"Image of the Invisible"
Today, Connor and I went to the park and had a picnic. No worries. Plenty of smiles.
When we got back home, I put him down for his nap, cleaned up a bit and sat down to answer some e-mail and get started on some freelance projects.
Somehow, I ended up on a website that told of the plight of the children in Uganda — a situation that's remained virtually unchanged for several decades as the world continues to ignore the situation in a country with little or nothing in the way of measurable goods or services to offer the rest of the world.
I'd heard about it before, but apparently needed to see the images myself for the story to have a deeper impact.
Basically, for the last 20 years, there has been a war raging in this already poverty- and drought-ravaged region of Africa. During the night, soldiers from the Lord's Resistance Army regularly kidnap children from their homes outside the cities and force them to take up arms against the government.
For this reason, every single night, the Ugandan children travel from their homes into the cities to sleep — as the cities offer a bit more protection from the violent rebel army.
Thus, the children who aren't abducted often go without education, contact with their parents, food and many other necessities. Those who are, mostly end up dead in combat.
The situation is vastly more complex than this, but even if the story stopped there, this would still be an atrocity. Plus, the world has laregly turned a blind eye to this problem.
I would hope that every single one of you would make time to visit the website (www.invisiblechildren.com) and learn about this for yourself. This group/charity/movement/cause has produced a film about these resilient children and has employed many of them to make bracelets to sell to Westerners. It's a small gesture, but every penny raised goes directly to help improve this situation.
I can't even imagine Connor being kidnapped — much less forced to fight in a war in a few years. Simply because he was born in America, we don't have to worry about this. Because these kids had the "misfortune" of being born in Uganda, they do.
I wanted to run upstairs and wake Connor up to give him a hug and thank God that we didn't live in Uganda. Instead, I ordered a bracelet.
Maybe you will, too.
When we got back home, I put him down for his nap, cleaned up a bit and sat down to answer some e-mail and get started on some freelance projects.
Somehow, I ended up on a website that told of the plight of the children in Uganda — a situation that's remained virtually unchanged for several decades as the world continues to ignore the situation in a country with little or nothing in the way of measurable goods or services to offer the rest of the world.I'd heard about it before, but apparently needed to see the images myself for the story to have a deeper impact.
Basically, for the last 20 years, there has been a war raging in this already poverty- and drought-ravaged region of Africa. During the night, soldiers from the Lord's Resistance Army regularly kidnap children from their homes outside the cities and force them to take up arms against the government.
For this reason, every single night, the Ugandan children travel from their homes into the cities to sleep — as the cities offer a bit more protection from the violent rebel army.
Thus, the children who aren't abducted often go without education, contact with their parents, food and many other necessities. Those who are, mostly end up dead in combat.
The situation is vastly more complex than this, but even if the story stopped there, this would still be an atrocity. Plus, the world has laregly turned a blind eye to this problem.
I would hope that every single one of you would make time to visit the website (www.invisiblechildren.com) and learn about this for yourself. This group/charity/movement/cause has produced a film about these resilient children and has employed many of them to make bracelets to sell to Westerners. It's a small gesture, but every penny raised goes directly to help improve this situation.
I can't even imagine Connor being kidnapped — much less forced to fight in a war in a few years. Simply because he was born in America, we don't have to worry about this. Because these kids had the "misfortune" of being born in Uganda, they do.
I wanted to run upstairs and wake Connor up to give him a hug and thank God that we didn't live in Uganda. Instead, I ordered a bracelet.
Maybe you will, too.
posted by Carter at 7:54 PM
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