2008 Woodie Awards
Ugandan encourages Winthrop to help
MEREDITH ASHLEY
Issue date: 9/26/07 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
Imagine being snatched from your homes and your families to be sent off to fight in guerilla warfare, and you haven't yet learned to read and write.
In Uganda, a state in northern Africa, more than 30,000 children from ages three and up are stolen from their towns and villages to fight in a war that has been occurring for over two decades.
The Lord's Resistance Army (L.R.A.) has been the dominating military insurgency since 1987. They seek and capture all children that they can find. Therefore all of the youths in Uganda are forced to march several hundred miles over cover of darkness to I.D.P. (Internally Displaced Persons) camps.
Once in the camps, they have no means of shelter besides mud huts with thatched roofs and no true educational system.
"They drink dirty water; they die of malnutrition and disease," said junior soccer player Henry Kalongi, an exchange student from Uganda. "If the soldiers take the children, they are forced to fight; and if they do not, they are mutilated. Their ears and lips, they cut them off."
Kalongi left these words for all of us to ponder.
"These happenings affect me. They are a part of me," he said. "It is a part of everybody; it goes on in the world and it affects us all."
Within two weeks of Kalongi's statement, Winthrop sponsored a cultural event held in the International Center on Thursday, Sept. 20. Valance Lutaisire was the guest speaker for the event and he gave insight to the poverty and destruction occurring in Uganda.
Lutaisire had first hand experience dealing with the different happenings in his home country Uganda. Valance grew up in an orphanage, but he didn't let that stop him from earning a Bachelor's degree of Developmental Studies from Makerre University. He also formed the Youth Focus Africa Foundation (YOFAFO) and is currently the executive director.
"I want to make a bottom to top approach instead of going directly to the government," Lutaisire said. "If the International students experience it, it helps more; it alerts them to what's happening."
In Uganda, a state in northern Africa, more than 30,000 children from ages three and up are stolen from their towns and villages to fight in a war that has been occurring for over two decades.
The Lord's Resistance Army (L.R.A.) has been the dominating military insurgency since 1987. They seek and capture all children that they can find. Therefore all of the youths in Uganda are forced to march several hundred miles over cover of darkness to I.D.P. (Internally Displaced Persons) camps.
Once in the camps, they have no means of shelter besides mud huts with thatched roofs and no true educational system.
"They drink dirty water; they die of malnutrition and disease," said junior soccer player Henry Kalongi, an exchange student from Uganda. "If the soldiers take the children, they are forced to fight; and if they do not, they are mutilated. Their ears and lips, they cut them off."
Kalongi left these words for all of us to ponder.
"These happenings affect me. They are a part of me," he said. "It is a part of everybody; it goes on in the world and it affects us all."
Within two weeks of Kalongi's statement, Winthrop sponsored a cultural event held in the International Center on Thursday, Sept. 20. Valance Lutaisire was the guest speaker for the event and he gave insight to the poverty and destruction occurring in Uganda.
Lutaisire had first hand experience dealing with the different happenings in his home country Uganda. Valance grew up in an orphanage, but he didn't let that stop him from earning a Bachelor's degree of Developmental Studies from Makerre University. He also formed the Youth Focus Africa Foundation (YOFAFO) and is currently the executive director.
"I want to make a bottom to top approach instead of going directly to the government," Lutaisire said. "If the International students experience it, it helps more; it alerts them to what's happening."
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