team 6 post by josh: kony's legacy

oliva

"One of my most memorable exchanges during our week at SMK took place with a brother and sister I only spoke with once or twice. David and Oliva, like many of the SMK kids, were planning to go home in January. I asked David how long the trip took, and he told me six hours. ‘Will there be someone to pick you up?’ ‘Maybe.’ ‘If not will you walk home?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘How long will that take?’ ‘Two more hours.’

I came to Uganda with many questions, and left with many others. One question I struggled with is why so many of the kids at the orphanage had guardians – mothers in many instances. Why would a parent put a child in an orphanage? I figured that with all the hardship in Uganda, they just weren’t able to handle their kids, but I still struggled with the idea.

A disproportionately large number of kids at SMK are from the north, including many from Lira. If you have teenagers in your family, you may have experienced the viral craze earlier this year that relates to these kids -- Joseph Kony, the head of the Lord’s Resistance Army. A video about Kony by Jason Russell received more than 100 million views in a period of about six days in early 2012. It describes the devastation caused by Kony in northern Uganda. A few days later, the video was highly criticized because it seemed to suggest that Kony was still operating his army in northern Uganda when in fact he’d been gone for years.

Kony is no longer in Uganda, and the country is largely peaceful now. But the kids we met at SMK represent Kony’s very real and deeply tragic legacy of destruction. Many lost parents during Kony’s war. And a note little Oliva gave me when we left helped me better understand why she and her brother were in an orphanage, even with a parent still living:

 ‘Dear Josh

 Happy new year.

I am Oliva. How are you these days and how was life in Uganda and at SMK.

I think you enjoyed it very well.

I would like to tell you the story about my father. One day there was a war in 2005 up to 2006, and our father died in the war of 2006. We were at our aunt’s home. They took us there to protect us. When he died they called us and we go for the buriel. From there up to now we are staying with our mother. When our father died his people from their home came, and they took everything from our mother, starting from the land, house, animals and now she stays with her friend. She gave her a little land for digging…

 I am 12 years old.

Let me hope that you will come back. Please write back

Thank

 Love

Oliva David’s sister’”

northern uganda, 2007

In 2007, two of my fellow team members and I made the journey to the northern part of Uganda. We wanted to see the area that had been devastated by Joseph Kony and his LRA rebels' 20-year long war, We wanted to see displaced persons camps; we were actually helping two half-orphans from St. Mary Kevin find their mother in one of these camps (a mother they had not seen in four years). We were also hoping to find some children to bring back to the orphanage for placement there.

We felt safe during our explorations there. We'd been told the civil war had ended and that Kony had retreated to a bordering country a couple years earlier. Peace talks were on-again off-again, but there were no skirmishes, abductions, murders or rapes taking place anywhere near our location, which was in and around Gulu town.

We were shocked at what we saw in the displaced persons camp: filth, extreme poverty, overcrowding, deplorable living conditions, disease, lack of food, lack of sanitation, lack of clean drinking water, torn clothing or no clothing at all. Carol, Lynne nor I had ever seen anything like it. The stories we heard were horrifying.

We were warmly greeted wherever we went, though, and we were greeted with gracious Ugandan hospitality. The children had clearly been through an astonishing, unfathomable amount of pain and loss; most were still able to play and laugh in our presence. Over and over again, we were struck by their resilience.

All the talk this week about northern Uganda made me go back and look at some of the pictures I took there.


Gulu Town
















Displaced Persons Camp

doing more harm than good

Please read this open letter to the filmmaker responsible for the Kony 2012 film. It was written by Amber Ha, a travel blogger and was published in the Acholi Times, a newspaper in northern Uganda. Pictured below are the Invisible Children founders posing with members of the Sudan People's Liberation Army.



"Dear Jason Russell,

After being bombarded with your KONY 2012 crusade, I have no choice but to respond to your highly inaccurate, offensive, and harmful propaganda. I realized I had to respond in hopes of stopping you before you cause more violence and deaths to the Acholi people (Northern Ugandans), the very people you are claiming to protect.

Firstly, I would like to question your timing of this KONY 2012 crusade in Uganda when most of the violence from Joseph Kony and the LRA (The Lord’s Resistance Army) has subsided in Uganda in the past 5 years. The LRA has moved onto neighboring countries like the DRC and Southern Sudan. Why are you not urging action in the countries he is currently in? Why are you worried about Kony all of a sudden when Ugandans are not at this present moment?

This grossly illogical timing and statements on your website such as 'Click here to buy your KONY 2012 products' makes me believe that the timing has more to do with your commercial interests than humanitarian interests. With the upcoming U.S. presidential elections and the waning interest in Invisible Children, it seems to be perfect timing to start a crusade. I also must add at this point how much it personally disgusts me the way in which you have commercialized a conflict in which thousands of people have died.

