"The conflict in Northern Uganda is characterized by a level of cruelty seldom seen elsewhere. Look into the eyes of a child who has been repeatedly brutalized, tortured or raped and you will never forget what you find there. This abuse of children is one of the most serious in the world. It calls for urgent and concerted action." - Jan Egeland, United Nations Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs
Our club strives to use our time and talent to bring awareness and to assist physically, financially, emotionally and spiritually to those in crisis in Uganda, Africa
Why?
Hundreds of thousands of people have been terrorized by the Lord's Resistance Army rebel group for more than 22 years, especially children
Tuesdays at lunch - We would love to see you. Come to a meeting and see if you'd like to be involved in helping us help the world, one life at a time!
Main charity organization
InvisibleChildren.com, which has tons of information about the situation in Uganda and ways you can help out. We also want to support orphans at the SOS orphanage in Uganda: click here for more on this
MySpace.com/icuVHS - which has the film Invisible Children: Rough Cut that you can view
Who can join?
Any student can attend meetings and be involved in the club
Membership?
The next level, members have agreed to faithfully attend weekly meetings, to wear the club t-shirt to all club events, and to regularly communicate on the club's blog
Leadership
The next level is core leadership which is by invitation only, offered to students who have shown a strong, observable leadership ability and commitment to the club.
Photos
ICU has our own Flickr account! Email: icuvhs@yahoo.com,
ID: ICU_vhs ------ Also click here for more ICU photos
Candy sales, Schools 4 Schools sponsorship forms, soliciting businesses for sponsorships, taking donations (w/ free gift of Panera), recycling cans & bottles.
Community Service
To download a community service hours form, click here.
Core Leadership Items
Action Items for this week: See all action items for regular members, check the club blog and comment (more action items on the blog), vote for our VHS creative ideas!, prep for Wednesday night booth & Friday night recycling, prep for GuluWalk, organize your individual tasks (flickr, attendance, etc.)
Membership Items
Action Items for this week: Keep recycling, stay updated on the events in Uganda (UgandaCAN, ResolveUganda.org), make a Schools 4 Schools profile, read through the site, think of creative ideas to make money, send pics from Party 4 Peace to Amelia!, check the club blog and comment (more action items on the blog)
Details about October's GuluWalk: http://guluwalk.com/ Friday night Football Games & Recycling!! Wear your shirts Get your own green shirt - plain $5, last year's screen-printed shirt - $9
Speak to Your Leaders Continue to use your voice for change. Speak to your leaders through the Enough Project to end genocide and mass atrocities. Visit EnoughProject.org and write your state and national representatives about the situation in Northern Uganda.
CHECK OUT INVISIBLE CHILDREN THIS MONTH...
Pete Wentz
Fall Out Boy front man Pete Wentz is doing his part for the people in Northern Uganda. Check out MTV.com to read how Wentz puts his money where his mouth is.
What started out as an attempt by two average people to better understand the ordeal of these courageous kids; has now grown into an urgent, impassioned worldwide movement for peace.
GULU Walk - click here - Details on 'GuluWalk Day 2006' are here! To be the first person with the info and to stay up to date with all of the GuluWalk happenings 'Sign Up' and support the children who need us most.. 2006 GuluWalk Day set for Saturday, October 21. Over 100 cities worldwide will take to the streets for the second annual GuluWalk Day, an event focused on raising awareness and funds for education, rehabilitation and youth support programs for the terrorized children of northern Uganda.
In the fall of 2005, over 15,000 people in 38 cities around the world took the very first international step towards telling the story of the children of northern Uganda. GuluWalk Day attracted people of all nationality, colour, race and religion in a global show of support for the innocent victims of the world’s most ignored humanitarian emergency.
Documentary:
Peter Quaranto, Director UgandaCAN:
"More than any film to date, Uganda Rising provides
a nuanced and sophisticated look at the history and dynamics of the 20-year
war in northern Uganda. With key and diverse interviews, it helps us to see
the big picture without losing sight of the individual stories of children that
have been victimized by this conflict. I applaud it's producers and hope this
film may help the growing international movement for peace in northern Uganda
to wake up the world to this neglected crisis."
Documentary on Ugandawith Don Cheadle and his family -- "Journey Into Sunset"
examines the lives and experiences of several of these boys and girls. This
is also a story of how the lives of Don and his family were effected as a result
of the people, young and old, that they met and what they saw and heard. An
American family witnesses the frightening and regularly tragic life that Northern
Ugandan families face each day.
(AFJN) is a community of advocates for responsible
U.S. relations with Africa. AFJN stresses issues of peacebuilding, human rights
and social justice ...
One of the AFJN
campaigns that relates specifically to Uganda: -
a grassroots campaign of citizens working together, in solidarity with the hopes
and visions of millions of Ugandans, to advocate, lobby and act for an end to
the unnecessary human suffering of the 19-year old war in northern Uganda. Uganda-CAN
works as part of both a movement for peace and renewal in the Great Lakes Region
of Africa and a call for more a responsible global governance that hears and
answers to the suffering of the most poor and vulnerable of our world.
