Update to project proposal

Since the original project proposal there have been updates.

The original document stated "The primary aim of the project is to raise awareness of the problem of children being recruited into armed forces in African countries, these children are known as child soldiers. "

The update specifies which African countries the project aims to raise awareness of and why.

Countries:

- Uganda

- South Sudan

- Democratic Republic of Congo

- Republic of Central Africa

Why:

- the LRA are active in these countries (explained below)

- the LRA abduct children and force them to become soldiers

LRA (Lords Resistance Army)

The LRA, Lords Resistance Army have been terrorizing the country of Uganda for the past 23 years. The LRA left Uganda in June 2006 when the Juba Peace Talks began. Ever since the peace talks fell apart in 2008, the LRA has been active in the border regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic. Joseph Kony is founder and leader of the LRA. Joseph Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity. The LRA are an unbelievably brutal rebel group. They abduct children and indoctrinate them into their ranks and they murder, rape, beat and mutilate men, women and children. Under Kony's leadership the LRA has displaced 2 million people, abducted 60,000 including 30,000 children. It is estimated that more than 90% of the LRA’s troops were abducted as children. It is normal that children being introduced into the group are forced to murder their own parents.

The LRA's effect on Sudan, Democratic republic of Congo and the republic of Central Africa

SUDAN

The above video gives a good account and history of the LRA in Uganda its effects on the people and former LRA soldiers, it goes on to explain the current situation of the LRA and its effect on Sudan.

Besides the obvious problem of the havoc, murders and abductions the LRA are carrying out in south Sudan, there are other underlying problems. They could possibly be kept hidden from their hunters in northern Sudan by the Sudan government and military. The Sudan government have previously funded the LRA and have close ties. The president of Kartoum, Bashir also is wanted by the international criminal court, could this be a commonality that will link Bashir with Kony? A civil war could also occur due to increased tension and history between north and south of Sudan as they are on the verge of seperation.

CONGO

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

RAISE AWARENESS STOP THE LRA, "LET THE WORLD KNOW".

LRA Today (continued)

The Protection Plan from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo. This video shows how The LRA have spread to Uganda's surrounding countries of Sudan,DR Congo and Central Africa.

Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery

The "Lord's Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery" bill addresses the humanitarian need to intercept the LRA, a Ugandan rebel group led by Joseph Kony that have infamously abducted over 30,000 children, forcing them to become LRA soldiers. The group is additionally identified by their reign of attacks in Iganda, the DR Congo, South Sudan and the Central African Republic. The bill gives the Obama administration 180 days to produce a comprehensive strategy that coalesces multilateral and regional partners to capture top LRA leaders, demobilize child soldiers and protect civilians from rebel attacks; and invest in sustainable peace efforts.

Co-sponsored by Republican and Democrat representatives, the "LRA Disarmament and Northern Ugandan Recovery Act" is the most widely supported legislation focused on sub-Saharan Africa in modern American history. The $20 million bill, awaiting President Barack Obama's signature, was passed with a unanimous vote, a rare and momentous victory for human rights activists.

Stopping Joseph Kony and the LRA

This problem of the LRA has been going on for years and needs to be stopped. Raising awareness and providing information to the world is a method of achieving this. Like with the arab spring information can no long be censored or hidden from the world, exposing these problems in Africa to the world and telling the story is the first step in bringing the situation to an end.

Kony 2012 Teaser from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

Invisible Children

Website: http://www.invisiblechildren.com/homepage

About the Invisible Children charity:

Invisible Children: WHO WE ARE from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.

How it started

In the spring of 2003, three young filmmakers traveled to Africa in search of a story. What started out as a filmmaking adventure became much more when Jason, Laren, and Bobby stumbled upon Africa’s longest-running war--a conflict where children were both the weapons and the victims.

They produced the documentary Invisible Children: Rough Cut in 2005. At first they just showed it to their friends and family, but it wasn’t long before millions of people had seen the documentary and knew about the “invisible children.”

In 2006, Invisible Children, Inc., became an official 501(c)3 non-profit.

Who we are

We are storytellers. We are visionaries, humanitarians, artists, and entrepreneurs. We are a generation eager for change and willing to pursue it.

