In Africa, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has captured children, brainwashed them, and forced them to become brutal soldiers–or die. The LRA defines army training as killing another child, and they murder the children who refuse to comply.
Humanitarian organization Invisible Children wants to rescue these abducted children. Invisible Children started the Rescue, an event to raise awareness about the LRA abductions in Uganda, the DR Congo, and South Sudan. On April 25, 2009, participants in 100 cities around the world will abduct themselves in honor of the LRA’s child soldiers. Supporters will circle themselves in a family photo and leave the photo at the abduction site to symbolize their capture. They’ll march 1-3 miles, linked by a rope, to the “LRA camp” where they’ll stay overnight.
Since September 2008, the LRA has killed more than 600 people and abducted over 160 children, according to Invisible Children (http://therescue.invisiblechildren.com/graphics/The-Rescue-Manual.pdf). Now that the LRA has moved beyond Uganda’s borders, 180,000 Congolese and 43,000 Sudanese have been forced to flee their homes since last September, Resolve Uganda reported (http://www.resolveuganda.org/node/823). Peace seemed possible about a year ago, when the LRA and the Ugandan government were negotiating for the Juba Peace Talks, but LRA leader Joseph Kony failed to sign the final peace agreement.
Get Abducted, Join the Rescue
1. Abduct yourself in honor of the LRA’s captured child soldiers. Come to the Rescue event at one of 100 cities around the world on April 25. Sign up now: http://therescue.invisiblechildren.com/en/
2. Invite your friends to a house party and watch the Rescue together (the video is available online at therescue.invisiblechildren.com).
3. Wear Rescue gear during the month of April: http://store.invisiblechildren.com.
4. Abduct yourself on Facebook. Take a picture of yourself with this graphic: http://therescue.invisiblechildren.com/graphics/I-Am-Abducted.pdf (see example: http://www.invisiblechildren.com/blog/2009/04/03/abduct-yourself-on-face...).
5. Make a video asking a celebrity to come to the Rescue (watch the instructional video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDUji365-VQ&feature=channel_page).
Read more about global issues and how youth can make a genuine difference on my Teen Ink magazine blog: http://global.teenink.com/blogs.
I'll have you know that I bookmarked this page for future reference. These are all great ways to contribute to the Invisible Children and awareness. Thanks for the great blog.