More Visible Children.

Last year Fordham hosted a screening of Invisible Children, a documentary about child soldiers in northern Uganda. I didn’t make it to the live screening but managed to stream it later on during the week.

The documentary focused on the Lord’s Resistance Army’s (LRA) “recruitment” of child soldiers by abducting them from their homes. Children flee their homes at night to places that aren’t traditionally infiltrated by the LRA for safety. The majority of Joseph Kony’s army is made up of abducted child soldiers.

The subject matter easily caught my interest, however, I wasn’t too impressed by the documentary. Its creators, three 20-somethings from the West Coast, seemed more interested in an adventure than reporting a serious issue. They started in Sudan but stumbled into Uganda and utilized the ravaged images of a war-torn country.

Invisible Children (the organization) came to Fordham again, last week, and I was much more impressed by their most recent film: “The Rescue of Joseph Kony’s Child Soldiers.” The high production quality of the film supported the clear, concentrated, and sincere intentions of the organization. Invisible Children has inspired many to join in their grassroots movement and made their voices heard in Washington.

 

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It is now looking to protect Congolese villages from LRA attacks via radio towers that send out distress signals.

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The best part of the event was speaking to one of the Ugandan women that tours with Invisible Children. She spoke to the group as a whole but was noticeably timid on stage. I got a chance to talk to her after and since I’m considering traveling to eastern Africa next year it was amazing to talk to a native Ugandan about Museveni and political relations within the EAC.

 

Check out IC’s blog here: http://blog.invisiblechildren.com/

Don’t Tell if Asked: Uganda.

Homosexuality is illegal in a lot of Africa and not just under Sharia law. In Uganda being gay is considered a disease and currently punishable with up to 14 years imprisonment.

MP David Bahati proposed a bill last year to implement the death penalty for repeat offenders of homosexual acts. The bill has, justifiably so, received tremendous international scrutiny and most likely won’t be passed into law (another question to be considered is, how come the international community is only now outraged? is a 14 year prison-sentence not unjust enough to merit outrage?). There are also some links to Americans influencing Bahati’s bill, but you’ll have to read the article for that dirt.

Find the article here: http://www.theramonline.com/opinions/anti-gay-sentiment-plagues-uganda-1.2400940

…and wikipedia “The Fellowship” aka “The Family” when you’re done.

wtf.