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3,000 become "refugees" to protest war in Uganda

Contributed by: Kaitlin Blasco on 5/1/2007

On April 28, 2007 over 67,000 people across the United States were displaced from their homes due to the civil war northern Uganda.

Although they were not forcibly removed from their homes like many Ugandans have been, it was the war that compelled these thousands of people - mostly high school- to college-aged students - to sleep for a night in a simulated refugee camp, as part of the "Displace Me" event hosted by Invisible Children.

The purpose of the event was to show America's solidarity with the estimated 1.7 million Ugandans who have been forced to flee their homes and move to refugee camps over the past ten years as a result of the civil war between the Ugandan government and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), an insurgent militia group.

The war in Uganda first began in 1987 after a military coup instated Yoweri Museveni as president, and Joseph Kory, the leader of the LRA, professed a spiritual war against the new government.

Since then, the LRA has raped, tortured, and killed thousands of civilians in northern Uganda, and anywhere from 58,000 to 75,000 children have been abducted for use as child soldiers. The first internally displaced persons (IDP) camps were created in 1996, and over a million Ugandans are still living there in poor and unsafe conditions, with little food or water.

Displace Me was held in 15 different cities so Americans could experience firsthand (at least as much as possible) what it's like to live in these sorts of camps. In Colorado alone, roughly 3,000 people came out to Horse Park in Parker for this opportunity.

Everyone was asked to bring cardboard to build a makeshift hut, since the displaced persons in Uganda were given only 48 hours to relocate and build a new house, as well as bottled water and saltine crackers, which were handed over at the entrance to be rationed out later in the night.

At 3 p.m., people began arriving at Horse Park and constructing their huts atop a large hill. They decorated the cardboard with peace signs, red "X"s (the Displace Me symbol), and pictures of Africa. In Uganda the home is seen as an extension of the self, and participants were encouraged to show their message of peace on their houses.

Although it was hot outside, water was not to be rationed out until 8:45 p.m. Until then, participants wrote letters to state senators and the president of Uganda, urging them to take action against the war. Boredom and monotony are common in IDP camps, where there is usually little to do; Displace Me campers spent their time sleeping or walking around until the next scheduled activity.

At about 6 p.m. everyone was called together so the Invisible Children crew could begin filming the rally for a movie that they hope to show to the U.S. Senate. All 3,000 people gathered at the top of the hill and walked down together, cheering and making peace signs with their hands as a crane-mounted camera caught the full scope of the crowd.

A few people made makeshift flags with Displace Me bandanas that read "Every war has an end."

As part of filming, participants were also asked to hold up two different banners that, when put together with the film from the other 14 cities, will create a poem about the war.

Afterward, the camp assembled at the base of the hill to watch a movie and hear testimonials from people living in the (real) IDP camps. The first speaker was Emmy Okot, a Logistics Officer for Invisible Children, who received a standing ovation as he took the stage.

He recounted how his uncle's wife and children had been killed by the LRA, and encouraged action to end the violence.

"We can't be invisible for long. That is my message for tonight." he said, loudly and deliberately. "I think what you are doing tonight, what you are doing on behalf of my people, is the beginning that will turn the world around."

The movie included more testimonials, as well as instructions on how campers were to receive food. Due to a technical delay with the movie, no one ate until 10 p.m., an hour later than scheduled.

The video explained how, in the IDP camps, women must walk two miles to fetch water, while men who would normally be farming the land now have nothing to do. Thus, at the simulated camp only women were allowed to get water, one bottle at a time, and men could get a three-bag ration of crackers. The crowd was chaotic as everyone rushed to secure their share of the food, and provide for the opposite gender in their group.

After the rations were doled out, the movie continued and the audience was asked to take 21 minutes of silence to commemorate the 21 years of war. On screen, an orphaned girl named Adear Rosalyn, who has contracted HIV/AIDS from her mother, talked about the problem of this disease in IDP camps.
Afterwards, Barbara Bush assured everyone that George Bush was doing his best to wipe out malaria.

At 11 p.m. people began trekking back up the hill to sleep, and the stadium-style lights were shut off at midnight.. The night had become very cold, despite a forecasted low of only 47 degrees, and many people could be heard waking in the night until the sun rose at 6:30 a.m. and people could return to their homes - their real homes.

This was exactly what Displace Me was about: returning people home. It was a luxury for everyone involved to leave after 15 hours of discomfort, but the people in Ugandan camps have been waiting to leave for over ten years. Invisible Children will continue all of the work they are doing in Africa, and with any luck Displace Me will have a positive effect and play a discernable role in bringing peace to Uganda, so they may return home as well.


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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Kaitlin Blasco

Wheat Ridge , CO

Kaitlin Blasco has posted 1 story and 0 comments since joining on 4/12/2007. Kaitlin Blasco 's average story rating is 0.
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