2. Where is Uganda?

3. Statistics about Uganda: Population Religion Ethnic and Linguistic Groups Population growth rate Life expectancy Percentage of literate adult males Percentage of literate adult females Urban Population Infant Mortality Rate

4. Overview of the Crisis In 1987, Joseph Kony started a movement to overthrow the government of Uganda. The movement is now known as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Children are abducted and forced to serve as child soldiers. Civilians are terrorized by the LRA. If individuals are suspected of sympathizing with the government, the LRA uses brutal tactics such as cutting off of hands, ears or lips, to intimidate them. Kony creates his army primarily through the violent abduction and forced enlistment of children. Children are forced to be soldiers, laborers and, in the case of girls, sexual slaves. More than 30,000 children have been kidnapped by the LRA. These rebels, based in southern Sudan, are reportedly being sheltered and armed by extremists in Sudan's government. View scenes from "War Dance," the story of three children from a northern Uganda displacement camp who compete in the National music competition.> More about "War Dance" View scenes from "War Dance," the story of three children from a northern Uganda displacement camp who compete in the National music competition.> More about "War Dance" According to the United Nations, more than 1.5 million people have been forced from their homes, into displacement camps. These people are unable to farm due to war and international food assistance is inadequate. Illness is rampant because the country is too insecure for humanitarian aid agencies or the Ugandan government to provide regular health services.To make matters worse, the LRA attacks displacement camps to abduct children. Because the camps are not secure, parents often feel that they have no other choice but to send their children to walk ("commute") for several miles to the nearest town, where it may be safer.According to the United Nations, more than 1.5 million people have been forced from their homes, into displacement camps. These people are unable to farm due to war and international food assistance is inadequate. Illness is rampant because the country is too insecure for humanitarian aid agencies or the Ugandan government to provide regular health services.To make matters worse, the LRA attacks displacement camps to abduct children. Because the camps are not secure, parents often feel that they have no other choice but to send their children to walk ("commute") for several miles to the nearest town, where it may be safer. As many as 25,000 children travel each night to seek safety. On their journey, the children sleep out in the open, unprotected from the LRA or others who want to kidnap them. Overview of the Crisis In 1987, Joseph Kony started a movement to overthrow the government of Uganda. The movement is now known as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Children are abducted and forced to serve as child soldiers. Civilians are terrorized by the LRA. If individuals are suspected of sympathizing with the government, the LRA uses brutal tactics such as cutting off of hands, ears or lips, to intimidate them. Kony creates his army primarily through the violent abduction and forced enlistment of children. Children are forced to be soldiers, laborers and, in the case of girls, sexual slaves. More than 30,000 children have been kidnapped by the LRA. These rebels, based in southern Sudan, are reportedly being sheltered and armed by extremists in Sudan's government. View scenes from "War Dance," the story of three children from a northern Uganda displacement camp who compete in the National music competition.> More about "War Dance" View scenes from "War Dance," the story of three children from a northern Uganda displacement camp who compete in the National music competition.> More about "War Dance" According to the United Nations, more than 1.5 million people have been forced from their homes, into displacement camps. These people are unable to farm due to war and international food assistance is inadequate. Illness is rampant because the country is too insecure for humanitarian aid agencies or the Ugandan government to provide regular health services.To make matters worse, the LRA attacks displacement camps to abduct children. Because the camps are not secure, parents often feel that they have no other choice but to send their children to walk ("commute") for several miles to the nearest town, where it may be safer.According to the United Nations, more than 1.5 million people have been forced from their homes, into displacement camps. These people are unable to farm due to war and international food assistance is inadequate. Illness is rampant because the country is too insecure for humanitarian aid agencies or the Ugandan government to provide regular health services.To make matters worse, the LRA attacks displacement camps to abduct children. Because the camps are not secure, parents often feel that they have no other choice but to send their children to walk ("commute") for several miles to the nearest town, where it may be safer. As many as 25,000 children travel each night to seek safety. On their journey, the children sleep out in the open, unprotected from the LRA or others who want to kidnap them. Overview of the Crisis In 1987, Joseph Kony started a movement to overthrow the government of Uganda. The movement is now known as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). Children are abducted and forced to serve as child soldiers. Civilians are terrorized by the LRA. If individuals are suspected of sympathizing with the government, the LRA uses brutal tactics such as cutting off of hands, ears or lips, to intimidate them. Kony creates his army primarily through the violent abduction and forced enlistment of children. Children are forced to be soldiers, laborers and, in the case of girls, sexual slaves. More than 30,000 children have been kidnapped by the LRA. These rebels, based in southern Sudan, are reportedly being sheltered and armed by extremists in Sudan's government. View scenes from "War Dance," the story of three children from a northern Uganda displacement camp who compete in the National music competition.> More about "War Dance" View scenes from "War Dance," the story of three children from a northern Uganda displacement camp who compete in the National music competition.> More about "War Dance" According to the United Nations, more than 1.5 million people have been forced from their homes, into displacement camps. These people are unable to farm due to war and international food assistance is inadequate. Illness is rampant because the country is too insecure for humanitarian aid agencies or the Ugandan government to provide regular health services.To make matters worse, the LRA attacks displacement camps to abduct children. Because the camps are not secure, parents often feel that they have no other choice but to send their children to walk ("commute") for several miles to the nearest town, where it may be safer.According to the United Nations, more than 1.5 million people have been forced from their homes, into displacement camps. These people are unable to farm due to war and international food assistance is inadequate. Illness is rampant because the country is too insecure for humanitarian aid agencies or the Ugandan government to provide regular health services.To make matters worse, the LRA attacks displacement camps to abduct children. Because the camps are not secure, parents often feel that they have no other choice but to send their children to walk ("commute") for several miles to the nearest town, where it may be safer. As many as 25,000 children travel each night to seek safety. On their journey, the children sleep out in the open, unprotected from the LRA or others who want to kidnap them. Overview of the Crisis: Children are abducted and forced to serve as child soldiers. Civilians are terrorized by the LRA. http://domino-201.worldvision.org/worldvision/wvususfo.nsf/stable/globalissues_uganda Kony creates his army primarily through the violent abduction and forced enlistment of children.