With a U.S. headquarters in San Diego, CA, our programs rely on talented staff, hundreds of committed volunteers, and thousands of young activists who want to use their voices for peace.

We also have offices in Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. These offices in Gulu and Dungu are primarily managed and operated by staff from LRA-affected communities.

How we make a difference

Half our work happens on the ground in Central Africa, and the other half happens in the United States.

In Central Africa, all of our programming is a partnership between Invisible Children and LRA-affected communities. We focus on long-term goals that enable children to take responsibility for their futures and the futures of their countries. Our programs are carefully developed initiatives that address the need for quality education, mentorships, the redevelopment of schools, and financial stability.

Our work in the United States focuses on advocacy and inspiring America’s youth to “do more than just watch.” We believe that by uniting our voices we can use the systems, influence, and resources of the United States to expedite an end to the conflict.

http://www.invisiblechildren.com/our-story

The LRA today

"The war in northern Uganda has been called the most neglected humanitarian emergency in the world today. For the past 23 years, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Government of Uganda (GoU) have been waging a war that has left nearly two million innocent civilians caught in the middle. The GoU's attempt to protect its citizens from this rebel militia has largely failed, resulting in an entire generation of youth that has never known peace."

http://www.invisiblechildren.com/history-of-the-war

Joseph Kony leads the LRA. The LRA rebels abduct children and indoctrinate them into their ranks. It is estimated that more than 90% of the LRA’s troops were abducted as children.

The LRA left Uganda in June 2006 when the Juba Peace Talks began. Ever since the peace talks fell apart in 2008, the LRA has been active in the border regions of the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and the Central African Republic.

There is a website that gives near real-time updates on LRA location and activity LRACrisisTracker.com

At the moment Uganda's border regions of South Sudan, the Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo are experiencing ongoing LRA attacks and abductions. Not only have the LRA been terrorizing Uganda for the past 23 years it is now spreading to bordering countries.

collage of uganda

I created a collage of images from uganda of its scenery, people, animals, homes and culture. This is a research aid to the visual design of the graphic novel.

Lord's Resistance Army (LRA)

The Lord's Resistance Army is a militant and cannibalistic group with a syncretic Christian extreme religious ideology. The group operates in northern Uganda, South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Central Africa. The group used to operate mainly in northern Uganda and also in parts of South Sudan, the Central African Republic, and the DRC.

The LRA was formed in 1987 and until about 2007 it was engaged in an armed rebellion against the Ugandan government. It is led by Joseph Kony, who proclaims himself the "spokesperson" of God and a spirit medium, primarily of the Holy Spirit, which the group believes can represent itself in many manifestations.

The group is based on a number of different beliefs including local religious rituals, mysticism, traditional religion, Acholi nationalism and Christianity and claims to be establishing a theocratic state based on the Ten Commandments and local Acholi tradition. The LRA is accused of widespread human rights violations, including murder, abduction, mutilation, sexual enslavement of women and children and forcing children to participate in hostilities.

Ideology

The LRA's ideology is disputed amongst academics. Although the LRA has been regarded primarily as a Christian militia, the LRA reportedly evokes Acholi nationalism on occasion.

Robert Gersony, in a report funded by United States Embassy in Kampala in 1997, concluded that "the LRA has no political program or ideology, at least none that the local population has heard or can understand." The International Crisis Group has stated that "the LRA is not motivated by any identifiable political agenda, and its military strategy and tactics reflect this."

IRIN comments that "the LRA remains one of the least understood rebel movements in the world, and its ideology, as far as it has one, is difficult to understand."UPDF Lt. Col. Shaban Bantariza has said that "you can't tell whether they want political power. Its only aim is to terrorize and brutalize the civilian population and to loot their homes."

During an interview with IRIN, Vincent Otti was asked about the LRA's vision of an ideal government, to which he responded,

"Lord’s Resistance Army is just the name of the movement, because we are fighting in the name of God. God is the one helping us in the bush. That’s why we created this name, Lord’s Resistance Army. And people always ask us, are we fighting for the [biblical] Ten Commandments of God. That is true – because the Ten Commandments of God is the constitution that God has given to the people of the world. All people. If you go to the constitution, nobody will accept people who steal, nobody could accept to go and take somebody’s wife, nobody could accept to innocently kill, or whatever. The Ten Commandments carries all this."

