Invisible!

Is there such thing as an invisible child? No, but people act like there are and seem to think that they are nonexistent or “invisible”. On Wednesday I went to see a presentation after school on child soldiers and refugees in Uganda. When I saw the short and simple 45 minute video I was astonished and left with no words. The images of the few hundred refugees sleeping in a room the size of our cafeteria kept flashing back and fourth. When I first heard about child soldiers, I thought of 14 or 15 year olds running around with AK47’s but they were as young as 8 and the gun was as tall as them.
Well over 30,000 children were abducted for the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army), but the children that were abducted from villages were not counted. What also surprised me was how the refugees lived and what they did to stay alive. Some lived in wet cold tunnel-like places under hospitals, while others were forced to walk miles in fear of the rebels finding them.
A lot of the refugee children would say that if they were caught they would be killed or would be sent to the bush. The “bush” is a training camp for them, they are very terrified of it because if they disobeyed the simplest of orders they would be killed or tortured. The children also said if they cried in the bush they would be killed because crying means you are thinking of home and from now on they do no cry, even if they are not in the camps.
There was a group of 3 children who were hiding in tunnels under a hospital. The tunnel was usually wet, cold, and dirty. They had to get all the water out if there was any by taking a flat piece of plastic and “mopping” the water away outside. They also had no source of heat, were underground, and surrounded by cold concrete. The only source of heat was each other and thin blankets. They woke up every morning at 4:00 to get water and ready for the day, even though nobody told them they had to. They knew if they didn’t they wouldn’t survive too long.
If someone wants to see the reality of child soldiers I suggest that you watch the video. But before you do make sure you are ready to be sickened by what Joseph Kony (Leader of LRA) has done to innocent children so he can overthrow the current government. Just by watching the movie I have already signed a petition for Kony’s citizen arrest warrant that will raise awareness and will call president Obama to lead an effort to find him and stop him once and for all. I loved the experience because it opened my eyes to something I have never seen before. I wouldn’t recommend it for Globies only but for everyone