3.12.2012

A snippet from Uganda

By now you have all seen/watched/heard about the KONY2012 video.

I just wanted to share this bit of insight from a girl I know who is over in Uganda with the Peace Corps. She posted this on her Facebook last week, shortly after the video hit:
I am impressed and with the compassion of people supporting Invisible Children. I want to say that I’ve seen some of their schools and I fully support their efforts to assist the former child soldiers by furthering their education. That being said, as a current resident of a former IDP camp in Northern Uganda, if I asked anyone in my village what they would like to see Invisible Children do it would not be to help the Ugandan government in any way, shape, or form. There is an incredible amount of underlying issues here that are not addressed in the KONY 2012 video. Although bringing awareness to this issue is not a bad thing…it is far too late. The damage has been done. Yes, I do agree that this disgusting excuse for a human should be brought to justice and any further LRA crimes in Central Africa should be stopped but IC fails to acknowledge the horrific things done to the Acholi people in the IDP camps by ”other” powerful people from this country. The people I live and work with are indifferent about catching Kony. These people would rather have access to better education, health care, clean drinking water, better agricultural inputs, and food security. Funneling millions of dollars into catching a criminal who is lost in the jungle of a different country is not going to help the people of northern Uganda.

If you want to raise ”awareness” about a CURRENT issue in northern Uganda torturing and destroying the lives of thousands of young children, look up ”nodding disease”. --A.W.

I'm posting this snippet from her for the sole reason that I believe the more informed you are, the better armed you are to help.

Choose your own path - while I, for my own reasons, have chosen not to support the Kony2012 viral campaign, I give kudos to those of you who have taken such a stance.

It's awesome seeing so many people so passionate about something and work towards its fruition, and kudos to the Invisible Children organization for tackling a whole new means of not-for-profit marketing, and making it spread like wildfire.

Just remember that it's cool that we all support different things. That doesn't mean someone is RIGHT or WRONG. Quit hating on each other. I might wanna save baby pandas instead of children, you might want to save reese's cups. Don't make me bust out the Kumbaya speech again.

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9 comments:

Michelle (michabella) said...

thank you thank you thank you... it kills me that people can't respect each others opinions on what or whom they choose to believe in.

xoxoxo

Jessica said...

Very good point - it's easy to get swept up in the glamour of the video. It's impactful, but that's what the organization was going for. There are a lot of people who never do any other research and may not get the full scope of any particular issue (not just this one). I think the message is "Be informed" before you act :) Thanks for posting!

Sandra said...

Thank you for posting this. These world issues are NOT one dimensional and no amount of tweets or facebook posts or bracelet buying is gonna solve them. There is so much more to these issues!! I, like you, didn't jump on the bandwagon.

JaggedLittleJenn said...

Ha we have the same friend, though earlier I was referring to her husband.

undomestic mama said...

Thanks for sharing it. I've still not watched the video but know I wouldn't support IC anyway.

Carolyn said...

Love this! I think a lot of people see the video, and assume it's what they should be doing, without doing any research. Obviously I think donating time or money into any cause is a great thing, but I think people should do their research and actually know what they're donating to. :)Kumbaya.

Kara said...

Thank you for posting this! I've been doing a ton of research since watching the Kony video and have been very unsure of how I felt about it. It's good to hear from someone who knows first-hand what it is like over there.

Holly said...

PREACH! I loved reading what your friend wrote. I was moved by the KONY2012 video, but I think that people are uninformed about what's really going on there. I think we need more information about a place on the other side of the world that the majority of us haven't visited and probably never will. I also think we have a lot of issues in our country that need to be addressed before we can start trying to save the world acting like we've got our shit together. And did anyone ask what the people of northern Uganda want? I'm glad your friend wrote what she wrote. I think education is so important so that the people there can help themselves in the long run :)

Casey said...

Thank you for sharing all of this insightful info!

I found this post because Kara linked to it for Lots of Link Love: http://inarowe.blogspot.com/2012/03/lots-of-snowand-link-love.html

You can read more about Lots of Link Love over at my blog if you're interested! http://www.stresscasey.blogspot.com/2012/03/lots-of-link-love-final-linkup-edition.html