BOSTON—Over one thousand activists representing abducted African children were “rescued” from the Boston Common Saturday evening when three Massachusetts politicians pledged their support for saving child soldiers.
The Rescue took place in over 100 cities in 10 countries on Saturday to raise awareness about the conditions of child soldiers in Africa. The movement was sponsored by Invisible Children, a political group founded to save children kidnapped by Joseph Kony, a rebel leader in Africa, said Lydia Natoolo, an Invisible Children volunteer.
“Thousands are being kidnapped—200,000 young children kidnapped from their homes,” said Natoolo. “We’re abducting ourselves, and we want to make political leaders rescue us.”
Participants in Boston gathered on the Common in front of the State House and wrote letters to members of Congress, then waited for a politician, celebrity or other “mogul” to arrive and acknowledge the cause. Ed Birce, a representative from Sen. John Kerry’s office, was the first rescuer. Birce arrived to read a letter signed by Kerry, Sen. Edward Kenndey and Rep. James McGovern at 5:30 p.m., just a half an hour after the event began.
“This is awesome,” said Nate Henn, an Invisible Children representative. “We knew Boston would be a top city, but this is an amazing response. This letter shows [the politicians] know what’s going on.”
The letter thanked the participants for raising awareness about Kony, who has killed over 1,000 people in Africa since he backed out of a UN peace process in September.
“Together, we will work toward peace in Africa and end this tragic crisis as soon as possible,” the letter said.
The Boston participants were rescued second in the country, after those in Burlington, Vt. Representatives from both cities then drove to Harrisburg, Pa., which is the closest site still waiting for a politician or celebrity to arrive, said Henn. The “Rescue Riders” will keep moving until all the cities are rescued, said Henn.
“We’re 100 percent committed,” he said. “We’ll go into next week if we have to.”
Henn said over 1,500 people signed up to join the Boston site, and some people came who were not registered.
People Helping People, a student group from Eastern Connecticut State University, drove to Riverside Station and took the Commuter Rail to The Rescue in Boston because it was the nearest location, said Chairman Liz Hesterberg. She said the 21 group members who came wrote about the cause in letters to Connecticut senators.
“We think it’s important to give a voice to people who don’t have a voice, and get the knowledge out there,” said Hesterberg, a sophomore from Harwinton, Conn.
People Helping People member Christopher Brechlin said he thought The Rescue was well organized, and the site leaders periodically updated everyone about the rest of the sites and plans for the evening to keep their energy up.
“This is a really motivational event,” Brechlin, a senior from Connecticut, said. “It’s nice to see how much energy people have. Everyone’s doing something.”
Caroline Altreuter, a transfer student from Smith College, said she came to The Rescue alone because she would get an opportunity to meet others interested in the issue. She said she heard about Invisible Children at her former school, SUNY Geneseo, and her fellow students at Smith do not know about the war in Africa.
“I’m really encouraged because people here are so young, and families are here, too,” Altreuter said. “It’s great because it’s something people should care about.”
Altreuter said she was “annoyed” the senators and representative did not come themselves to show their support, but she thought their letter was sincere.
Alan Willis, a graduate student at New England Conservatory, said he thought the letter was “corny,” and politicians in Boston might not be as aggressive as they should in fighting for peace negotiations in Africa.
“What are they doing that they couldn’t come?” Willis said. “Did you really write this letter or did you just sign it?”
Kony has been kidnapping children from Uganda for his rebel army, stationed in southern Sudan, for 22 years, said Invisible Children’s Natoolo. The International Criminal Court has indicted Kony on war crime charges, and the UN has been negotiating peace terms with him, but he is currently hiding in the forests of the Congo and refuses to continue dialogue, said Natoolo.
“The atrocities done to the kids in the rebel army are unbelievable,” she said. “He has 4,000 kids in camps right now … we want these kids to come back home.”
Participants in all 100 cities were writing about 200,000 letters to politicians, urging their support for negotiating peace with Kony, said Zach Barrows, Invisible Children’s Schools for Schools director. Invisible Children has lobbied in Washington, D.C. for continued negotiations in the past and will go to the capital again in June, said Barrows.
“The only reason this is continuing is because we don’t take the time to do anything about it,” he said.
Invisible Children hopes to put enough pressure on world leaders to find Kony and stop him, said Barrows. The global community has enough resources to end Kony’s crimes, but because Uganda offers nothing economically to the United States, interference from Washington would be on moral grounds, he said.
“This shouldn’t be going on today,” said Barrows. “If the world really cared about what one guy was doing, it would be stopped.”
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