Kelsey: The Lord's Resistance Army

I hate to post negative things about Uganda. I mean I love to complain about the mosquitos and the oily food. But I don't like to share sad things. I feel like a lot of what we in America see about Africa is sad news. In the media it is portrayed as though Africa is a desperate. sad, war torn, cruel, poverty stricken continent. And it does have all of these things. But more than those things there is life and joy, hard work and community, strong bonds and pride in their nation. There is perfect weather and gorgeous land and very happy welcoming people. I hope that comes through when I write about Africa.

But today I feel like I have to share about some of the sad things.

I was on CNN's website today and I saw a story about a woman from Northern Uganda who had a message for Rush Limbaugh. Recently Obama decided to send 100 troops to Central African Republic to help put an end to the terrorist group the Lord's Resistance Army. The LRA has been terrorizing the Acholi tribe in Northern Uganda for 26 years. Denis' family is Acholi and they moved to the South to Jinja basically to flee the LRA. Families who had more money were bigger targets. Denis has crazy stories about visiting the village and having to run from the LRA when he was a kid.

Apparently Rush Limbaugh is under the impression that the LRA is a Christian group who is fighting against oppressive Muslims. I have no idea where he got that. The LRA are not Christian and Uganda actually is Christian, not Muslim. Anyway Limbaugh criticized Obama for sending troops and said we should be on the side of the LRA. We should be on the side of the terrorist group who captures children and forces them to kill their families and friends, who rapes young girls and kidnaps them into sex slavery, who cut off people ears and nose and mouth. Yes. We should definitely be on their side. They forced an entire tribe of people, hundreds of thousands, to flee their homes and live in IDP camps. The Acholi were refugees in their own country. But we should support the army because they have the word "Lord" in their title.

Disgusting.

I dont know if this is really getting press in America. I found this article about the story. Definitely worth reading. People in the media should be held accountable for the crap that spews out of their mouths in the 24/7 news cycle. America ignored the war in Northern Uganda for over 20 years. Now we support the terrorists?

Pray for the people of the Acholi tribe today.