Sleeping on the Streets of Philly . . . On Purpose

On April 29th, me and my friends joined thousands (upon thousands) of other people in 150 cities around the world to raise awareness about a growing crisis in Northern Uganda. As some of you may know - but most probably don't - there has been a civil war raging in that country for the past 19 years. As a result of the conflict, children living in rural villages are vulnerable to night raids during which they are kidnapped and forced to fight in rebel armies. To avoid this fate, each night thousands of children walk miles into larger, more secure towns to sleep in bus terminals, hospitals, wherever they can find. Then get up the next morning to walk back to their villages - some to go to school, others to help their families eke out an existence.

In order to draw attention to this invisible war and its children, an organization (called Invisible Children) organized the Global Night Commute in people commuted into their city centers and slept in public areas - outside, unprotected - just like the night commuters in Northern Uganda. We spent the evening writing letters to our President and Senators and hanging out with really interesting strangers who know that if it were American (or British or French) children, it would be in the news everyday until the world did something to stop it. They would not be Invisible Children.

If you are interested in learning more about the night commuters of Northern Uganda or what you can do to help, visit the Invisible Children web site. And look for the Invisible Children feature-length documentary due out next January (but I have a rough cut DVD you can borrow if you can't wait that long!).