In a speech delivered by James Alfred Obita, former Secretary For External Affairs And Mobilisation, and Leader of Delegation of the Lord's Resistance Army, he adamantly denied that the LRA was "just an Acholi thing" and stated that claims made by the media and Museveni administration asserting that the LRA is a "group of Christian fundamentalists with bizarre beliefs whose aim is to topple the Museveni regime and replace it with governance based on the Bible's ten commandments" were false.

In the same speech, Obita also stated that the LRA's objectives are:

1-To fight for the immediate restoration of competitive multi-party democracy in Uganda.

2-To see an end to gross violation of human rights and dignity of Ugandans.

3-To ensure the restoration of peace and security in Uganda.

4-To ensure unity, sovereignty and economic prosperity beneficial to all Ugandans

5-To bring to an end to the repressive policy of deliberate marginalization of groups of people who may not agree with the National Resistance Army's ideology.

The original aims of the group were more closely aligned with those of it's predecesor, the Holy Spirit Movement. Protection of the Acholi population was of great concern because of the reality of ethnic purges in the history of Uganda. This created a great deal of concern in the Acholi community as well as a strong desire for formidable leadership and protection.[47] As the conflict has progressed, fewer and fewer Acholi offered sufficient support to the rebels in the eyes of the LRA.This led to an increased amount of violence toward the non-combatant population, which in turn further alienated them from the rebels.This self-perpetuating cycle led to the creation of a strict divide between Acholis and rebels, a divide that was previously not explicitly present.

However, many would believe that the ideologies of the LRA are nothing but hypocrisy. According to the California based organization, Invisible Children, the LRA is no more than a terrorist group disguising themselves as Christian based. The LRA uses tactics of physical and emotional intimidation to seduce children into joining their forces.

Troop strength

The government of Uganda claims that the LRA has only 500 or 1,000 soldiers in total, but other sources estimate that there could be as many as 3,000 soldiers, along with about 1,500 women and children. The bulk of the soldiers fighting for the LRA are children. According to Livingstone Sewanyana, executive director of the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative, Yoweri Museveni was the first to use child soldiers in this conflict. Since the LRA first started fighting in 1987 they may have forced well over 10,000 boys and girls into combat, often killing family, neighbors and school teachers in the process.

Many of these children were put on the front lines so the casualty rate for these children has been high. They have often used children to fight because they are easy to replace by raiding schools or villages. The soldiers are organized into independent squads of 10 or 20 soldiers.Sudan has provided military assistance to the LRA, in response to Uganda lending military support to the Sudan People's Liberation Army.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord's_Resistance_Army

Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army: a primer

By Elizabeth Flock

President Obama, in a letter to Congress, has authorized the deployment of about 100 U.S. combat forces to central Africa to assist in the fight against the notoriously savage Lord’s Resistance Army.

One of the world's most wanted rebel chiefs, Joseph Kony of the Lord's Resistance Army, seen on TV in 2006. The goal: to track down LRA’s leader, Joseph Kony.

Here’s some things to know about Kony and the group:

- Kony proclaims himself the “spokesperson” of God.

- The group claims to be Protestant, with influences of mysticism. Kony believes he is a medium of the Holy Spirit.

- Kony is on the Specially Designated Global Terrorists list.

- The LRA, a sectarian religious and military group that has operated in northern Uganda and Southern Sudan since 1987. They have since spread their operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic. The U.S. Treasury has Kony on its list of “Specially Designated Global Terrorists.”

- Kony’s aunt started the predecessor to the LRA.

- The Post’s William Branigin writes Kony “formed his Lord’s Resistance Army from the remnants of the Holy Spirit Movement, an armed group led by his aunt that fought the Ugandan government in the late 1980s.”

- Responsible for mass human rights violations.

- Since its creation in 1987, the group has engaged in an armed rebellion against the Ugandan government and committed an extraordinary number of human rights violations. Most notably, his troops enter a village, killing the adults and kidnapping the children. The boys are enscripted into the army and the girls are taken as ‘bush wives.’

