2008 Woodie Awards
Campaign to end suffering in Uganda comes to ECU
"Invisible Children" organization sheds light on current conditions
Elise Phillips, Assistant Pulse Editor
Issue date: 4/10/08 Section: Features
|
This is what 15-year old Sunday, the subject of one of Invisible Children's sobering documentaries said in the 2003 film, Black is for Sunday. A screening of the film was shown last night at Speight Auditorium, where students gathered to hear of the plight of hundreds of thousands of displaced persons like Sunday in Uganda. The film, which started out as an adventure by three filmmakers from Southern California, has now turned into a worldwide movement to end the suffering in Africa.
The people of Northern Uganda have been facing a 22-year long war between their government and the LRA (the Lord's Resistance Army), a rebel group that has been the source of rape, torture, murder and production of child soldiers.
When the fighting began in 1987, Ugandans were forced from their homes in massive numbers, and those who were not killed or abducted were placed in Internal Displacement Camps (IDPs) throughout the country.
This is where Sunday, an orphan, lives. Filmmakers placed themselves in the camp where Sunday lives for 10 days to experience what he experiences everyday. And what they caught is both mind-blowing and heart-warming.
The Americans at the camp are instructed on what not to bring including toilet paper, toothpaste, a toothbrush and more than one pair of clothes. They are also told that each family at that IDP only subsists off of 1,000 shillings per week, which is about three U.S. dollars. Most days, the refugees spend their entire time preparing their next meal.
Only motivated children like Sunday, who wants to be a doctor, can attend school. Some children do not get an education because they can't afford the paltry $20 a month fee.
Sunday is filmed as saying that both of his parents died in the IDP camp, and that his dream of becoming a doctor would hopefully help the extreme suffering of the Northern Ugandan people. Of the children at the camp, one of the filmmakers states, "They want to be visible, but are still kind of invisible."
This conflict in Uganda that has spanned the last two decades is the longest lasting in Africa to date.
"This is a war that has been going on for my entire life," said Ashley Wrenn, president and founder of the ECU Invisible Children chapter. "I can't imagine my entire lifetime being caught up in a war."
Be the first to comment on this story