StopKony 2012 - Campaign Against Child Soldiers in Uganda

Today, a social campaign against child soldiers is going viral, taking all social medias by storm. Kony 2012. A campaign initiated by Invisible Children with the purpose to create awareness about Joseph Kony, an international criminal who abducted children and forced them to be child soldiers. Pretty horrifying fact although the issue itself is not new.

I laud the campaign for successfully bringing this issue to the dinner table. At least, I've seen more post about Uganda now on my Facebook feeds rather than the usual food pictures and 9gag.com. I am excited that such issue can be shared with millions of people around the world, and now people know what's happening in Uganda and hopefully many other parts of the world.

As with anything viral, things will wane and all these people now tweeting #StopKony will wake up a week from now and have no slightest remembrance of this issue. It is expected that most people are driven emotionally and only feel the nudge to press the like or share button mostly to make themselves feel better. However, I believe out of millions who sway and move on, a few will take the issue to heart and would not be able to erase what their eyes have seen and what their ears have heard. These raging unstoppable passion will be the driving forces once more, rallying people to care about issues that matter.

So, I am totally behind this movement and this ground-breaking visibility especially after lately been exposed to testimonies from former child soldiers themselves. A Long Way Gone is a great memoir of a boy detailing his odyssey with war in Sierra Leone. Another book that I've read is First They Killed My Father, another gripping story of a girl's journey in a devastating brutal war in Cambodia. And now, the story of Jacob in Uganda.

Too many things are left unsaid and too many tears have been poured out invisibly. It is time for the people of the world to start noticing and sharing their problem. I know how the pain of losing a family member can be torturous, but to witness your parents being murdered is another different game, let alone to be forced to kill them yourself. There is no closure for that. No one should go through that kind of nightmare. Not us, and certainly not them.