Secondly, I would like to address the highly inaccurate content of your video. Your video did not leave the viewer any more knowledgeable about the conflict in Uganda, but only emotionally assaulted. I could not help but notice how conveniently one-sided the 'explanation' in your video was. There was absolutely no mention of the role of the Ugandan government and military in the conflict. Let alone the role of the U.S. government and military. The only information given is 'KONY MUST BE STOPPED.'

I would like to inform you that stopping Kony would not end the conflict. (It is correctly pronounced 'Kohn' by the way). This conflict is deeply embedded in Uganda’s history that neither starts nor ends with Kony. Therefore, your solution to the problem is flawed. There is no way to know the solution, without full knowledge of the problem itself. We must act on knowledge, not emotions.

Joseph Kony formed the LRA in retaliation to the brutality of President Museveni (from the south) committing mass atrocities on the Acholi people (from the north) when President Museveni came to power in 1986. This follows a long history of Ugandan politics that can be traced back to pre-colonial times. The conflict must be contextualized within this history. (If you want to have this proper knowledge, I suggest you start by working with scholars, not celebrities). President Museveni is still in power and in his reign of 26 years he has arguably killed as many, if not more Acholi people, than Joseph Kony. Why is President Museveni not demonized, let alone mentioned? I would like to give you more credit than just ignorance. I have three guesses. One is that Invisible Children has close ties with the Ugandan government and military, which it has been accused of many times. Second, is that you are willing to fight Kony, but not the U.S. Government, which openly supports President Museveni. Third, is that Invisible Children feels the need to reduce the conflict to better commercialize it.

This brings me to my third issue, the highly offensive nature of your video. Firstly, it is offensive to your viewer. The scene with your 'explanation' of the conflict to your toddler son suggests that the viewers have the mental capacity of a toddler and can only handle information given in such a reductionist manner. I would like to think American teenagers and young adults (which is clearly your target audience) are smarter than your toddler son. I would hope that we are able to realize that it is not a 'Star Wars' game with aliens and robots in some far off galaxy as your son suggests, but a real world conflict with real world people in Uganda. This is a real life conflict with real life consequences.

Secondly, and more importantly, it is offensive to Ugandans. The very name 'Invisible Children' is offensive. You claim you make the invisible, visible. The statements, 'We have seen these kids.' and 'No one knew about these kids.' are part of your slogan. You seem to be strongly hinting that you somehow have validated and found these kids and their struggles.

Whether you see them or not, they were always there. Your having seen the kids does not validate their existence in any shape or form or bring it any more significance. You say 'no one' knew about the kids. What about the kids themselves? What about the families of the kids who were killed and abducted? Are they 'no one?' Are they not human?

These children are not invisible, you are making them invisible by silencing, dehumanizing, marketing, and invalidating them.

Last year I went to Gulu, Uganda, where Invisible Children is based, and interviewed over 50 locals. Every single person questioned Invisible Children’s legitimacy and intention. Every single person. If anything, it seemed the people saw Invisible Children as a bigger threat than Joseph Kony at the time. Why is it the very people you are trying to 'help' feel more offense than relief with your aid?

'They come here to make money and use us.'

'It makes us feel terrible to be presented as being so stupid and helpless.'

These are direct quotes. This was the sentiment of the majority of the people that I interviewed in varying degrees. I definitely didn’t see or hear these voices or opinions in your video. If you are to be 'saving' the Acholi people, the very least you can be doing is holding yourself accountable to them and actually listening to what they have to say.

This offensive, inaccurate misconstruction of Ugandans and the conflict makes me wonder what and whom this is really about. It seems that you feel very good about yourself being a savior, a Luke Skywalker of sorts, and same with the girl in your video who passionately states, 'This is what defines us'. Therefore, I can’t help but wonder if Invisible Children is more about defining the American do-gooders (and making them feel good), rather than the Ugandans; profiteering the American military and corporations (which Invisible Children is officially and legally) than the conflict.

Lastly, I would like to address the harmful nature of your propaganda. I believe your actions will actually bring back the fighting in Northern Uganda. You are not asking for peace, but violence. The fighting has stopped in the past 5 years and the Acholi are finally enjoying some peace. You will be inviting the LRA and the fighting back into Uganda and disturbing this peace. The last time Invisible Children got politically involved and began lobbying it actually caused more violence and deaths. I beg you not to do it again.

If you open your eyes and see the actions of the Ugandan government and the U.S. government, you will see why. Why is it that suddenly in October of 2011 when there has been relative peace in Uganda for 4 years, President Obama decided to send troops into Uganda? Why is it that the U.S. military is so involved with AFRICOM, which has been pervading African countries, including Uganda? Why is it that U.S. has been traced to creating the very weapons that has been used in the violence? The U.S. is entering Uganda and other countries in Africa not to stop violence, but to create a new battlefield.

