The kids of Northern Uganda

by Kristin Darguzas (Subscribe to Kristin Darguzas's posts)
Mar 18th 2007 4:00PM

I first came across Samantha Casolari's photo documentary on Flickr a few weeks before my friend Mel left for her trip to Uganda, Rwanda and Tanzania in December last year. It has stayed with me since.

Samantha's heartwrenching, beautiful photographs show the Acholi children in Uganda. The Acholi people have been under attack for years by the rebel Lord's Resistance Army, and the kids are often the victims of unspeakable crimes. It's a bloody, violent war that is virtually unreported by the Western Media. The story seems hopeless.

Unbelievably, Casolari describes the kids she met as "incredibly nice, curious and warm, despite the tragic nightmare they had to live every day..... They asked no food, no money, no help. They just asked me to go out there and tell their story."

I read this and thought: the story has touched me. I want to do something to help.

As I was looking for links on where I might donate money or resources, I found this article that notes that Uganda is currently facing a food ration as the World Food Programme cannot keep up with the demand.

If you're as touched by these kids as I am, you can donate here. If anyone else knows about initiatives to help the children of Uganda's north, I would love to know about them.