Global Night Commute - Invisible Children

Well, there was a ton of us, 300 maybe even 400( in knoxville, but this was happening in most major cities in the U.S and some abroad). We met at a local grocery store and walked 3.5 miles to the World’s Fair Park. It was quite a site seeing this huge crowd walk down the road with back packs and sleeping bags in hand. When we arrived at the park it was just getting dark and the rain started. Everyone gathered under the bridges and set up their spot for the night. We took some time to write our state senators and the President. Each of us with construction paper and markers made an “art project” sharing our heart with the Uganda children. The art work is going to be compiled and made in to books and given to them. It was a bit nippy, as in low 40’s with a light breeze, but nobody was really complaining. I think everyone there knew how truly good we had it compared to the people in Uganda. If you haven’t heard about the Invisible Children of Uganda, grab a kleenex….I’ll wait.

Many years ago the Lord’s Resistance Army ( LRA) started a war to over throw their government in Uganda. Over the years the LRA has lost their army and have become desperate for more terrorist to continue their war. They see their solution in abducting young children typically as early as five, young enough to desensitize and brain wash yet big enough to carry artillery. They go into villages at night and by force choose a life of violence and blood shed for every child they capture. The good news, (though it doesn’t seem so good) tens of thousands of these children manage to escape abduction. However, there escape happens over and over every day of their life. These kids have to seek safety every night. They leave their villages before night fall and walk miles (many miles) into the nearest town to seek shelter and sleep for the night. They pile up in the basements of hospitals, under bridges, under any shelter they can find. They leave their villages, their homes, and their families only to get up and walk home in the morning and do it all over again everyday. They can’t afford to be lazy they have to walk to live. These people need the world to know what is happening. The reason why they are called the Invisible Children is only because this crisis has been ignored and no one has come to their rescue.

I couldn’t help but think last night as we were marching down the road and setting up camp in the streets that forty years ago it was an entirely different group of people who were campaigning for change in similar ways. Though, this weekend it was people that were singing hymns and praises to the Lord and spending time on their knees for the sake of peace and humanity.
May God have all the glory and may these children in northern Uganda become visible again.

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meeting up for the march


















the march
















Amber and Kristen
















long night under the bridge