A few years ago I slept on the concrete outside in downtown
Grand Rapids with 1,000 others and 60,000 others across the States. We were partnering with Invisible
Children to raise awareness to help end the longest running war in African
history (23 years).
Joseph Kony, the commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army
(LRA), has terrorized Northern Uganda, Southern Sudan, DR of Congo and Central
African Republic by abducting children and brainwashing them into child
soldiers for his army. Literary
little children some as young as 6 carrying machine guns going to village to
village killing and taking more children for the army.
Peace talks have been made over the years with Joseph Kony
and the government of Uganda but with failure of Joseph Kony to ever sign an
agreement. Invisible
Children, started by 3 young college guys in 2003, has worked to recently pass
a bill in congress for the citizens arrest of Joseph Kony, the rescue of child soldiers and to commit to the recover of war affected areas. Over 250,000 young people across the
United States petitioned for the bill making it the most widely supported
African legislation in United States history. This is also unique because in the last session of Congress,
only 3% of bills introduced were actually passed.
On Monday President Obama signed it into law making
history. I think this event
is phenomenal because it was led and driven by my generation. People filled with passion and
compassion to see the world become a better place. This law is a beginning to see thousands of children
released from the iron grip of Kony and will prevent thousands more from
becoming his child soldiers.
Watched the video below on this unique event. It is powerful!
