The Citizen Interview : Invisible Children

I'm so excited to being posting the first in a series of interviews with people personally connected to some of the topics we have been talking about.

Nate Henn is a former Blue Hen who has spent the last couple of years working with Invisible Children, one of the greatest non-profits in America today. Their goal is to end the suffering of the children of Uganda. Here is his response to a handful of questions.

1. In a nutshell what is going on in Uganda? Who are the LRA? What should the average twenty-something know about this region of Africa?

There is a lot going on specifically with this crisis Northern Uganda.

In the mid 80's President Yoweri Museveni took office in Uganda, he was from the South. The people of the North, the Acoli, revolted behind a rebel army, but this dissipated quickly. A member of this rebel army, Joseph Kony, was angry that the revolt was not working and formed his rebel army the LRA, or the Lord's Resistance Army. Kony was so mad that his people were not fighting the south anymore that he began to attack his own people of the north.

On top of these attacks he had begun to abduct children and use them as child soldiers in his army. For the past 23 years the LRA has continued these abductions and massacres of Acholi people. The situation is getting worse as the LRA has left the borders of Uganda and moved into Southern Sudan, Central African Republic, and largely in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The LRA is attacking multiple times a day, killing hundreds of thousands and abducting thousands of children to this day. We believe if Kony was taken out of the equation the problem would end. A lot of news has been covered about Sudan and Congo however and this crisis is starting to become closely involved with these countries so it is becoming more prevalent in mainstream media.

2. What is Invisible Children? What do you guys do?

Invisible Children Inc. is a non profit based out of San Diego. We are a media based company raising awareness of the current situation in Northern Uganda. We tell the story and struggles of the people through our documentaries. We have rebuilt 11 war torn schools and we have hundreds of scholarships for secondary school in Uganda.

Along with a bunch of other initiatives we also recently partnered with Edun Live and the Wildlife Conservation Society to create our newest program, the Cotton Initiative. With people moving out of Displacement Camps and back into villages job opportunities were needed. Also, since people have been in displacement camps for over ten years the land had not been used and was very fertile. Invisible Children and our partners have bought hundreds of acres of land for these people and hired 800 farmers. These farmers will be growing, harvesting, and selling cotton. The cotton harvested will go directly to factories making t-shirts and these t-shirts will be sent to the states to sell. The best part is that there is no middleman taking the profit from the farmer, it is a direct sale and the farmers are getting the money they deserve for the work that they do.

3. How did you personally decide to take this path, to work for IC?

I had many connections to Uganda. My sister had lived there for half a year doing missions work as well as my aunt and uncle have lived there for 30 years. Also, my sister was in the Roadie position last year for Invisible Children. The Roadie position is someone who volunteers about a half a year of their life to travel around the country and present our films at colleges, high schools, churches, and more.

I was at a point in my life where I needed a change and I wanted to do something with meaning. The opportunity came about last February that Invisible Children needed a new roadie asap to join a team on the road. I had seen the film years ago and was loosely involved, but when I had the opportunity to take action and really get involved with something that could change peoples lives I jumped at it.

Later I received a call about coming back and working in the office. I could not turn this offer down and now I am living in San Diego working for Invisible Children.

4. Can you explain the humanitarian culture in America today? What is it like to be a young, global minded American working to end conflicts overseas?

I believe that the best way to describe 'humanitarian culture' today is simply growing. I think that people are starting to realize that there is a lot of terrible things going on in this world that can be fixed. However, they can not be fixed without people raising their voice about these issues and getting involved.

It's exciting particularly to see, with Invisilbe Children, how involved and how fired up younger generations get about helping end Africa's longest running war.

4. What can every reader do to help end the suffering of Uganda's child soldiers?

First of all, visit the website and learn. Spreading the word about the situation is huge. The more people hear about it the more people are going to get involved.

Also, call your local representatives, congress and senate members, let them know of your concern and ask them to Co Sponsor the "LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act." This bill is huge and the more constituent support we have the better! Visit the website as well and sign the petition that asks Obama's administration to pass the bill.

