Kevin Strong-Holte

News Reporter

When a child is abducted in Uganda, a soldier is born.

Invisible Children is an organization whose goal is to use media to inspire young people to help end the longest running war in Africa. Hundreds of thousands of people have been called to action through their films and the volunteers that tour them.

The last 20 years saw the abductions of more than 30,000 children and it is estimated that over 2,000 women and children are still under control of rebel forces in the country and its surrounding states. Although the Lord’s Resistance Army has officially been driven out of Uganda, the effects of the army’s tyranny is still felt throughout the country.

With these forces no longer in the country, it is education which the children are now focused upon. Unlike the United States, high school education in Uganda is not paid for by the government. Although to us the fees may seem quite minimal (around $35 per month), children in Uganda often do not have the means to continue their education.

On Nov. 9, Mesa State hosted a presentation on the conflict in Eastern Africa and two Ugandan Legacy scholarship recepients, Scovia Angiro and Comfort Okello, were present. The Legacy Scholarship Program is an initiative launched in 2005 by the organization and works to provide higher education to children in northern Uganda.

“When I was in high school I started looking at Uganda and other nations and asked myself why there has been this in Uganda for so long, and why no one was stepping up to stop it,” said Angiro. “If someone didn’t step up to support Invisible Children, where would I be? There’s no doubt [my life] would be wasted.”

According to InvisibleChildren.com “local leaders repeatedly told us what has proven to be true: education is the key to lasting peace. Rather than providing temporary relief for victims of the conflict, Invisible Children chose to tackle the problem at the root – investing in the regions young, emerging leaders.”

Angiro’s father was killed by a rebel attack when she was only three months old. She is the youngest of eight children and the first to graduate high school and attend college.

“She is special but her story is not unique,” Okello said. “Every child in Uganda has been affected by this conflict. Some have lost their brothers, their sisters, their mothers, or their fathers. Some have lost themselves. These can’t be returned, but we can give them a future.”

Angrio and Okello travel to several schools in a particular region and speak to students about Invisible Children and ask for donations to go towards the Legacy Scholarship Program.

“What we need right now is their time, their creativity, and their talent,” Angiro said. “I know we presented and we talked about signing for scholarships but I also know—I am a college student—that at times they may not have that money. How we started is that we told our friends, and they told their friends, and that’s what we need.”

For more information on the Ugandan conflict, Invisible Children, and the Legacy Scholarship Program, visit InvisibleChildren.com.

u

kstrongho@mesastate.edu