Background on Invisible Conflicts

Our organization is relatively new, but we have accomplished so much. Since the spring of 2006, we have held multiple screenings of "Invisible Children," the documentary about the conflict in Northern Uganda that first moved us to do something. We have empowered our peers by organizing letter writing campaigns to our senators and representatives in government; helped organize the "Global Night Commute" last April where 2,000 people joined us in Grant Park and slept outside in the rain to show solidarity for the children of N. Uganda; lobbied in Washington D.C. on behalf of the people of Northern Uganda; and raised 7,000 dollars through our fundraiser, the IC Plunge, where we jumped into Lake Michigan in December. On April 12, we are having a Reception in CFSU all day which will raise funds and awareness among Loyola students. On April 28 and 29 we will help run this year's version of the Global Night Commute - "Displace Me."

Recently, we have started an education program in Uganda called the "Dwon Madiki Partnership." Through this partnership, we are providing for the education of 21 Uganda children ages 5-13. We have also opened an office in Gulu, Uganda.

Our partner, Grace Odonga, checks up on "our" 21 kids and helps runs our organization in Uganda. Our kids meet up almost every day after school and Grace, with the help of volunteers, tutor the kids, teach them song, dance, and give them safe space to play games. We have received drawing and poems from all of them and are truly making a difference in all of their lives.

One of our goals is to compose a human rights curriculum to teach our Ugandan kids as well as lower-income children in Chicago. We are currently working with two groups of children in Chicago who are very excited to join us. When we teach our curriculum, thus providing a necessary human rights education at an early age, we will encourage the children to express themselves through art. The art of children is very powerful and can influence people in the West who are ignorant of many of the world's invisible conflicts.

This summer we are sending three Loyola students from our organization to Uganda. They will meet with Grace and our kids, teach our kids how to use cameras that we are currently acquiring through donations, and document their trip. Most importantly, they will gather important information to help us adapt our human rights curriculum so that it can be used in Uganda. Then, in December, we will send more people from our organization to further the building of our human rights curriculum and maybe begin to teach it.