Recently, it was brought to my attention by one of my closest friends that there is an epidemic going on, while most of us in America sit complacent.
In Uganda, there are thousands are children being abducted every day by The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), a violant guerilla style army that subjects their soldiers to sexual, emotional, and psychological torture in order to brainwash them against their will into killing machines. Thousands are relocated every day into concentration camps, where alcoholism, malnutrition, AIDS/HIV, and poor sanitation run rampant. More than 1,000 die every day in these camps.
This a modern day holocaust, and it's not propaganda. It's not a joke. It's not overdramatized. It's real. The LRA has been labeled a terrorist organization, due to the fact that it forces children, under torture, to commit crimes they would not otherwise perpertuate.
In the spring of 2003, a film was made by three students from California who wanted to find a story of what needed changing in the world. And they found Uganda. From the indie film, labeled Invisible Children: Rough Cut, was seen by many in the U.S., who next asked "what can we do?" Several organizations have been formed subsequently, including the Invisible Children foundation. The money is donated to the people of Uganda, who need more food, better shelter, better clothing, better schools, and more ways to resist the LRA.
This is a heart breaking story that I cannot explain on my own. But these people need help. So please, visit the websites that explain it much better than I. You can donate money, you can start a charity donation drive...there are so many things that you could do that would take so little of your time and help so much. Please consider it.
Sources: http://www.invisiblechildren.com/home.php
http://www.invisiblechildren.com/displaceMe/
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Invisible Children seems to be one of the few organizations that are dedicated to their work to help these children (along with the rest of Uganda). They have made a difference by increasing awareness and brought this issue to the White House to have them support the peace talks in Uganda.
Although, I hope they can spread to other parts of the world since child soldiers aren't solely based in Uganda.
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"They can smash your cookie, but you'll always get your fortune."
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I thought concentration camps existed only in the Hitler Dayz
That's the reason this is so important. No one seems to realize how terrible the situation is overseas. They thought that the Jewish Holocaust was the only holocaust, and that it's over. But things that shouldn't still exist, like slavery and concentration camps, do exist.
that is so horrible! i hate to think that little kids are being treated like that:(
...for shedding light on this. I was never aware that anything liek this was going on in Uganda with the press' obsession with Darfur, but I will be sure to research the topic and see what I can do (:=
check out my blog at progressiveu.org/blog/rhapsodygirl
i've never heard about this. i can't believe it is happening. i thought that people in this world have realized the mistakes they have made in the past, but i guess not.
I'm so glad there are other people aware of and concerned with the crisis in Uganda!