http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2005/08/unchr.html
How is it that the UN pretty much blatantly ignores the issue of human rights?
Well, at least the article did a good job of describing the atrocities in Uganda.
Countdown to Displace Me: 5 days!
Monday, April 23, 2007
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
I take for granted...
"Hey Mom, I'm here"
"Yep, everything's fine. I'll give you a call when I'm on my way home."
"I love you too. 'Night!"
Phrases I take for granted-- that my mother takes for granted. Since I was in elementary school, I've been calling my mother whenever I got to a destination that I'd travelled to without her. It started out as mandatory, moved to highly recommended, then requested, eventually it became just appreciated... and now it's just force of habit. It's certainly a comfort for my mother, but it's a comfort for me as well.
The children in Northern Uganda, of the Acholi tribe, they don't have that luxury. Every night they walk, up to an hour and a half- or more- into a village that has been deemed a "safe" place to sleep-- and there they sleep among thousands. Thousands of other children who, like themselves, fear being abducted by the LRA and forced to kill or be killed. So they commute to the villages... they sleep in bus parks, verandas, hospital basements. They don't get to call- "Hey mom, I made it here okay." They don't get to hear "goodnight" as they crawl into their makeshift "bed." Their parents wait, wondering, until morning. My mother would never sleep if I didn't call to check in, and I'm under no real threat of being abducted just because I'm asleep. Imagine the effect that kind of stress and worry would have on a person's health. Imagine that stress and worry compounded over 20 years.
These are the effects of this war that few people consider. These are the things we should appreciate more dearly... we are so lucky for what we have.
"Yep, everything's fine. I'll give you a call when I'm on my way home."
"I love you too. 'Night!"
Phrases I take for granted-- that my mother takes for granted. Since I was in elementary school, I've been calling my mother whenever I got to a destination that I'd travelled to without her. It started out as mandatory, moved to highly recommended, then requested, eventually it became just appreciated... and now it's just force of habit. It's certainly a comfort for my mother, but it's a comfort for me as well.
The children in Northern Uganda, of the Acholi tribe, they don't have that luxury. Every night they walk, up to an hour and a half- or more- into a village that has been deemed a "safe" place to sleep-- and there they sleep among thousands. Thousands of other children who, like themselves, fear being abducted by the LRA and forced to kill or be killed. So they commute to the villages... they sleep in bus parks, verandas, hospital basements. They don't get to call- "Hey mom, I made it here okay." They don't get to hear "goodnight" as they crawl into their makeshift "bed." Their parents wait, wondering, until morning. My mother would never sleep if I didn't call to check in, and I'm under no real threat of being abducted just because I'm asleep. Imagine the effect that kind of stress and worry would have on a person's health. Imagine that stress and worry compounded over 20 years.
These are the effects of this war that few people consider. These are the things we should appreciate more dearly... we are so lucky for what we have.
Monday, April 2, 2007
To Start
Well, here I am. Hello readers, whoever and wherever you may be. As a part of the URI MIND (Minor in INternational Development), I decided to keep this journal... not because it is a requirement for the minor, but as a device for me to keep track of my thoughts and journeys (physical, cognitive, and emotional) within the program.
So, that's my introduction... I'll be back soon to write something real.
So, that's my introduction... I'll be back soon to write something real.
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