By Juliana Hoft
Staff Writer
The Kony revolution has begun. On Friday, April 20 the Invisible Children Club held its “Cover the Night” event to spread the awareness of the Kony 2012 campaign.
The awareness campaign was a worldwide event that was put on by the Invisible Children organizations everywhere in hopes of gaining more awareness about Joseph Kony.
Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army are responsible for kidnapping an estimated 66,000 children and forcing them into sex slaving and military service. Kony has been charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity; however, he has so far avoided capture.
“I believe that all humans are equal, and we should all have the basic right to live,” senior Riley O’Connell, co-president of Invisible Children Club, said. “Why is it okay for me to go to bed each night and feel perfectly safe while hundreds of thousands go to bed with the worry of being abducted or killed? It is simply not fair, unjust and not okay.
The night started at 6 p.m. with community service at the Manhattan Beach pier that included giving away free baked goods in order to start conversation with people in the community who are not familiar with Kony and his actions in Uganda.
“I am involved in Invisible Children because I have a passionate feeling toward their cause and strive to help support the organization in getting the affected kids of Africa back to physical and mental health,” junior Lexy Cummings said. “Cover the Night is getting us to the final goal of stopping Kony.”
Handing out baked goods helped promote participation and awareness in Cover the Night. At 8 p.m. all the participants met on the pier and broke into groups to hang posters about Kony around Manhattan Beach and write on the strand with chalk.
“I think people have this idea that we in the United States are so much different than Ugandan and Congolese people, but we have so many more similarities than differences, which I can honestly say by having friends who live there,” O’Connell said.
The Cover the Night event was open to anyone who wanted to participate. Students from different schools in the South Bay area attended as well as parents and some interested adults.
“We had a great turn-out on Friday,” co-president Mary Williams said. “Lots of our clubs from Mira Costa came as well as people from Redondo Union High School and MBMS. We also had the great pleasure to talk to our many supporters.”
In addition to hanging posters and the free bake sale, the members of the club wrote with chalk on the strand with the idea of getting people to ask questions about Kony.
The club’s desire was to make people want to go online and research more about Cover the Night and Kony 2012. This will help people begin to research the Kony 2012 website where they could get more information about the conflict and what they can do to stop the LRA.
This year the Mira Costa Invisible Children Club has set high standards for itself. Throughout the year they have worked to raise awareness and put an end to Kony.
“It never ceases to amaze me how quickly and thoroughly we are able to acheive our goals,” O’Connell said. “We have many club members that are passionate and determined to see an end to Kony’s terror. They repeatedly go out of their comfort zone to spread the word. It’s honestly been such a privilege to be a part of such an amazing club.”
Leave a Reply