- Obama notes in his letter that the LRA has “murdered, raped, and kidnapped tens of thousands of men, women, and children in central Africa” and “continues to commit atrocities across the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and South Sudan that have a disproportionate impact on regional security.”

Why is the US going in there?

In May of 2010, Obama signed a bill committing the United States to help arrest Kony. Kenneth Roth, the director of Human Rights Watch wrote in October of 2010 that Obama needed to put in practice what the president said during his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech: “Force can be justified on humanitarian grounds, as it was in the Balkans.”

What does the LRA want?

The LRA wants to establish a theocratic state based on the Ten Commandments and the tradition of the Acholi people, an ethnic group in northern Uganda.

This three-minute short film was produced by the group Invisible Children, a non-profit organization working to end Kony’s rule.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/obama-deploys-combat-forces-to-fight-lords-resistance-army-in-central-africa/2011/10/14/gIQAYB8KkL_blog.html

Profile Of Uganda

The republic of uganda is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa".

Uganda takes its name from the Buganda kingdom, which encompasses a large portion of the south of the country including the capital Kampala.

The official languages are English and Swahili, although multiple other languages are spoken in the country.

Geography

The country is located on the East African plateau. It averages about 1,100 metres (3,609 ft) above sea level, and this slopes very steadily downwards to the Sudanese Plain to the north. However, much of the south is poorly drained, while the centre is dominated by Lake Kyoga, which is also surrounded by extensive marshy areas. Uganda lies almost completely within the Nile basin. The Victoria Nile drains from the lake into Lake Kyoga and thence into Lake Albert on the Congolese border. It then runs northwards into South Sudan. One small area on the eastern edge of Uganda is drained by the Turkwel River, part of the internal drainage basin of Lake Turkana.

Lake Kyoga serves as a rough boundary between Bantu speakers in the south and Nilotic and Central Sudanic language speakers in the north. Despite the division between north and south in political affairs, this linguistic boundary runs roughly from northwest to southeast, near the course of the Nile. However, many Ugandans live among people who speak different languages, especially in rural areas. Some sources describe regional variation in terms of physical characteristics, clothing, bodily adornment, and mannerisms, but others claim that those differences are disappearing.

Although generally equatorial, the climate is not uniform as the altitude modifies the climate. Southern Uganda is wetter with rain generally spread throughout the year. At Entebbe on the northern shore of Lake Victoria, most rain falls from March to June and in the November/December period. Further to the north a dry season gradually emerges; at Gulu about 120 km from the South Sudanese border, November to February is much drier than the rest of the year.

The northeastern Karamoja region has the driest climate and is prone to droughts in some years. Rwenzori in the southwest on the border with Congo (DRC) receives heavy rain all year round. The south of the country is heavily influenced by one of the world's biggest lakes, Lake Victoria, which contains many islands. It prevents temperatures from varying significantly and increases cloudiness and rainfall. Most important cities are located in the south, near Lake Victoria, including the capital Kampala and the nearby city of Entebbe.

Although landlocked, Uganda contains many large lakes; besides Lake Victoria and Lake Kyoga, there are Lake Albert, Lake Edward and the smaller Lake George.

Districts, counties and kingdoms

Uganda is divided into districts, spread across four administrative regions: Northern, Eastern, Central (Kingdom of Buganda) and Western. The districts are subdivided into counties. A number of districts have been added in the past few years, and eight others were added on July 1, 2006 plus others added in 2010. There are now over 100 districts. Most districts are named after their main commercial and administrative towns. Each district is divided into sub-districts, counties, sub-counties, parishes and villages.

Parallel with the state administration, six traditional Bantu kingdoms have remained, enjoying some degrees of mainly cultural autonomy. The kingdoms are Toro, Ankole, Busoga, Bunyoro, Buganda and Rwenzururu.

Demographics

Uganda is home to many different ethnic groups, none of whom forms a majority of the population. Around forty different languages are regularly and currently in use in the country. English became the official language of Uganda after independence. Ugandan English is a local variant dialect.