Also, they can support Invisible Children by donating. A one-time donation is great! We also have TRI which is a 3 dollars a week or 12 a month donation. Continue to spread the word like I said before and take action because this war can definitely come to an end SOON if more people get involved.

5. Other than invisiblechildren.com what are some Web sites to check out?

www.enoughproject.org

www.resolveuganda.org

www.wewantobama.com

http://blog.invisiblechildren.com/

Detained American hikers charged

The three American hikers detained in Iran, mentioned in a previous post, have been charged with espionage by an Iranian judge.

Iranian representative made a statement to Iranian media today, stating that the three hikers would be charged with espionage and that the investigation into their cases was ongoing.

Secretary of State Hilary Clinton spoke out against the charges while in Berlin saying "We believe strongly that there is no evidence to support any charge whatsoever".

While the families of the hikers spoke out today, restating their claims that the hikers were merely lost tourists, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the fate of the hikers was for the judiciary to decide.

He also mentioned that Iranians had spent many years in U.S. jails without sufficient evidence.

How will this issue be resolved with the United States holding onto its stance of zero diplomacy with Iran and while tensions rise between Iran and the UN over nuclear transparency? Once again, to voice your support please visit freethehikers.org and stay up to date on the situation as is unravels.

Nuclear bombs prove eco-friendly

Little to my knowledge, 10 percent of America's electricity comes from dismantled nuclear bombs. Parts of these old bombs, from Russia specifically, fuel 45 percent of the fuel in American nuclear reactors.

Take that in for a second... Materials from warheads aimed at the United States during the Cold War are now being used to fuel millions of American homes. I may be a nerd, but the underlying symbolism in that is something I can really appreciate.

Of course there is a catch. If more uranium from these nuclear bombs are not secured soon American customers could feel the ramifications. Massive plans to dismantle American stock-holds of nuclear arms hope to avoid a drain on the nuclear energy pipe-line.

A recent NYT article states that in total, the 34 tons to be recycled in a new factory in South Carolina are expected to generate enough electricity for a million American homes for 50 years! This fuel will be made available by 2017.

If you are looking for extensive coverage of environmental issues please check out Green Love, The Review's environmental blog.

Are you reading this blog on a "blood computer"?

If you have seen the movie Blood Diamond you are aware of the black-market trade of diamonds mined in areas of extreme conflict. For a brief re-cap: warlords have long used captive civilians to mine diamonds in countries like Sierra Leone under horrendous conditions and in large numbers.

Campaigns to end the sales of these conflict diamonds have been around since the early 1990's. Now, minerals used in electronics are being mined in the Congo during one of Africa's all time most deadly wars. Since 1998, there have been an estimated 5.4 million deaths stemming from this specific conflict.

The Root, an online magazine featured an article earlier this year explaining the depths of this problem.

"The minerals used to make your cell phone, your iPod, the computer you’re using to read this article, are tied to a horrific conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo; in the last decade, it has killed more than the genocides and wars in Cambodia, Rwanda, Darfur and Iraq combined."

The ore mined in these slave camps is then transferred across Africa and shipped to manufacturers in Asia. While the conditions of these mines are life threatening, the wars that break out over control of such natural resources are even worse and often are waged between military groups known for mass genocide, war crimes and human rights atrocities.

The problem for manufactures is that there exists little to no transparency when it comes to the origins of these materials. This is where WE come in.

The Congo Conflict Minerals Act of 2009 was recently proposed by a group of Senators.

It would require companies that are involved in commercial activities involving three minerals (coltan, cassiterite, and wolframite) to disclose the country of origin of the minerals to the Securities and Exchange Commission. If the minerals are from the Congo or neighboring countries, companies would have to also disclose the mine of origin.

This bill does not however require companies to complete independent audits of their supply chains - a step non-profits have called for in the past.

Call your senator and request that he/she co-sponsor the bill if you feel it is an appropriate step to end this trade of tainted minerals. The number for the U.S. Capitol Switchboard is (202) 224-3121.