Last Saturday Invisible Children held their Global Night Commute (GNC) to protest the abduction of children in Northern Uganda by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). I attended the GNC in Costa mesa with seven hundred other Americans concerned about this issue. A group of 8 girls and 1 guy drove from Biola to Rock Harbor Church and then walked from the church to Orange Coast College (OCC). We walked 4.5 miles to OCC carrying backpacks, pillows and sleeping bags in hopes of making an impression upon our government to aid the Invisible Children of Northern Uganda.
During our sleep over we wrote letters to senators Boxer and Feinstein to press the government to help the country stop the LRA. Next we wrote letters to President Bush to listen to the senators and the millions of people that spent the night outside at the GNC. Lastly we created art projects with a photograph of ourselves to be complied into numerous books that will tell our story of why we support this cause.
By 11 p.m. the walkers had settled down for a meaningful night's sleep. Many were huddled to contain the heat because it was so cold and misty. the morning came not with the sun but with the blowing of a whistle to signal that we need to take a group picture, clean, pack-up and head out because the permit ended at 7 a.m.
So our group let OCC and walked another 4.5 miles back to our car at Rock Harbor.
As we headed back to Biola we talked about how much we hoped to have made an impression upon the community and the government. Some students in our group felt as though we had not been at our dorm for a long time. Also that we have not seen our friends in weeks. This may have been due to the intense feeling of actually taking part of an international movement to aid someone half-way across the world. Similarly a growth and maturing process had taken place. We saw a mass of people come together for one cause, we stepped outside of comfort zones and found something greater then ourselves.
This sleeping protest will resonate in the hearts of all who participated for a life time.
Please visit the Invisible Children website to find out more information: http://www.invisiblechildren.com/home.php
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