High school students raise money for Ugandans

About 100 high school students braved the wind and rain Saturday to raise money and awareness for the Invisible Children of northern Uganda.

Invisible Children is an organization that sprung from a documentary of the same name that depicted the many ordeals of African children.

The Ugandan government has been fighting a civil war with a rebel force, the Lord’s Resistance Army, since the 1980s. The LRA has resorted to kidnapping children from northern Uganda and forcing them to become soldiers.

Thousands of children have fled from their homes at night to avoid being kidnapped and have no other place to go. Using education as its main tool, Invisible Children is working to help reintegrate former child soldiers into society. One of the schools the former child soldiers attend is in desperate need of a pit latrine and clean water.

The Spokane students – some from Lewis and Clark, some from Shadle, Central Valley, Ferris and St. George’s – brought their signs to the clocktower in Riverfront Park and wore lime green T-shirts with a map of Africa and the words, “Why are we invisible?” printed on them.

The T-shirts cost the students $10, of which $6 will be going toward the Invisible Children.

After all of the students had gathered, they marched to Division Street, Indiana Avenue, Monroe Street and back to the Clocktower while collecting money in milk jugs for their cause.

“Let’s march for awareness, everybody,” one of them shouted.

Once the march was under way, many of the students chanted, “Save the children.”

“I just think no one knows about it,” said Bethany Petek, a 10th-grader from Shadle. Her mother, Carolyn, a world affairs teacher at LC, helped organize the event.

Bethany’s 19-year-old sister, Rachel, also came to march.

“It’s a family affair,” Rachel said.

Ana Mouser, an 11th-grader at LC, said she became involved in the Invisible Children movement and was surprised that more people hadn’t heard of the plight of the children in Uganda.

“This is something that’s getting even less attention than the Sudan,” Mouser said.

Jessica Jacot, a CV 10th-grader, said that watching the movie was required in every fifth-period class at her school, and she has been involved in the movement since.

It may have been cold and rainy, but all of the students agreed that they would be out marching for as long as they had to to get the word out about Invisible Children.

“It didn’t dampen our spirits,” said organizer Carolyn Petek.

Even some local teachers are involved in the project and are proud of the work their students are doing.

“I think it’s great social activism,” said Kim Wilson, a 10th-grade science teacher at Lewis and Clark.

The students had raised around $3,000 for the cause by selling the T-shirts and will continue to sell them until May 25, according to Carolyn Petek.

Petek said that the kids collected $750 during their march Saturday. They also held a fundraising dance the night before at the Community Building in downtown Spokane, and it raised $440.

“We were really pleased with the walk,” Carolyn Petek said. “These are a lot of great kids.”