."
Mittelstadt now works as a volunteer for the organization and travels with a team through the Mid-Atlantic region, including Kentucky, screening the documentary in colleges and high schools.
He said the organization seeks to keep global attention on Ugandan strife while organizing programs to assist the country with education and other needs.
The movement, however, has effected more than the American concern with Africa.
"A lot of the stories we get are about how Invisible Children has inspired youth to get up and do something for others, no matter whether it's for Uganda or for their next-door neighbor," Mittlelstadt said. "(We hear stories from youth) who where inspired to help and love those around them or those around the world."
© Copyright 2008, The Murray State News
