Filed under: daily digs
Like Dorc’s blog says, “walk on,” and on Saturday, we will walk on! OK, it’s just about three miles, but I’m hoping there will be a large enough mass out there in orange to create some curiosity of passersby. Below is the recent press release from Gulu Walk. From what I’ve been reading, the peace talks have not been going well. Positive developments have not been made, and thousands of child soldiers remain in captivity.
Is this situation for REAL?! I say that not in disbelief that it could be all be fake, but I say it in disbelief that people elsewhere in the world endure such situations that we cannot even imagine. A co-worker of mine shared about her recent trip to Ethiopia and Kenya, where she talked to nurses and other people in the health care industry. She learned about young girls who are raped and impregnated at age 11, or where some teenager girls develop fistula and are shunned by their husbands and communities. It was really disgusting to hear her tell some stories, and I wanted to cry out, “STOP! I don’t want to hear about it!” but that would have been my spoiled, sheltered, comfy American perspective talking. For these girls, they can’t shut their eyes and ears. They can’t walk out of the room and forget about it. This is their reality. Same with the children in the Lord’s Resistance Army. We look at pictures of them holding guns or hear their stories about stoning other kids to death or being killed themselves. We’re saddened and fascinated all at once. But in the next instant, we’re back to our jobs or typing out e-mails to friends, talking about very trivial things. But to these kids, they see these images in their heads every day. They still remember the feeling of picking up the rock or chopping off someone else’s lips. It’s their reality.
Why am I so blessed to be born and raised here in America, and why haven’t I done more to help others?
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On Saturday, October 21, over 80 cities in 15 countries will take to the streets with a cry for peace in northern Uganda - - it’s called GuluWalk.
It started with the daily footsteps of just two Canadians, who attempted to replicate the horror that the children of northern Uganda have been forced to face. In less than 16 months it has grown into an urgent and impassioned worldwide movement for peace.
With 20 walks in Canada, 44 in the United States and events in Australia, Burkina Faso, China, England, France, Italy, Kenya, Netherlands, New Zealand, Serbia, Togo, Wales and in both Gulu and Kampala, Uganda, it’s clear that this is not a fringe issue and one that citizens from every corner of the globe want to see their governments engage in.
“This current round of peace talks are at critical point and this may very well be the last opportunity to find a peaceful solution to this 20-year crisis,” said Adrian Bradbury, co-founder of GuluWalk. “It’s vital that individual governments and the international community step up and make a clear public statement in support of this process. If we remain silent, we better be prepared to answer to the 2-million northern Ugandans suffering through this conflict, why we chose, and it is a choice, to sit idly by.”
If this round of peace talks fail, Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni has vowed to launch another military initiative, this time determined to annihilate the LRA. But 80-percent of the LRA’s army is composed of abducted children, and the sincerity of Museveni’s pledges are very much in doubt. In the past, each time the government has launched such a military assault, it has led to more displacement, more abduction and more killing. What we can be certain of, is that renewed fighting will cost the lives of thousands of child soldiers and even more innocent civilians.
“We should be asking the question: Do we have the political will to lead?” continued Bradbury. “Or will we continue to do what it is we do so well; memorials, post-conflict reports and anniversaries of mass death of which we will pledge ‘never again’ and shake our heads, just moments before tucking them back into the sand?”
For more information visit www.guluwalk.com and to find route details and start times of all 80 events go directly to www.guluwalk.com/findawalk.
4 Comments so far
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how was your walk?
Comment by kris 10.21.06 @ 5:37 pmLeave a comment
It makes me angry that “we” (meaning Bush, or whoever makes these decisions!) decide to help certain countries with certain problems while other horrific situations go unrecognized…
I think it’s awesome that you and Matt are getting involved. Don’t blame yourself for where you grew up and what you have (even though it’s hard not to feel guilty…why them and not us?) but see it as God’s way of enabling you with certain resources so that you can do something about these issues. Keep us updated!
Comment by kris 10.17.06 @ 12:43 pm