Written by: Lauren Galbierz

Imagine being woken in the middle of the night, demanded to kill your family, and then being taken in as a Ugandan solider.  This is what 300,000 children under the age of 18 have faced since the beginning of the war in Uganda 23 years ago.

“The LRA (Lords Resistance Army) would come in the middle of the night, drag kids out of their beds, and force them not only to kill their family but to mutate them,” Invisible Children club president Alexis Myers said.

The Invisible Children club meets once a month and discusses what they can do to help these suffering children.  This will be the second year they have a presentation in the auditorium to share the story of one child in Uganda who was kidnapped and became part of Joseph Cony’s army.  He escaped and now presents talks.

“Invisible Children’s job is to help raise awareness for the cause and get people to write to our government or even state representatives,” Myers said.

The abduction of innocent children in Uganda started by one man, Cony.  Cony rebelled against the government and promised the Ugandan people victory if they joined his army.

“After years and years of defeat, he lost more and more followers and to replace those followers he started abducting children,” Myers said.

Even though Africa is far away, students can still help during the Invisible Children presentation March 21.  The presentation will be almost identical to last year’s except that instead of Pepito sharing his story, there will be a new kid from Uganda sharing his/her experience under Cony’s control.

“Bracelets, shirts, DVDs, fundraiser programs, and CDs will be sold to help raise money for Uganda, shirts are $20, bracelets are $15, and bags are $40ish,” Myers said.