1/7/2005 - Ottawa, Canada: Toronto, Ontario, CANADA: Every evening, as the sun sets in Northern Uganda close to 40,000 children leave their villages and camps and walk to the Gulu city centre to escape abduction by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).
On July 1, 2005, Athletes for Africa will launch an awareness campaign to focus attention on the terrible predicament of these small "night commuters. The 'Gulu Walk' has been organized by Adrian Bradbury, Executive Director of the Canadian charity and Athletes for Africa board member, Kieran Hayward.
For one month Mr Hayward and Mr Bradbury will walk, just as the children of northern Uganda walk, 12.5 km from their homes, to Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto's city centre to sleep under the stars. Every morning they will return home via that same route -- Victoria Park - Danforth/Bloor - Yonge - Queen in time to continue their usual daily routine.
With this walk Athlete's for Africa hopes to bring Canadian face to face with ongoing threats faced by northern Uganda's children - death or abduction and coercion into the ranks of the LRA. "We're not replicating the struggle of these courageous kids, we can't," said Bradbury, founder of Athletes for Africa. "We may be able to recreate some of the physical strain, but we're not walking barefoot, through rugged terrain, on an empty stomach or are constantly looking over our shoulders for fear of being kidnapped by the rebel army. In a month we can go home. Without peace, these kids never can."
"These children walk for their lives every day," commented Boyd McBride, National Director of SOS Children's Villages Canada. "SOS Children's Villages has been operating in Uganda since 1988 and has been working for the safety and well being of these children since 2002. We are happy to endorse Athletes for Africa's efforts to focus public attention on this devastating problem," he continued.
For more than 19 years, the rebel LRA has been battling the Government of Uganda for political power; creating a major humanitarian disaster. The LRA maintains its army primarily through the violent abduction and forced enlistment of children. Its troops attack displacement camps and because the camps are not secure, parents often feel that they have no other choice but to send their children on this nightly walk to find safety and shelter.
SOS Children's Villages: A safe harbour for night commuters
SOS Children's Villages Uganda has been providing active assistance to refugee children in the north of the country through the SOS Emergency Relief Programme in Gulu since 2002.
In 2004 SOS Children's Villages launched the "Night Commuters Project" at the SOS Social Centre in Gulu, Uganda. This project shelters up to 1,000 children who cannot risk sleeping in their homes outside of Gulu. The need is growing as the number of children who regularly make the walk into Gulu town at dusk continues to grow.
When they are unable to find shelter, they sleep on sidewalks and in alleyways. SOS Children's Villages provides the night commuters with a hot meal, a secure place to sleep free of malaria bearing mosquitoes and gives them breakfast before they return home in the morning. Electricity in the facility allows the children to do their homework at night.
"The main focus at SOS Children's Villages is to help children in need on a long-term basis," explained Mr. McBride. "An emergency situation, as in the case of the Gulu aid project, needs to be reinforced by a continuous form of basic support which involves a combination of emotional healing and the provision of material necessities," he added.
SOS Children's Villages is one of the few organisations with the infrastructure in place to provide continuous care to the huge numbers of orphans left by the war in Uganda. In addition to the material necessities of life, the children receive medical attention and psychotherapy. Children under the care and support of SOS Children's Villages are also able to attend school and receive vocational training."