The most widely spoken local language in Uganda is Luganda, spoken predominantly by the Ganda people (Baganda) in the urban concentrations of Kampala, the capital city, and in towns and localities in the Buganda region of Uganda which encompasses Kampala. The Lusoga and Runyankore-Rukiga languages follow, spoken predominantly in the southeastern and southwestern parts of Uganda respectively.

Swahili, a widely used language throughout eastern and central East Africa, was approved as the country's second official national language in 2005, though this is somewhat politically sensitive. Though the language has not been favoured by the Bantu-speaking populations of the south and southwest of the country, it is an important lingua franca in the northern regions. It is also widely used in the police and military forces, which may be a historical result of the disproportionate recruitment of northerners into the security forces during the colonial period. The status of Swahili has thus alternated with the political group in power.For example, Amin, who came from the northwest, declared Swahili to be the national language.

Uganda’s population has grown from 4.8 million people in 1950 to 24.3 million in 2002. The current estimated population of Uganda is 32.4 million. Uganda has a very young population, with a median age of 15 years.

Sport

Football, cricket and rallying.

Football

Games involving the Ugandan national football team usually attract large crowds of Ugandans from all walks of life. The Ugandan Super League is the top division of Ugandan football contested by 16 clubs from across the country; it was created in 1968. Football in Uganda is managed by the Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA). The association administers the national football team, as well as the Super League. South African broadcaster DStv through its Super Sport network broadcasts the Ugandan League to 46 different countries in sub Saharan Africa. Football is played all over Uganda especially by children in schools and young people on a variety of pitch surfaces. There is a strong following amongst Ugandans for European club football especially the English Premier League with London club Arsenal FC having the biggest following closely followed by Manchester United; Liverpool and Chelsea come in at a distant third and fourth respectively. Barcelona in Spain has also attracted a sizable following in Uganda due to its recent run of success in La Liga and Uefa Champions League. Uganda's most famous footballers are David Obua of Scottish club Hearts and Ibrahim Sekagya, who is the captain of the national team, Austria's Red Bulls and Nestroy Kizito. Uganda's notable past greats of the game include Denis Obua, Majid Musisi, Fimbo Mukasa and Paul Kasule.

Education

Illiteracy is common in Uganda, particularly amongst females. Public spending on education was at 5.2 % of the 2002–2005 GDP. Much public education in primary and secondary schools focuses upon repetition and memorization. There are also state exams that must be taken at every level of education. Uganda has both private and public universities. The largest university in Uganda is Makerere University, located outside of Kampala. The system of education in Uganda has a structure of 7 years of primary education, 6 years of secondary education (divided into 4 years of lower secondary and 2 years of upper secondary school), and 3 to 5 years of post-secondary education. The present system has existed since the early 1960s. Although some primary education is compulsory under law, in many rural communities this is not observed as many families feel they cannot afford costs such as uniforms and equipment. State schools are usually run by the Church of Uganda and are built on land owned as such. In primary education, children sit exams at the end of each academic year in order to discern whether they are to progress to the next class; this leads to some classes which include a large range of ages. Upon completing P7 (The final year of primary education), many children from poorer rural communities will return to their families for subsistence farming. Secondary education is focused mainly in larger cities, with boarding optional. Children are usually presented with an equipment list which they are to obtain at the beginning of their time at secondary school. This list classically includes items such as writing equipment, toilet roll and cleaning brushes, all of which the student must have upon admission to school.

Cuisine

Ugandan cuisine consists of traditional cooking with English, Arab, Asian and especially Indian influences. Like the cuisines of most countries, it varies in complexity, from the most basic, a starchy filler with a sauce of beans or meat, to several-course meals served in upper-class homes and high-end restaurants.

Main dishes are usually centered on a sauce or stew of groundnuts, beans or meat. The starch traditionally comes from ugali (maize meal) or matoke (boiled and mashed green banana) in the South, or an ugali made from millet in the North. Cassava, yam and African sweet potato are also eaten; the more affluent include white (often called "Irish") potato and rice in their diets. Soybeans were promoted as a healthy food staple in the 1970s and are also used especially for breakfast. Chapati, an Asian flatbread, is also part of Ugandan cuisine.

