Well, folks, I have some news. Pretty exciting news. I will be traveling to Uganda for about 10 days as an educational venture to see and touch and smell and hug the programs of Invisible Children, as well as meet some of those who have been affected by the programs! It will be a short trip, perhaps seemingly irrational, but I think it will provide for me a legitimacy and validation of the entire semester I have sacrificed, including the glamour and income I could be receiving otherwise.
I feel like it's necessary for my ability to speak with confidence from stage. Although I know and understand the goodness of Invisible Children, I don't know if it has digested and fallen into my blood yet. I am a girl who has to see to believe - ask my parents. I continue to ask why or how until someone takes me to the river and shows me that trout swim upstream or lets me touch fire so I know that fire burns.
I have no doubt this trip is going to blow my mind. It's going to broaden my world view, perhaps even explode it and I have no doubt that I will fall in love with Uganda even more.
The city of Gulu, in the North, is where the headquarters of Invisible Children is and where we will fly into. As for my safety, the LRA isn't present in Uganda currently - they are residing in the bush of the Congo, as Congolese are the prime targets of their attacks and abductions right now. Invisible Children takes students to Uganda every year through their Schools for Schools program. The schools who raise the most money in 100 days of competition get to send a student to visit the kids which they have supported.
This is going to be a thrill, but for now, back to work. I still need to book those screenings. . .
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