KRISTEN ROBERTSON
Staff Writer
Thousands of children and adults will be sleeping on the streets on April 29 all across the United States. They all have homes and beds and blankets and refrigerators full of food, but they have all chosen to give that all up for one night.
These men, women, boys and girls have decided they are going to give up the comforts so prevalent here so that they can draw attention to those with nothing – the invisible children of Uganda.
The plight of the “Invisible Children” first came to attention when three young men traveled to Uganda and made a documentary of all that they saw there. They documented countless children suffering in a war torn region. These children live in terror for their lives and unsure of where their next meal would come from.
Since these three young men have returned from Africa, the documentary has been passed around the United States and has affected countless lives. Shown in churches, high schools and colleges across the country, the documentary has already created a difference in Uganda.
On the Invisible Children website, visitors can read how children’s lives are already changing for the better as donations enable them to attend schools, get new clothes, have consistent meals and, most importantly, live without fear of being killed or dragged off into the jungle to serve as a child soldier.
The documentary records these children walking from their small, outlying villages to the city every single night. Once there, they would bed down in verandas, deserted hallways and the basements of hospitals. The fear of being killed or worse drives them to make this commute every single night.
Out of this tragic nightly journey for the children of Uganda, the idea of the Global Night Commute was born.
In order to bring attention to these hurting children, average citizens across the United States are going to commute from their comfortable homes to the streets of major cities across the United States in an event called the Global Night Commute. They are going to sleep in the streets, replicating what these children do every night.
The Global Night Commute was organized by Invisible Children, Inc. to increase awareness of the Ugandan children and show solidarity with those suffering.
Their goal is to attract the attention of politicians so that lawmakers will start doing something to help these invisible children. One politician said that if enough people start getting passionate about helping the children of Uganda, something would be done to help them.
Seventeen cities in California are already committed to hosting this groundbreaking event. One such event is being held only a few miles from Pepperdine University in downtown Santa Monica.
More than 27,000 people across the United States have already signed up to make a difference – they are committed to showing their representatives in congress that they do care about what happens outside the border of their country.
Elliott Jones, a freshman at Pepperdine, is one of those people determined to make a difference. He saw the documentary, The Invisible Children, at Pepperdine and decided he was going to make a difference.
“The movie just struck me,” he said, “it was pretty intense and it made me think about what I was doing with my life. Am I going to be apart of something that’s going to make a difference or am I just live out my own selfish ambition?”
This determination to make a difference prompted Jones to send out a Facebook invitation to everyone he knew, asking them to be a part of the event as well.
“I just didn’t want anyone else to not being apart of it just because they hadn’t heard. I mean, I heard about it through a friend – so I wanted to let all my friends know about it too.” Jones believes strongly that this event can make a difference.
“I’m not trying to force anyone to do this if they don’t want do,” he said, “but I really want to see this movement work.”
Jones wants desperately for politicians to take notice of this cause and for the children of Uganda to be helped.
“I just hope that this thing works – there is a purpose here and I just want to help make it happen. And its not like they’re giving out free t-shirts,” he said with a laugh. “But I think if we can make this happen – it’ll give hope to future movements. It’ll build momentum and prove that people can make a difference.”
Factbox: For more information on the Global Night Commute, you can go to www.InvisibleChildren.com.
05-12-2006