Havelock students helping other students

Imagine - if it's even possible to go there in your mind - a community so violent that children have to hide at night to keep from being raped, tortured or killed.

As you glance out of your kitchen window today and see your own children playing with their soccer balls, imagine their lives if they had seen you savagely murdered and then were forced to become child warriors.

As you hear the sounds of laughter from your backyard, is it even possible to imagine the sounds children in northern Uganda have heard?

Imagine thousands of children under the age of 13 walking miles as the sun sets each night to sleep in the basement of a school.

Imagine piles of children sleeping without blankets, pillows or parents. Imagine your child, alone, no record of his or her birth, no family, wandering in that kind of environment, invisible to the world.

Imagine that kind of fear.

It's hard for us to imagine because we are so blessed as a people and as a nation.

What I've asked you to imagine is what three college students, out to make a documentary on Africa, found by accident - or some would call fate - one night in 2003.

Fate developed into what is now the Invisible Children organization.

Shortly after that trip to this war-ravaged area of Uganda, a temporary truce between the government of Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army took place and has marked a time of some peace for the area. Still, so many families and children are displaced that it will take decades to rebuild and re-equip the country.

I am giving you this background because I want to encourage each of you to participate in the Invisible Children Night Walk planned at Havelock High School from 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday.

Students from our community were so moved by seeing the video and doing research on this organization that they wanted to do something, anything to help.

Schools For Schools is a branch of the Invisible Children organization that allows students in America and across the world to help rebuild schools in northern Uganda. Teens across America have raised millions of dollars, and when that money is taken to the school children in northern Uganda, can you even fathom how it must feel to them to know that kids their own age made that happen? What a sign of hope it must be for them each time a group of teens works together to help make their lives better.

There are so many things our own children could be doing on a Saturday night, but these kids are planning to spend the night walking and raising awareness and money for children on the other side of the globe.

Students today know better than probably any generation before them how small the world really is and how connected we all really are today.

The final lap Saturday will be done in darkness (except for hand-held lights) to give the participants some idea of how it feels to walk in the cold and darkness as thousands of children did for years just to be safe for the night.

There will be some activities for children, so for you mothers who are still glancing out the window at your child laughing and kicking the soccer ball, you can bring them.

If you are a senior and can't remember the last time you were on the track at Havelock High, it's time to visit.

If you are unable to participate, you can still send your donation to the high school marked for Invisible Children.

You don't have to walk the entire time. There will be breaks, information, some refreshments and lots of fun.

If you are any age and think it's great to see teens taking initiative and trying to make the world a better place one person at a time, come out, pat them on the back and give them that encouragement.

The students are asking for a minimal $5 donation for the cause, but feel free to donate more. All proceeds from the event will go directly to the Invisible Children organization.

Not only will your participation be helping children in northern Uganda, it will be helping children and teens right here in our own community recognize that we may be a small town, but we have a big heart.