Uganda Waragi is a common alcoholic beverage in Uganda.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uganda

Facts

Full name: Republic of Uganda

Population: 33.8 million (UN, 2010)

Capital: Kampala

Area: 241,038 sq km (93,072 sq miles)

Major languages: English (official), Swahili (official), Luganda, various Bantu and Nilotic languages

Major religions: Christianity, Islam

Life expectancy: 54 years (men), 55 years (women) (UN)

Monetary unit: 1 Ugandan shilling = 100 cents

Main exports: Coffee, fish and fish products, tea; tobacco, cotton, corn, beans, sesame

GNI per capita: US $500 (World Bank, 2010)

Internet domain: .ug

International dialling code: +256

Pesident: Yoweri Museveni

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14112297

A chronology of key events

1500 - Bito dynasties of Buganda, Bunyoro and Ankole founded by Nilotic-speaking immigrants from present-day southeastern Sudan.

Kampala, the capital, is spread over a series of hills

1700 - Buganda begins to expand at the expense of Bunyoro.

1800 - Buganda controls territory bordering Lake Victoria from the Victoria Nile to the Kagera river.

1840s - Muslim traders from the Indian Ocean coast exchange firearms, cloth and beads for the ivory and slaves of Buganda.

1862 - British explorer John Hanning Speke becomes the first European to visit Buganda.

1875 - Bugandan King Mutesa I allows Christian missionaries to enter his realm.

British influence

1877 - Members of the British Missionary Society arrive in Buganda.

1879 - Members of the French Roman Catholic White Fathers arrive.

1890 - Britain and Germany sign treaty giving Britain rights to what was to become Uganda.

1892 - Imperial British East Africa Company agent Frederick Lugard extends the company's control to southern Uganda and helps the Protestant missionaries defeat their Catholic counterparts, who had been competing with them, in Buganda.

1894 - Uganda becomes a British protectorate.

1900 - Britain signs agreement with Buganda giving it autonomy and turning it into a constitutional monarchy controlled mainly by Protestant chiefs.

1902 - The Eastern province of Uganda transferred to the Kenya.

1904 - Commercial cultivation of cotton begins.

1921 - Uganda given a legislative council, but its first African member not admitted till 1945.

1958 - Uganda given internal self-government.

1962 - Uganda becomes independent with Milton Obote (above) as prime minister and with Buganda enjoying considerable autonomy.

1963 - Uganda becomes a republic with Mutesa as president.

1966 - Milton Obote ends Buganda's autonomy.

1967 - New constitution vests considerable power in the president and divides Buganda into four districts.

Idi Amin years

Above is Idi Amin.

1971 - Milton Obote toppled in coup led by Idi Amin.

1972 - Amin orders Asians who were not Ugandan citizens - around 60,000 people - to leave the country.

1972-73 - Uganda engages in border clashes with Tanzania.

1976 - Idi Amin declares himself president for life and claims parts of Kenya.

1978 - Uganda invades Tanzania with a view to annexing Kagera region.

1979 - Tanzania invades Uganda, unifying the various anti-Amin forces under the Uganda National Liberation Front and forcing Amin to flee the country; Yusufu Lule installed as president, but is quickly replaced by Godfrey Binaisa.

1980 - Binaisa overthrown by the army.

Milton Obote becomes president after elections.

1985 - Obote deposed in military coup and is replaced by Tito Okello.

1986 - National Resistance Army rebels take Kampala and install Yoweri Museveni (below) as president.

Beginnings of recovery

1993 - Museveni restores the traditional kings, including the king of Buganda, but without giving them political power.

1995 - New constitution legalises political parties but maintains the ban on political activity.

1996 - Museveni returned to office in Uganda's first direct presidential election.

1997 - Ugandan troops help depose Mobutu Sese Seko of Zaire, who is replaced by Laurent Kabila.

1998 - Ugandan troops intervene in the Democratic republic of Congo on the side of rebels seeking to overthrow Kabila.

2000 - Ugandans vote to reject multi-party politics in favour of continuing Museveni's "no-party" system.

2001 January - East African Community (EAC) inaugurated in Arusha, Tanzania, laying groundwork for common East African passport, flag, economic and monetary integration. Members are Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.

