ET’s Invisible Children is writing and collecting letters to send to Congress by Dec. 17 to promote the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) Disarmament Bill, which would mandate President Obama to create a strategy to prevent LRA violence in Northern Uganda.

Laura Burton and Sarah Santoyo
Staff Writer and Editor-in-Chief

The club, led by seniors Andrew Nguyen, Shea Thompson, Emily Goldstein and Collin Parker, hopes to spread the word of the war and convince Congress that the bill is a worthy cause because it outlines a way to apprehend the leaders, demobilize the child soldiers, protect civilians from attacks and invest in long-lasting peace.

“We want Congress to be aware of the crisis,” Nguyen said. “If the people running our country are blind to this war, how are the American people going to know about it? This is longest running war in African history and we doing absolutely nothing to help end it.”

The club is encouraging all students to write letters, and they will hand deliver them to the Invisible Children Offices.

“The [bill] needs all the support it can get and we really think that if we wrote hundreds of letters that there would be hope for our State to be involved in ending this war,” Nguyen said.

The war began in the 1980s when Alice Lakwena believed the Holy Spirit spoke to her and demanded she destroy the Ugandan government for being unjust to the Acholi, an ethnic group. After she was exiled and her group of followers, the Holy Spirit Movement, gained momentum, Joseph Kony claimed to be her cousin and took control of the rebel army now known as the LRA. When they began to lose support from the Acholi, they resorted to kidnapping children of all ages, even as young as eight, and forced them to join the army.  It is estimated that over the last 20 years more than 60,000 young boys have been forced to become soldiers, while the girls have been used as sex slaves.

To raise awareness and educate students and club members, the club shows documentaries and hands out news articles.

“Children are being abducted, killed, and used as sex slaves every day and the majority of us are blind to it,” Nguyen said. “Spreading the word and raising awareness is the most important thing to do.”

Each Invisible Children club is given a partner school in Uganda. They are hosting a book drive from Jan. 7 to Jan. 19 to raise money for supplies, textbooks and scholarships to give their partner school, Sacred Heart Secondary School. There will be boxes in every building to donate books.

“Everyone has dozens of old books laying around and why not put them to good use and provide education for a child in need?” Nguyen said.
They planning other fundraising events such as dance parties, rummage and bake sales, competitions and selling shirts.
ET’s Invisible Children is in direct contact with the offices every day to discuss ways to raise money and awareness, not only in the school, but in the community.

“We are acting as more than a club…and are more like their Lake Forest representatives,” Nguyen said.

They are planning to hold a community screening in the spring to promote a city rally.

Students can attend meetings every Wednesday in room 511 at lunch.

“It’s a blast seeing new faces every week and kids feeling so strongly about this worthy cause,” Nguyen said.

View the broadcast Video HERE