Everyone’s been talking about “Kony 2012”. I first learned about Kony from my friends, who learned about this campaign through Twitter. I looked up the video on YouTube and after watching it I was so moved! Many of you may know about the war in Uganda. For those of you who don’t know, or just found out, there’s a rebel group called the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army), which is led by a man known as Joseph Kony.

Filmmaker Jason Russell co-founded an organization called Invisible Children to help raise awareness about Joseph Kony after visiting Africa in 2003. He saw the horrible conditions there and decided to do something about it, so he a created a short film, titled “Kony 2012”. In this film Russell covers everything from who Joseph Kony is, to ways that people can raise awareness about him, which he believes will lead to Kony’s capture. Russell feels that by getting the word out to millions of people via social networking, it will put Kony behind bars and the violence will stop. The film has gone viral on YouTube and Facebook, and has been watched by millions of people, much to Russell’s satisfaction.

Joseph Kony is listed as one of the worst war criminals by the International Court, and is feared all over Uganda. According to Russell, Kony has been abducting children – turning boys into child soldiers and forcing young girls into prostitution. Kony even forces these child soldiers to shoot their own parents. It turns out Joseph Kony has been doing this for at least twenty years! What makes this situation even more incredible is that he’s been committing these horrible crimes for years, and the Western world is only slowly starting to become aware his actions.

In his film, Russell talks about the journey he went through trying to get Americans to listen to his story, and also about what he thinks we should do. Halfway through the film I knew I wanted to take action and fight against what’s happening in Uganda. It’s not right for kids to lose a childhood because of the political situation where they live. Kids all around the world deserve a happy life.

“Let’s make Kony famous, not to celebrate him, but to raise support for his arrest and set a precedent for international justice”, says Jason Russell.

Russell claims that there are many things we all can do to make Kony a household name, such as buying or printing posters and hanging them up in schools and community centers. You can tweet about Kony on Twitter, or share Russel’s video on Facebook. You can even send donations, write letters to legislators, and support the cause by buying an “Action Pack” (a kit filled with posters, stickers, bracelets, and a shirt)! If you haven’t yet watched the video, you can check it out here: KONY 2012.

-Alexa