Raising Awareness

Five kids came up to me today to ask if I had ever heard of Joseph Kony. When the first student asked, the name sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it.

"Is he on the other sixth grade team?" I frowned.

"No!" my student answered with barely veiled frustration. "He's this really bad guy in Africa."

My confusion must have been obvious. This was not a student I would ordinarily expect to show an interest in international issues. "Just YouTube it," he told me, "and I'll talk to you tomorrow."

Variations of this scene played out over the course of the day ending with a couple of former students stopping by after the bell. "I know, I know," I said. I promise I'll watch it tonight."

"Good!" one girl told me, "because we want to do something! I'll come talk to you in the morning."

Perhaps many of my readers are already aware of what these kids were talking about. There is a 29 minute video that has gone viral on all the social networks about Ugandan rebel Joseph Kony whose group, the LRS (Lord's Resistance Army) has been kidnapping children for the last 25 years to fight the government. Once I looked it up, I realized that I had indeed heard of him and his atrocities many times over the years.

As I told my students I would, I watched the film tonight, and I too was moved by its message-- I highly recommend it to all-- but more than that, I was impressed by the kids who really got it, enough so that they wanted to do something, and honored that they came to me for help.

Take a look for yourself if you haven't already: Kony 2012. You won't be sorry.