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Urgent Action Email 4/10/05 - Night Commuters in Northern Uganda
For nearly twenty years a civil war has been raging in northern Uganda between government forces and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army ( LRA ). One of the LRA’s recruitment tactics is to kidnap children from northern towns and villages, forcing the boys to become soldiers and the girls to become sex slaves. An estimated 20,000 children have been caught up in the conflict in this way, and more than one million people have had to flee their homes.
Night Commuters
Every night, to avoid being taken by the LRA, thousands of children and young adults leave their homes in towns and villages and travel to the nearest city to sleep in relative safety. Some travel as far as 12km every night, with a return trip the following morning, earning them the name ‘night commuters’. The LRA abductions, and the culture of night commuting that has formed in response to it, is having devastating effects on the children of Uganda, and the social, economic and family structures of its people.
GuluWalk Day – 22nd October 2005
To show solidarity with the child ‘night commuters’ and to draw the world’s attention to their plight, a worldwide GuluWalk Day is being organised for the 22nd of October 2005. On this day in many cities and towns across the world, people will walk together to their town or city centre and sleep there for the night, making the return journey the following morning. The name comes from the city of Gulu in northern Uganda, a key destination for many night communters. Cities taking part include London, Toronto, Beijing, Washington, Stockholm and Uzice ( Serbia ).
Prayer Points:
“See, I will beckon to the Gentiles,
I will lift up my banner to the peoples;
They will bring your sons in their arms
And carry your daughters on their shoulders…..
I will contend with those who contend with you,
And your children I will save”
( Isaiah 49: 22, 25b NIV )
“So there is hope for your future,” declares the LORD.
“Your children will return to their own land.”
( Jeremiah 31: 17 NIV )
Pray for the ‘night commuters’ of northern Uganda, both children and adults, who travel each night from their homes to the city in search of safety. Pray for protection, peace and strength.
Pray for the child soldiers, abducted by the LRA and forced to commit atrocities against their own people. Pray for those who are seeking to rehabilitate former child soldiers and reintegrate them into society.
Pray for the situation in northern Uganda: a recent one-month ceasefire broke down and violence resumed. Pray for the leaders and decision makers of both sides, and of outside diplomats involved in mediating the conflict, that they would all have a genuine thirst for peace, and wisdom in how to reach it.
Pray for GuluWalk Day, that many people would get involved and be touched by the plight of Ugandan night commuters, and that the international community would be moved to help those involved in the war to find peace and reconciliation, and to rebuild their shattered lives.
Action Points:
Join the GuluWalk! The London GuluWalk will leave Tower Hamlets before sundown on Saturday 22 October and head for central London, where the walkers will bed down on the streets of the city, or in church halls. After spending just one night in solidarity with the children of northern Uganda, the GuluWalk will depart at sunrise on the Sunday morning, and head back to East London. The London walkers can return home to catch up on some sleep, but the children of Gulu will be walking back to sleep again later that day. See : www.GuluWalk.com for more details. For those who are attending the SPEAK Southern forum in London during the day, why not put into practise what you have learnt and join the GuluWalk in the evening?
If you can’t make it to London, organise a GuluWalk in your town, maybe involving local SPEAK groups or other justice or peace groups in your area such as Christian Aid or CAFOD groups.
Have a look at the following websites for more information about Ugandan night commuters: www.GuluWalk.com and www.UgandaCan.org . Also for a brilliant and moving DVD about the Night Commuters filmed in Northern Uganda please visit: www.InvisibleChildren.com.
Grace and peace
Nathan
Disclaimer:
Please be aware that, as we need to respond quickly to urgent situations around the world, we cannot check whether the content or opinions expressed reflect the whole network! Therefore, the views in this email do not represent the Speak network as a whole.
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