Story by Amanda Crowe

Jacob Watson, 19, Thad McRae, 20, and George Morvis, 18, all of Las Cruces, finished chalking the sidewalk outside of Corbett for the Invisible Children event. (Photo by Amanda Crowe)

Two people whose lives have been affected by the war in Uganda shared their testimony Thursday, Feb. 18, in Corbett’s Middle Ballroom after a documentary was shown of an orphan living in the midst of this war.

Norman Okot, 71, and Comfort Okello, 25, both of Uganda, traveled to Las Cruces for the Invisible Children Legacy Tour with a team of four volunteers for Invisible Children as advocates for their country. Invisible Children is a movement that seeks to help end the war in Africa and to provide healing for the victims through education, jobs and the rebuilding of schools.

“I have been orphaned by HIV/AIDS due to the effect of the war and I’m the voice of thousands of children whose lives are devastated by the war,” Okello said.

A similar plight

Okello lost her parents when she was 3 years old and said that the orphaned boy in the documentary, Emmy, represents her. Okot, the grandfather of Emmy, fled from the Lord’s Resistance Army  many times and saw how the effects of the war hurt his family.

For more than 20 years the rebel movement, Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), and the Government of Uganda have been at war. The leader of the LRA, Joseph Kony, has abducted children and brutally forced them to become his soldiers.

The banner outside of the Middle Ballroom represents the child soldiers in Uganda. (Photo by Amanda Crowe)

In 2003, three filmmakers from California traveled to Northern Uganda and witnessed the effects of the war. Filmmakers Laren Poole, Jason Russell and Bobby Bailey wanted others to know about the conflict, so they filmed what they had seen and made a documentary called “Invisible Children.”

After seven years of Invisible Children being involved in fighting for the peace of Northern Uganda, the rebels have left Uganda, but are still in the neighboring countries, according to Okot.

More work to do

“The war has left our country completely devastated,” Okot said. “We still need helping hands from everybody.”

Okot is a retired teacher who is still active in helping the people in Northern Uganda. Okello worked for six months as a volunteer with Invisible Children and now works as a program assistant in the Economic Development Initiative sector of Invisible Children.

Comfort Okello, 25, of Uganda, and Invisible Children volunteer Holly Chapman, 22, of Ohio, stand in front of the Invisible Children merchandise in the Middle Ballroom Thursday, Feb. 18. (Photo by Amanda Crowe)

“It was time for me, as Comfort, to leave a legacy for Northern Uganda,” Okello said.

Another advocate, Lillian Ajok, 21, of Uganda, shared her testimony at Calvary Baptist Church Sunday, Feb. 21.

“Three Americans came to Uganda; they were sent to see the injustice going on,” Ajok said. “Before, we were invisible, but now, as I am standing here, we are visible.”