People on the Move

Since people learned how to walk and wanted to explore, they have been on the move. Exploration is not the only reason people go on the move though. There are conflicts like war and struggle which cause people to move. Famine and food shortages or water shortages are other reasons why people move or migrate. Sometimes groups of people move to find other work or fertile ground. These are just a few of the reasons why people tend to leave their homes and land.

Where these people are going is a place where they feel they can be more successful. Not only financially, but easier to raise a family, find safer or better living conditions, and so on. The move is most likely made to make the situation easier on the family or group.

War or conflict has been the root of the majority of mass movements by a group of peoples. This was the case in Uganda as well. Civil war and struggle has caused a lot of people to flee their homes and possessions in search of a safer, better life. Full towns and camps have been created to accommodate all those whom are displaced by these conflicts.

These movements do not just effect the adults and leaders of the communities that are being displaced, they effect the children as well. This was especially true in Uganda. Because of the civil war that was occurring in Uganda, leaders of the opposing side instructed their followers to recruit young children, most of the time boys, to fight for their cause.

A group of Southern Cal film students visited Uganda, and were appalled by what they witnessed. Children were being captured and and given guns and alcohol. Some of the children who were captured played their roles to perfection; they accepted the loose regulations of the rebel armies and were given power which they never had before. Others, as expected, were terrified and many were killed during raids or times of conflict.

These students returned to the states and were led to create Invisible Children (http://www.invisiblechildren.com/homepage). This is a website that put the struggle in Uganda, especially the treatment of children in Uganda, on the map. The name is derived from the tactic some of the villages and children have undertaken. Because of the civil war and the snatching of children, villages have began to educate children at night. The term "Invisible Children" refers to the night walk, sometimes up to 20 miles, in order to get a proper education.

Since these students have made the Ugandan children's experiences visible to the world, there have been rallies and "night walks" to commemorate, and raise money for, those children who make the walk nightly. I participated in a "night walk" when I attended Samford University in Birmingham, AL.

The organizers planned to meet at one location (a school so people could park) and walk to another city park and stay the night. My friend and I decided to walk from our apartment, to the downtown school meeting center to meet up with the larger group, and then to the city park to spend the night. The experience, although it was nothing near what the children in Uganda experienced, was very eye opening.

This is just one instance where people have been forced to move because of conflict. People are being displaced daily, others are choosing to leave their home in search of a better life daily, the hope is, that one day, people will be happy where their are and with their neighbors.