Despite World Apathy, A “Grass Root” Organization Can Still Make Major Changes.

If in the United States, a child goes missing or is abducted, there is action. The police are notified, news stations flash pictures of the child and sometimes the profile of the abductor. If the abductor is found, the public does what is necessary to put the person behind bars.

On the other side of the earth, in the northern districts of Uganda, over 30,000 children have been abducted and unlike America nothing has been done. America has not been involved with this issue because our government feels as if it is not our duty to play the role of the “big brother”, but is the United Nations duty. So the world closed it eyes on the crisis in Uganda and the bloodshed continued.

Almost every family in Northern Uganda has been affected by a man named Joseph Kony. Instead of police forces trying to find the children, in Uganda the children flee from other abducted children who have been trained by Kony to kill. Villages have been destroyed, families killed, and the government of Uganda really has done nothing, nor has the world.

Instead the world and namely the United States has stood by for twenty years, while Kony has been taken innocent children and brainwashed them with fear and drugs to kill others. Joseph Kony says that his beliefs are based on the Ten Commandments, but his actions break every single one of them. A whole generation of children in Northern Uganda has grown up with Kony and his army. These children have lost their souls by seeing and committing the crimes as directed by Kony. It has been viewed by the world as just “another African problem.”

In this country the public may have been unaware of the gravity and the horror of this situation. The main “grass root” organization that can be attributed to making Americans and our President aware is the group called, “Invisible Children”. The non-profit organization was established in 2003 by three young filmmakers who went to Africa to film a story. Instead they soon found out the horror of Uganda and vowed to help its victims. “Invisible Children”, through its hard work and effort has forced the politicians of America to stop ignoring this issue.



Finally on May 19th, 2009, President Obama signed the LRA or Lord’s Resistance Army Bill, which stated that the U.S. would recommit to help diminish the Lord’s Resistance Army, and help Ugandans rebuild their communities. “We have seen your reporting, your websites, your blogs, and your video postcards -- you have made the plight of the children visible to us all,” President Obama said. “Your action represents the very best of American leadership around the world, and we are committed to working with you in pursuit of the future of peace and dignity that the people of who have suffered at the hands of the LRA deserve.” Perhaps it is this century’s perfect example of a “grass root” organization changing the world.