Evelyn Hockstein/MCTOn Saturday, April 28, approximately 51,667 people across the United States, including myself, will be gathering in 15 different cities to make the nation aware of the crisis that is happening in Northern Uganda.
The number of participants continues to rise every day.
The Invisible Children Organization will be hosting the event that is known as Displace Me. People will travel to one of these cities with a water bottle in hand, a pack of saltine crackers and a sleeping bag.
They will be sacrificing 24 hours of their time to sleep outside and place themselves in the position of thousands of Northern Ugandans that have been driven out of their homes for the past 21 years.
The lives of families, young men, women and children have been ravaged by the 21-year-old war between the government of Uganda and the rebel group, The Lord’s Resistance Army.
These families have been forced out of their homes and villages to be put into camps where they can avoid being kidnapped and killed by the rebel army, who claims to be fighting for justice and a better governmental system.
The displaced Ugandans live and suffer in poor conditions. Families are torn apart. People are killed. Children are kidnapped and forced to kill in a war they know nothing about. Some never see their homes again.
The members and supporters of the Invisible Children Organization want to make this crisis known to the world and want to help. The people of the United States want to show the world that we are willing to displace ourselves in hopes of sparking the sympathy and desire of our nation to want to help the people of this country. These people deserve it.
As I sit with my friends and family in Washington, D.C. on April 28, I will be thinking of those who are leaving their homes in the middle of the night to escape attacks from the LRA in the next morning.
I will be hoping that our nation acknowledges this war and finds a way to help. I hope that more people will read about this crisis and the Invisible Children Organization and want to help as well.
Visit Invisiblechildren.com and read and watch the collection of news articles, videos and information about Uganda and the many steps that are being taken in hopes of helping these people.