In your video you urge that the first course of action is that the Ugandan military needs American military and weapons. You are giving weapons to the very people who were killing the Acholi people in the first place. You are helping to open the grounds for America to make Uganda into a battlefield in which it can profit and gain power. Please recognize this is all part of a bigger military movement, not a humanitarian movement. This will cause deaths, not save lives. This will be causing more harm, than good.

You end your video with saying, 'I will stop at nothing'. If nothing else, will you not stop for the lives of the Acholi people? Haven’t enough Acholi people suffered in the violence between the LRA and the Ugandan government? Our alliance should not be with the U.S. government or the Ugandan military or the LRA, but the Acholi people. There is a Ugandan saying that goes, 'The grass will always suffer when two elephants fight.' Isn’t it time we let the grass grow?

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Amber Ha"


Jason Russell has not yet responded to her letter. I did see that IC is responding to all their doubters with a new film, due to be released today.

evelyn

Tonight I revisited this portrait made this past December in Uganda. Evelyn is a matron in the boy's dormitory at the orphanage. She is a tall, strong, imposing, beautiful young woman who I met on my first trip to Uganda in 2006.

Evelyn came to the orphanage from northern Uganda after her husband was killed in the conflict that is now getting so much attention due to the Kony 2012 Invisible Children campaign. Widowed young with three daughters, Evelyn found her way to Rosemary, the director at St. Mary Kevin, and secured a job. She was then able to put her girls Skovia, Sunday and Lillian in school, and she, along with the girls, were guaranteed a safe place to sleep, food, clothing and a shot at the future.

I didn't notice this when I made the portrait of Evelyn late one afternoon, but it hit me when I first viewed the image. The t-shirt hanging on the clothesline is the same color as the dripping paint on the dormitory wall behind Evelyn. To me, it seems that the shirt is weeping.

It was one of those gifts from the photo goddesses, and I was glad to receive it that day.

I'm glad, also, to know Evelyn. She's always been an inspiration to me.

more on kony

Joseph Kony, 2006


Click here to read just one of today's stories on the Invisible Children's Kony 2012 movment. It expresses views of Ugandans.

Click here to read another.

And here you can get some good facts about who Joseph Kony is, how he rose to power, where he is now, etc.

Like you, I can't turn on the TV, pick up a paper, listen to the radio or have a conversation with a friend without hearing about Joseph Kony. It has turned my thoughts to the children at St. Mary Kevin Orphanage who are without parents because of him. Lest we forget - during all this media buzz - about the individual children whose lives have been profoundly altered by the activities of the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) in Uganda, I'd like to do a shout out (and send a big hug across the ocean) to Nicky, Isabella, Petra, Joanne, Evalyn, David, Cate, Oliva, Beatrice, Skovia, Rebecca, Sharon, Sandra and all the other orphans from the north. You are what really matters here. And you are not invisible, by the way.

joseph kony

The first time I ever spoke with my buddy Nicky at St. Mary Kevin Orphanage (in 2006), he told me that both his parents had been killed by Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).



You have probably read in the news that on October 14th President Obama sent 100 military advisors to Uganda to help regional forces track down Kony and his group. The LRA has been wreaking havoc in northern Uganda for 20 years. This action is long overdue.

From the New York Times:

"Joseph Kony is one of the most vilified rebel leaders on the planet. He stands accused of brainwashing countless children across northern Uganda, turning the girls into sex slaves and the boys into prepubescent killers.

His so-called Christian movement, the Lord’s Resistance Army, has terrorized villagers in at least four countries in central Africa for nearly 20 years, killing tens of thousands of people, burning down huts and hacking off lips. The fact that Mr. Kony, whose followers believe he is a prophet, rarely appears in public has only added to his brutal mystique.

Exiled to a fiefdom on the border of southern Sudan and the Congo, Mr. Kony in 2007 emerged from the wilderness indicating a willingness to sign a historic peace deal with the Ugandan government that would disband his army. But in April 2008, he backed out, saying he needed more time to consult Ugandan elders and contemplate the war crimes charges brought by the International Criminal Court in 2005."

There are many children at the orphanage whose parents were killed by Kony's LRA. I can't help but think of them now as the man may finally be brought to justice.

The reaction of "Invisible Children" to this news is worth watching. This organization has, after all, been greatly responsible for getting Kony's name out there and making young people in America aware of the tens of thousands of innocent children in eastern and central Africa whose lives have been horribly and profoundly altered by this maniac.

Watch "Invisible Children" founders express their support for Obama's decision to apprehend Joseph Kony. It's a first step, but a huge victory for the thousands of youths who have been lobbying Washington to take action against the LRA.

Nicky, Cate, Otim Isaac, Geoffrey, Lillian, Rebekka, Issy, Petra and the others: I'm thinking about you as I follow the news reports... thinking about what you have been through because of Kony and how his capture might (hopefully) bring you some sort of closure.

[JUST IN: This AP article presents the perspective of Uganda's president and clarifies the issues surrounding US involvement.]