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Blog Entry 3 of 4 Short Stories by Kaitlin Ek

My name is Kaitlin Ek and I am a senior at Mitchell High School. I recently won a Silver Key award for a general writing portfolio. A journalist at Central neighborhood's YourHub section asked me to post a few of my portfolio pieces on this site.

Blog Url: http://coloradosprings.yourhub.com/~KaitlinsWriting

Mitchell High School and the Invisible Children

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Contributed by: Kaitlin Ek on 4/26/2007

In Matthew 19:20, Jesus told a follower, "If you wish to be complete, go and
sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in
heaven; and come, follow Me." Jesus may have been the first humanitarian of
the Western world. He taught generosity, compassion, and kindness to a
people more accustomed to greed, hate, and fighting. Since then, other great
humanitarians have followed in his steps, like Gandhi, Martin Luther King
Jr., and Mother Teresa. Students of Mitchell High School saw an opportunity
to emulate those great revolutionaries on Tuesday, April 3rd, in an assembly
in our school's auditorium.

The focus of the assembly was a documentary called "Invisible Children." Our
Global Aid Club invited an Invisible Children Road Team to come and host
a screening at our school as part of their National Tour. The film follows
the journey of three young filmmakers from California as they travel to
Uganda in search of a story. In Uganda, they find thousands of children
sleeping in bus parks. They learn that the children commute from their
villages every night to sleep in the city bus parks for fear of the rebel
army. The rebel army is notorious for abducting small children and forcing
them to become child soldiers.

We found the three members of the Invisible Children team incredibly
inspiring. Seth, Ryan, and Jenni were energetic, funny, and obviously deeply
committed to the cause. Possibly even more inspiring was Mitchell's reaction
to the film. We knew from past assemblies to expect heckling, cell phone
conversations, and shouting from the audience. Instead, we found Mitchell
students attentive: they laughed at the funny parts, and many confessed to
crying at the sad parts. Afterwards, several students expressed their
eagerness to help.

The Invisible Children team told us about the Schools for Schools program.
The program pairs American high schools and colleges with schools in Uganda.
The American schools compete with one another to raise money for the Ugandan
schools.

"But," they told us, "the deadline is May 16th, and the goal is ten thousand
dollars per school."

"Well," we said, "we're having a bake sale."

The team paused. "Bake sales must be big in Colorado Springs," they said.

We laughed, but we wanted to do more to help the invisible children in
Uganda. We're submitting this story as an appeal to the citizens of Colorado
Springs. Go watch "Invisible Children." We're hosting a free screening of
the film on May 1st at 7:00 at the Mitchell High School auditorium. You can
also buy a DVD for twenty dollars, from us or from
http://www.invisiblechildren.com.

After you've seen the movie, get involved in the movement. Go to Invisible
Children's website and learn more about the Displace Me event, the Tri
Campaign and Schools for Schools, the program that Mitchell signed up for.

Many Ugandan children look to education as a way to break out of poverty and
start good careers. Schools can provide a safe haven for children, and
arming children with knowledge today can stop wars of the future.

Unfortunately, getting a good education in Uganda isn't free, and most
Ugandan schools have limited resources. The school Mitchell paired with for
the Schools for Schools program is Gulu High School. As a result of the war,
the school's resources were looted and its buildings were destroyed. Up to
ten students often share one book, and many students live in unsound and
unsafe dormitories.

You can help Mitchell in supporting Gulu High School. Look us up at
http://s4s.invisiblechildren.com/school/Mitchell-high-school. Log on as a
supporter and create your own online profile. You can also donate directly
to Mitchell's Schools for Schools fund through our profile page.

There are about 360,000 people in Colorado Springs. Imagine if everyone in
the city got involved in this movement to help the invisible children. We
could buy classroom supplies, rebuild dormitories, and improve the overall
quality of education in Uganda. We have the opportunity to follow in the
footsteps of Jesus and start a revolution. We at Mitchell don't think it's
unreasonable to expect that average high school students, with the help
of a whole city, can change the course of history in Uganda.

This story first appeared in The Gazette on Wednesday, April 25th.

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