I recently watched the most amazing documentary called War Dance,
about the children of the Acholi tribe, who attend a school called Patongo
at a refugee camp in northern Uganda.
"For the past 20 years, northern Uganda has been at war with a rebel force,
the Lord's Resistance Army (L.R.A), and the country's children have been the
greatest victims of the conflict. But here, the children are not only the victims
of the rebels, they are the rebels. The L.R.A has a chillingly effective process
to fill its ranks - abducting innocent children. Under the cover of darkness,
the rebels raid villages to kidnap new soldiers. Children - some as young as 5 -
are ripped from their beds in front of their helpless parents.
Once abducted, the children are forced at gunpoint to viciously beat or kill
neighbours, and sometimes even their own parents.
The boys become soldiers while the girls are forced into sexual slavery.
After two decades, there is little sign of peace on the horizon.
But amidst the grief and violence, voices are heard - children's voices -
singing strong, without fear."
- WAR DANCE / ABOUT THE FILM
Between them they have seen some of the worst atrocities imaginable,
but their love of music brings them a sense of joy - and hope - and they
find themselves finalists in the National Musical Championship,
a competition that over 20,000 schools compete in.
This film literally broke my heart,
I spent the majority of it smiling through tears.
It's truly incomprehensible to someone like me,
who is so fortunate to have what I have, and live in a country like Australia.
The courage of these kids is nothing short of extraordinary and the joy they
experience through music is so uplifting.
So this morning when I saw a short film called KONY 2012
making the rounds on facebook, about the head of the L.R.A,
the rebel force responsible for the pain of the children above,
and tens of thousands more, I took great interest.
His name is Joseph Kony, and he is a war criminal of Hitler proportions.
He needs to be found and two men (Jason Russell and Laren Poole)
and their movement Invisible Children,
are doing everything in their power to make sure that happens.
The ongoing conflict in Africa is much more complex than we know
and I'm not about to pretend that capturing one man is going to end it.
But it's most definitely not going to hurt!
So please watch this film and please share it.
KONY 2012 from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.
