Kony Awareness Campaign
(Don Congjuico)
Representatives from “Invisible Children”, an youth based non-profit organization dedicated in spreading awareness to the violence of Joseph Kony, were present last September 19, 2012. The talk for what’s currently happening with Kony was held at the SSC building at room 212. The Global Activist Club hosted the Invisible Children volunteers and helped out during the 2 hour awareness event.
Abby Freeman, President of the Global Activist Club, started last November with the aim of bringing global events that she is passionate about into the collective consciousness of the campus. She said, “Things like this are close to my heart and I want to be definitely engaged. I have been involved with Invisible Children since I was 15 and feel like people should know the facts.”
The facts she is referring to are the atrocities made by Joseph Kony. Being the leader of a group called the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army), he is responsible for kidnapping children and forcefully recruiting them into his army. The ICC (International Criminal Court) indicted Kony for 12 counts of crimes against humanity and 21 counts of war crimes regarding the situation in Uganda.
ICC source:wanna start by saying that one of the things that has been stopping the Ugandan army from stopping the war is the children. Honestly I’m not saying that the government of Uganda is trying to help him. They did what they could to try and end the war. But then it was so hard for them to just kill those children because they were just brainwashed.”
Her answer then led to a story of almost capturing Kony. She said, ” They knew where Kony is and they knew where he was because they saw him. But there was nothing they could do to reach him because he had over 600 kids around him. Very young children around him. They could not just get to him without hurting the children. They just could not.”
What the Cal Pac team wishes as a result is the spread of awareness about the Kony issue. They hope this will encourage young people to speak up therefore putting pressure on world leaders to end the atrocities of Joseph Kony.
Isa Biffin, Cal Pac volunteer, said, ” This is such an incredible time to get involved and put action into this movement because there has never been this many people aware of this issue and what’s happening. Our challenge is not to take action and be the generation that says no to the injustices.”
Isa, Tessa, Micheal and Grace are members of the Cal Pac team currently spreading the news about Kony in colleges, universities, places of worship and anywhere else where they are allowed around San Diego, Orange Country and Hawaii.
All 4 volunteers come from different parts of the country and the world and have stopped school for a semester to go on an advocacy mission for the voices of the people affected by Joseph Kony in the North African region.
The Cal Pac team will be spreading the news for 2 more months around Hawaii, Orange County and San Diego. Grace has done this before in 2010 and this is a first time for Isa, Tessa and Micheal.
Emmanuel Cabello, Global Activist Club VP, mentioned some future plans about the club’s next big project. Emmanuel talked about “Liberty in North Korea”, which was modeled after Invisible Children, and how it deals with refugees from the communist country.
“We are also open to suggestions for other organizations. Last year we worked for the “Help For Haiti” packaging events where we accepted donations and did a fundraiser for the event where every dollar raised supplied 40 meals for the children in Haiti.”, said Emmanuel.
Invisible Children is hosting an event this November 17 on Washington DC called “Move: DC.”
Move:DC information site: http://www.kony2012.com/
Cal Pac Team twitter for current updates here: http://twitter.com/ICCalPacific
(Don Congjuico)
(Don Congjuico)
(Don Congjuico)
(Don Congjuico)
(Don Congjuico)
(Don Congjuico)
(Don Congjuico)
(Don Congjuico)
(Don Congjuico)