The conflict in Uganda.
A person came to our school today to talk about this - I hadn't even heard of it before. Personally, I think that the US shouldn't deal with things like Iraq as much, this seems a lot worse.
The conflict between the Government of Uganda and the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) has been described by the UN as the ‘world’s most neglected crisis’. The conflict has resulted in the displacement of 1.5 million people from their homes into camps in the north and northeast. The government had forced the northern citizens from their homes, giving them 48 hours to relocate to camps. They are frequently overcrowded, with poor water and sanitation facilities and difficulty getting food. People returning to their homes find many of them have been destroyed, along with water pumps and sanitation resources. Because of this, nearly 1,000 people are dying each week.
Thousands of children flee their homes nightly in order to escape being abducted. Children (ages 8-14) in Uganda are regularly abducted by the LRA to be trained as child soldiers, and many are subjected to torture or sexual violence. The children who run from their homes walk miles to find shelter in hospitals or bus parks - virtually anywhere far away from rebel camps. As of February 11th, 2007, at least 66,000 children had been abducted and 62% of kids in camps had been sexually abused.
If anyone has seen the documentary 'Invisible Children', you'll know what I'm talking about. There was a quote that I remember - "If I don't see blood, then I get a headache." And that was from a little 9-year old kid who got abducted by the LRA. It was really scary to see that there were little kids hacking people into pieces with machetes - and it was even scarier to see that many of them didn't care anymore.
There's a thing called "Displace Me" on April 28th where people from all over the US go to a designated place and sleep there for a night, to see what it'd be like to be in one of the camps. It might sound sorta weird, but after the one from last year, peace talks started between the government and the LRA because there were so many people who participated in it. I think I might go to the one in NY, if my parents let me go. But I doubt it. (considering it's 4 hours away)
I was going to say something else but I forgot, so...yeah.
invisiblechildren.com
The conflict between the Government of Uganda and the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) has been described by the UN as the ‘world’s most neglected crisis’. The conflict has resulted in the displacement of 1.5 million people from their homes into camps in the north and northeast. The government had forced the northern citizens from their homes, giving them 48 hours to relocate to camps. They are frequently overcrowded, with poor water and sanitation facilities and difficulty getting food. People returning to their homes find many of them have been destroyed, along with water pumps and sanitation resources. Because of this, nearly 1,000 people are dying each week.
Thousands of children flee their homes nightly in order to escape being abducted. Children (ages 8-14) in Uganda are regularly abducted by the LRA to be trained as child soldiers, and many are subjected to torture or sexual violence. The children who run from their homes walk miles to find shelter in hospitals or bus parks - virtually anywhere far away from rebel camps. As of February 11th, 2007, at least 66,000 children had been abducted and 62% of kids in camps had been sexually abused.
If anyone has seen the documentary 'Invisible Children', you'll know what I'm talking about. There was a quote that I remember - "If I don't see blood, then I get a headache." And that was from a little 9-year old kid who got abducted by the LRA. It was really scary to see that there were little kids hacking people into pieces with machetes - and it was even scarier to see that many of them didn't care anymore.
There's a thing called "Displace Me" on April 28th where people from all over the US go to a designated place and sleep there for a night, to see what it'd be like to be in one of the camps. It might sound sorta weird, but after the one from last year, peace talks started between the government and the LRA because there were so many people who participated in it. I think I might go to the one in NY, if my parents let me go. But I doubt it. (considering it's 4 hours away)
I was going to say something else but I forgot, so...yeah.
invisiblechildren.com
i think there are so many problems in this owrld, i dont know why the gonvernment wont do anything about it, we are so much better off, we have a lot of money, we can make a freaking difference here, but why arent we!!!!!!!!!
Vegemite, March 29th, 2007 at 03:09:52am
it really makes me sad to see how some people aren't aware of this, it is so neglected. It's depressing.
Kurtni, March 28th, 2007 at 06:59:51pm
I was gonna make a blog about this but I never got around to it.
I saw the movie (Invisible Children) in school the day before spring break started. And I can say that it was very disturbing to see that people could even think to manipulate children like that. I agree that the quote the child said about getting headaches if he didn't see blood was what really stuck to me. It almost pained me to see children, who should be enjoying their life, living in fear of being abducted and brainwashed, or even killed.
Erin; Technophile, March 28th, 2007 at 06:08:38pm
Oh my god, that's awful. I agree that the world should focus on other conflicts around the world rather than just Iraq and things.
Mike Dirnt., March 28th, 2007 at 06:04:02pm
Oh crap, I forgot to italicize some of the paragraphs...argh. The second and third paragraphs are from wikipedia and the IC site.
., March 28th, 2007 at 05:39:46pm