When is Enough, Enough?!

KONY 2012! Make KONY Famous! Have you read about this yet? Here is the video that is circulating right now. A friend of mine posted it on my Facebook to watch. I was aware of this awful man before hand but not aware of this organization {Invisible Children} trying to bring about awareness and stop him.

This video has received A LOT of criticism. Anything from being to simplistic to financials not being sound to wrong timing. Since this video went viral on Facebook on Monday the 5th, it has received over 65,000,000 hits! {It is also on Vimeo.com} That is crazy! And awesome!

Everyone seems to have an opinion regarding this 30 minute video, so why not give mine as well.

I certainly don't claim to know everything regarding this issue or politics or military strategies or financials for charities. I believe every human being has the right to live in a safe home, to be protected by their government and have a quality of life. Joseph Kony has terrorized Africa for more than two decades. He and his group LRA {Lord's Resistance Army} specialize in kidnapping children from their homes and turning them into child soldiers. Other atrocities include mass murder, rape, sexual slavery, mutilation and torture. Girls aren't safe either. They are kidnapped to be sex slaves for his army. Estimates range from 30,000 to as many as 105,000 children kidnapped by and Kony and the LRA.  As a result of all this violence 1.7 million people have been displaced.

I don't know what the solution is but I do believe that other countries can't just sit on the sidelines and do nothing. Look at the Holocaust. As a human race, aren't we responsible for each other? I don't know how anyone can think "Well I live in the United States, so this isn't my problem. Africa needs to fix it herself." Or "Hey, this doesn't affect me. I don't need to worry about it." Or "That is how Africa is. They fight and kill each other. Let them be." Yes, Africa does have corrupt governments and rebel armies but that doesn't mean the average African doesn't want or deserve peace. They are caught in the middle of all this injustice. The complexity of the problems in Africa are not easily solved but does that mean we don't even try to fix them?

History will repeat itself if we don't learn from it. The Kony 2012 video may not be perfect BUT many, many people are now aware of this issue. This issue that has been around for two plus decades.

There are many articles now about Kony and the video. Here is one and here is another. In the first article, the last paragraph says "So, instead of continuing to debate the strengths and weaknesses of the Kony 2012 video, or attack Invisible Children for their lack of financial transparency, let's figure out how to turn this momentum into a constructive opportunity that can result in smart policies that will have a positive, real-time impact in the affected areas of central Africa. Let's harness this energy and turn it into something productive that ensure we're telling the right stories, inspiring well-informed advocacy, and working together across governments, academia, grassroots activists and local populations to help bring this chapter of the LRA--and the impact in affected areas--to a close." I LOVE this! So true.

In the first article one man talks about the White Savior Complex. One paragraph responds with this "Is humanity so bitter and divided that anytime someone wants to help those in need or dedicate themselves to a cause that inspires them to action, they must meet racial, national and political requirements, before they are allowed to step up and help? Would a child soldier from Uganda refuse to be rescued because the person extending his hand is white and American? If the angry assertions of  people like Teju Cole become the standard by which we are judged when we want to right a wrong and put a stop to evil, then the world will soon become even more violent and divided than it is now." I know that not everyone who helps is actually helping but at least they are doing something {well to a point}. However what is Teju Cole doing besides ranting about those who want to make this world better?

The second article is from the NY Times Opinion Page. I love this article because it is about someone living in the United States who is and was impacted by Kony and the LRA. However she still has family living in Africa that is affected by Kony. What annoys me about the critics of the video and of Invisible Children is that they seem to forget that a human being has been terrorized for 26 years. The article in the NY Times gives us the personal story of what has been happening in Africa for way to long. We see how it has impacted her life and her families. When is it okay for someone to go through something like this? And how long is it okay for it to keep happening? What if this was OUR family being impacted? What if it was OUR children being kidnapped? What if it was OUR home being destroyed? What if WE were the ones getting displaced?

WHEN IS ENOUGH, ENOUGH?

P-E-A-C-E

I wanted to post a video here but I'm not having any luck so here's the link and the blog I read it from and the CNN article that started the blog post.

The article talks about Obama sending 100 troops to Africa to hunt down the leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, Joseph Kony. The man is horrible and vile and scary. He kidnaps C-H-I-L-D-R-E-N and makes them commit atrocities. Kony uses these children as his soldiers and when they die he just kidnaps more of them. He has displaced more than 380,000 people in the areas of Uganda, Sudan, Central African Republic and Dem. Rep of Congo.

In the video a woman says since peace was signed, they have never experienced peace. This statement got me. Peace is truly a gift that I think everyone wants but not a lot have. I believe here in the U.S. we have peace. When I read about other countries and what they face everyday, we can't compare. I'm not stupid or naive to think that we don't have trouble here. I know we have rapes, murder, suicide, gangs, violence, and so on. But we don't have war in our own country. We don't have American's causing war within our own country. We don't have American's committing atrocities like those that are happening in Africa. We aren't being displaced by soldiers looting or burning down our homes or stealing our food or kidnapping our children. Compared to Africa we have peace.

I'm not knowledgeable in politics and policy and war and I won't claim to have all the answers. However right now with the information I do have, I believe a country as powerful and wealthy as we are should help those countries who are struggling big time. We are blessed beyond belief when you compare what we have with the rest of the world and I believe we do have a responsibility to help those suffering. In my opinion the U.S. was built with faith in God and as long as we are doing what is right, God will help us and bless us. I know our country is in need of help but I believe that the same rule that apply to us individually apply to us as a country and that would be.....
James 2:15-17 (New International Version)
Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.


Since I am a Christian I know my opinions will probably differ than those who are not. All I ask is that before you start saying we should look out for "number 1" or "me" read up on Africa, India, and Latin American countries. Life in these countries is a daily struggle to feed their families, find clean H2O, send their children to school, make enough money to survive and much more.