My Night Commute

I first heard about the documentary "Invisible Children" from another leader in the Global Citizen Corps.  "You have to check it out," was all she told me.  So I went to website and ordered a copy. When it arrived a few days later, I popped in the DVD and watched the story of Uganda's night commuters unfold on the screen before me.

For the past 20 years, civil war has plagued the lives of millions of people in Northern Uganda.  In that time, rebels battling the government have kidnapped more than 25,000 children from their homes in the middle of the night, forcing them to become soldiers and sex slaves. To avoid being kidnapped, thousands of children from rural villages walk miles to city centers every night, where they sleep in safe houses. They return home the following morning, repeating their exhausting commute day after day.

By the end of the documentary, the sleeves of my sweatshirt were soaked with tears. I was so moved by the stories of the kids in Uganda – kids like me who cannot even sleep in their own homes – that I knew I had to do something.

I wrote to the people on the "Invisible Children" website to see what I could do. They said, "make more people aware," so that's what I did. I hosted screenings at my school, gave presentations about the war and the night commuters, and sold bracelets for the cause. When the time came to rally people for the Global Night Commute, I encouraged everyone i knew to sign up.

The idea was simple: in cities from coast to coast, people would walk to their own centers and spend the night there, mimicking the nightly commute of Ugandan children.  The goal was to raise awareness about the ongoing conflict and the toll it takes on children.

In Los Angeles, commuters walked to Santa Monica City Hall, which is right across the street from my high school. That made for an easy commute for me, but some people walked from as far as 15 miles away! There must have been at least a thousand people there. We set up camp on the grass in front of City Hall, and one of the documentary filmmakers spoke to all of us about how important it was that we all came out. Then we were all handed three pieces of blank paper: one for a letter to President Bush, one for a letter to one of our senators, and one for an art project.

It was amazing to see so many people sleeping outside for a night, far away from the comfort of their homes and beds. Some were singing songs and playing games of invisible football, while others focused on their letters. Everyone who was there met knew people and bonded over their shared commitment. As for sleeping on the ground, it was pretty uncomfortable, making me realize what it must be like for all of the kids in Northern Uganda who have to do it every night.

In the morning, we woke up with the sun, packed up our bags, and grouped together for a final meetin.  The organizers told us that over 130 cities worldwide had participated, with an estimated 70,000 people making the night commute. It was amazing to be part of such a vibrant movement - and to know we were helping make invisible children visible again.

To those of you reading this: if you haven't seen "Invisible Children" yet, I hope you'll watch it. And once you've seen it, I hope you'll help spread the word. Now that you've read this, not knowing is not an excuse. This crisis is real. Every day kids are being abducted, forced to kill, raped, and murdered.  We have the power to end this, we just need to gather enough voices.

Kelly, a junior in the NetAid Global Citizen Corps, plans to spend her summer volunteering in Costa Rica.