The purpose of the Act for Stolen Children in Northern Uganda
is to act as a catalyst for change by providing an international platform for
collaboration among media, policy and research advocates, and civil society,
to facilitate increased awareness of and to increase capacity to respond to
the humanitarian crisis in northern Uganda -- see photo essays, links, a place
to sign up for newsletters, an opportunity to donate, history of the conflict,
and more
A global community of dedicated volunteers
working to protect populations in grave danger of violence, death, and displacement
resulting from genocide.Through active education,
advocacy, and policy change, StopGenocideNow.org resolves to change the way
the world responds to genocide.
Unlike traditional concepts of security,
which focus on defending borders from external military threats, human security
is concerned with the security of individuals.
Pursues interdisciplinary and policy-related
research and advocacy on global public policy issues related to human security.
The Liu Institute pursues interdisciplinary and policy-related research and
advocacy on global public policy issues related to human security. Its research
agenda embraces international relations, human security, peace and disarmament,
the environment, conflict and development, and global health and international
justice issues.
ICU is a stubent-led club at Valencia High school. The club's main goals are to bring awareness and to assist physically, monetarily, emotionally, and spiritually to the crisis in Uganda, Africa where thousands & thousands of people have been terrorized by the Lord's Resistance Army for the last 22 years.
The club was founded as a result of watching the film Invisible Children. After watching the film, students began to meet and discuss ways to get involved in helping other people in the world, people with such great need. ICU began in September 2005 and meets once a week in Mrs. Margrave's room 1930, the ICU headquarters. The meetings are run by Miss Neylan, a community volunteer who is best friends with Mrs. Margrave.
In 2005/2006, under the direction of student President Michael Osuna, ICU was involved in many events and fundraisers on and off campus. Through fundraisers & house parties, they raised over $700 to send to Invisible Children. They also attended a 30-hour famine hosted by a local school & walked to & slept at the Global Night Commute in Santa Monica.
ICU has many plans for the 2006/2007 school year. If you'd like to get involved, leave a comment through this blog and we'll be sure to answer all the questions you have!
Looking forward to helping change the world: one person at a time!
ICU is excited for anyone to care about and work towards helping Ugandans & because of that, ICU is committed to working as an ever growing team to do that. So, to be in the ICU club, there are some requirements. You must:
Have signed a commitment that you will be an active, reliable, contributing member of ICU (renewed at end of each semester)
Be willing to evaluate your skills, talents, abilities and resources and use them to help the people of Uganda (and the world!)
Participate in club events as much as possible.
Always try to be a team player with a great attitude!
please note: you may attend the meetings without being a member, but if you are detracting from ICU's goals during the meetings (& you're not a member), you will be asked to leave.
IF I'M NOT A MEMBER, THEN WHAT? If you decide you do not want to be a member, but would like to be involved from time to time, that's ok too. We'd love to have you. However, because club members demonstrate commitment and hard work in the club, members will be given first priority in the following ways:
1. ICU Members will be given priority for club officer positions
2. ICU Members will be given priority for carpools, etc. for off-campus events
3. ICU Members will receive emails, calls, VHS mail as reminders for ICU events
4. ICU Members will be invited to attend to year-end appreciation/awards party
5. ICU Members are cool!
Your Achievements in 2006: The Headlines
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's very difficult to precisely measure the impact
any campaign truly has, but it's not an
overstatement to say that your work this year made a
huge difference. To capture that, we include here
the top headlines of your achievements in 2006:
* 30+ Concerned Orgs. Lobby Secretary of State for
End to War (31 Jan)
* U.S. Senate Passes Resolution for N.Uganda Peace
(6 Feb)
* CNN Features Powerful Video of N.Uganda Children
(27 Feb)
* Congress Human Rights Caucus Holds N.Uganda
Hearing (6 Mar)
* Pres. Bush Names Ending War as Remaining
Challenge for USG (16 Mar)
* Oprah Show Includes N.Uganda Segment (26 Apr)
* Former Child Soldier Speaks at US House of Reps.
Hearing (28 Apr)
* 50,000+ Participate in Global Night Commute (28
Apr)
* New US Ambassador Makes 2nd Trip to N.Uganda (5
May)
* Visiting US Top Africa Diplomat Says Peace Must
be Priority (26 June)
* Juba Peace Talks Best Opportunity in Decade to
End War (5 July)
* U.S. Faith Leaders Press Pres. Bush to Support
Peace Talks (10 Aug)
* Govt. and LRA Announce Cessation of Hostilities
Truce (26 Aug)
* U.S. Senators Demand Active U.S. Support of
Peace Talks (1 Sept)
* U.S. Senate Passes Resolution Supporting Juba
Process (25 Sept)
* 700+ Activists Lobby U.S. Govt. to Support Juba
Talks (10 Oct)
* GuluWalk Day 2006: Be 1 of 10,000 Reasons for
Hope (20 Oct)
* UN Security Council Supports Juba Peace Talks
(16 Nov)
* Joaquim Chissano Appointed UN Special Envoy to
Conflict (4 Dec)
