A few days ago I was educated about the Invisible Children’s “Kony 2012” Campaign, which has recently overtaken Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. It stands for a very important message. The purpose behind the campaign is to make Joseph Kony as famous as possible, while raising awareness around the world.
For those of you who do not know who Joseph Kony is, he is the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda, Africa. For 26 years, Kony has been abducting children to add to his army. He turns girls into sex slaves and boys into child soldiers. They are forced to mutilate others and then murder their own parents.
Throughout the years, Kony has kidnapped more than 30,000 children altogether. Because of the immense amount of crimes Kony has committed, he is registered as No. 1 on the world’s worst criminals list.
The most important concept about this campaign is to raise awareness of who Kony is and to make him famous around the world so everyone is conscious about what is going on in Uganda. The goal is to have Kony captured and indicted by December.
The only way that Joseph Kony can be stopped is for everyone to come together and support the cause. April 20 is the worldwide “Cover the Night” when participants meet at sundown and cover local cities in “Kony 2012” posters in an effort to make Kony and his actions known. If enough people came together and helped cover Athens and Ohio University’s campus in posters on this night, it would definitely make people aware of the importance of the campaign, as well as what is going on in the world around us.
No child should have to live in this kind of fear. Join the cause and be their voice.
Lexi Cramer is a freshman who has yet to declare a major.