5. Overview of the Crisis: http://domino-201.worldvision.org/worldvision/wvususfo.nsf/stable/globalissues_uganda As many as 40,000 children travel each night to seek safety. On their journey, the children sleep out in the open, unprotected from the LRA or others who want to kidnap them. The LRA attacks displacement camps to abduct children to build their army.

6. The Conflict: Since 1996, the population of northern Uganda has been forced into internally displaced persons (IDP) camps. Displaced people are unable to farm due to war and international food assistance is inadequate. Illness is rampant because the country is too insecure for humanitarian aid agencies or the Ugandan government to provide regular health services. Children watch as bodies are removed from a mass grave nearby. http://www.unight.org/learn/index.htm

7. In the camps, with the houses so close together, fires spread quickly, usually decimating hundreds of houses, and leaving tens of hundreds of people homeless. www.BBC.orghttp://.worldvision.org Displacement Camps: According to the United Nations, more than 1.5 million people have been forced from their homes, into displacement camps.

8. Death Camps: More people die in the camps than from the rebels. Each week 1,000 people die in the camps from preventable diseases, poverty, and malnutrition, according to the United Nations. The camps have existed for more than 10 years and the government has failed to provide adequate protection to the people living in them.

9. A young girl whose family was ambushed in broad daylight on a road in northern Uganda. www.Imcworldwide.org "This is not a war where the civilian population is affected through collateral damage, it is a war targeting the civilian population, and especially children." ~ UN Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs and Humanitarian Relief Coordinator, Jan Egeland~ Pain:

10. The war and displacement has led to an explosion in the HIV/AIDS infections and a systematic destruction of Acholi culture. Destruction of a culture long held intact:

11. Night Commuters: These are Northern Uganda’s “night commuters” or “Invisible Children”. Over 25,000 children have been abducted by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and forced to kill their friends and relatives. For these “forgotten children,” each day life is a constant battle for survival.

12. Every time the Ugandan army claims to have killed or defeated “rebels” it has killed the very Ugandan children it failed to protect in the first place. Night Commuters: An estimated 250,000 people have died from the Ugandan civil war since it began in 1986.

13. How to help: Write letters to your congressmen urging international action against the atrocities in Uganda. Join an existing organization, or start your own non-profit organization with a mission to help those in need. Research conflict and hold a discussion meeting to build interest. Publicize your meetings and campaigns with flyers, posters, and e-mails. Keep the faith going no matter the obstacles in your way.

14. What you can do to help! uNight: for the children of Uganda is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to building an effective grassroots constituency in the United States and United Kingdom to help end the 20 -year long war in northern Uganda and to provide long-term humanitarian assistance to the child victims. uNight works closely with grassroots and faith-based organizations, student groups, and the private sector to raise public awareness and find innovative ways to address this neglected humanitarian catastrophe. InvisibleChildren.Com Invisible Children, Inc. is dedicated to providing financial resources to invisible children by documenting their true, untold stories in a creative and relevant way, resulting in positive change. uNight.org

15. OneGlobalTribe.Org War-Affected Children The Name Campaign: Tell Their Stories. Bring Them Home. Adopt children’s names by buying a necklace to help bring them back out of the bush. GuluWalk 2006 is focused on supporting the abandoned children of northern Uganda. Even if there is peace tomorrow in northern Uganda, there is so much we can do to provide an education and a future for the Acholi children. What you can do to help! Unicef.org A Children’s Act, based on the CRC, was passed in 1996. Uganda has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and the Optional Protocol to the CRC on the involvement of children in armed conflict. A Children’s Act, based on the CRC, was passed in 1996.