Wednesday, March 7, 2012

.joseph.

I lived in Uganda from 5th grade till the end of my 10th grade year. Technically another two years after that, but not year round as I was in a boarding school. Ever since I left, I have kept up with what goes on in Uganda. Up until I lived in Philly for 9 years, Uganda was home.

I worked with these orphans through middle school and high school. I was friends with people who survived the horrors. People who couldn't re-tell the stories when I asked about them. The looks in their eyes were telling enough.

This is real, this is happening. I hope this video gets somewhere, I hope it makes us realize how fortunate we are and makes us want to do something about it. It makes me want to.

I signed the pledge and plan to donate (once I get paid). I've always said I wanted to get involved in something big. I think this is it. Joseph Kony is one of the world's worst war criminals (I would go as far as saying the worst) and I support the international effort to arrest him, disarm the LRA and bring the child soldiers home. Everyone deserves a chance to live.



After you watch that video, read this article as well.
http://sayhelloafrica.com/post/18893492141/kony-2012-why-i-love-the-idea-but-hate-the-campaign

(Added 5/9: I think I should add here that I do intend on getting involved in a charity to help out with this issue. I do NOT intend on donating to Invisible Children. I also think that this video did a fantastic job of attaining awareness. Even though that might not have been their entire intention behind it.
I must also state that I need to do a better job of doing my background research a bit more thoroughly next time.)

2 comments:

Larz said...

I understand the situation, but please don't donate a cent to Invisible Children. There are plenty of other organizations out there that have financial transparency. IC, unfortunately, isn't one. I used to be a big supporter, but basically, they serve only to get the hype out, they do nothing (or almost nothing) for the situation.

SilverReign said...

No worries. I didn't donate, and I don't plan to. I did sign the pledge though. I agree that Invisible Children is quite THE scummy charity, and there are numerous reasons why. HOWEVER, my main reason for posting this and sharing it is to show more people what is going on. This has been going on for years, and it saddens me to no end that there are so many people out there that don't even know who Kony is or what LRA stands for. I think the video itself did a fantastic job in getting awareness, and I thought and hoped that that was their intention of the video. Awareness.

Unfortunately, not entirely.