2001 March - Uganda classifies Rwanda, its former ally in the civil war in DR Congo, as a hostile nation because of fighting in 2000 between the two countries' armies in DR Congo.

Museveni wins another term in office, beating his rival Kizza Besigye by 69% to 28%.

Campaign against rebels

2002 March - Sudan, Uganda sign agreement aimed at containing Ugandan rebel group, Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), active along common border. LRA wants to run Uganda along lines of biblical Ten Commandments.

Led by "prophet" Joseph Kony they have kidnapped thousands of children and displaced many civilians.

2002 October - Army evacuates more than 400,000 civilians caught up in fight against LRA which continues its brutal attacks on villages.

2002 December - Peace deal signed with Uganda National Rescue Front (UNRF) rebels after more than five years of negotiations.

2003 May - Uganda pulls out last of its troops from eastern DR Congo. Tens of thousands of DR Congo civilians seek asylum in Uganda.

2003 August - Former dictator Idi Amin dies in hospital in Saudi Arabia.

2004 February - LRA rebels slaughter more than 200 people at a camp for displaced people in the north.

2004 December - Government and LRA rebels hold their first face-to-face talks, but there is no breakthrough in ending the insurgency.

2005 April - Uganda rejects accusations made by DR Congo at the International Court in The Hague. DR Congo says Uganda invaded its territory in 1999, killing citizens and looting.

Multi-party politics

2005 July - Parliament approves a constitutional amendment which scraps presidential term limits.

Voters in a referendum overwhelmingly back a return to multi-party politics.

2005 October - International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for five LRA commanders, including LRA leader Joseph Kony.

2005 November - Main opposition leader Kizza Besigye is imprisoned shortly after returning from exile. He is charged in a military court with terrorism and illegal possession of firearms. He is released on bail in January 2006.

2005 December - International Court in The Hague rules that Uganda must compensate DR Congo for rights abuses and the plundering of resources in the five years leading to 2003.

2006 February - President Museveni wins multi-party elections, taking 59% of the vote against the 37% share of his rival, Kizza Besigye.

2006 July - Peace talks between the government and the LRA begin in southern Sudan.

2006 26 August - The government and the LRA sign a truce aimed at ending their long-running conflict. A ceasefire comes into force on 29 August. Subsequent peace talks are marred by regular walk-outs.

2006 November - Government rejects a United Nations report accusing the army of using indiscriminate and excessive force in its campaign to disarm tribal warriors in the lawless northeastern region of Karamoja.

Somalia role

2007 March - Ugandan peacekeepers deploy in Somalia as part of an African Union mission to help stabilise the country.

The UN World Food Programme says it will have to halve food handouts to more than 1 million people displaced by war in the north.

2007 April - Protests over a prized rain forest explode into racial violence in Kampala, forcing police to protect Asian businesses and a Hindu temple. An Asian man and two other people are killed.

2007 July - Lord's Resistance Army says lack of funds for foreign travel and to reach commanders in remote hideouts will delay peace talks.

2007 August - Uganda and DRCongo agree to try defuse a border dispute.

2007 September - State of emergency imposed after severe floods cause widespread devastation.

2008 February - Government and the Lord's Resistance Army sign a permanent ceasefire at talks in Juba, Sudan.

2008 November - The leader of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army, Joseph Kony, again fails to turn up for the signing of a peace agreement. Ugandan, South Sudanese and DR Congo armies launch offensive against LRA bases.

2009 January - Lord's Resistance Army appeals for ceasefire in face of continuing offensive by regional countries.

The UK oil explorer Heritage Oil says it has made a major oil find in Uganda.

2009 March - Ugandan army begins to withdraw from DR Congo, where it had pursued Lord's Resistance Army rebels.

2009 September - Rioting erupts in Kampala over a planned visit by ruler of traditional Buganda kingdom to visit an area trying to break away from his rule.

2009 October - Somali Islamists threaten to target Uganda and Burundi after action by African peacekeepers in Somalia kills several civilians.

2009 November - Rights activists condemn proposed anti-homosexuality Bill, which would prescribe execution for some gay people. The bill is condemned by the European Union and the United States.

2009 December - Parliament votes to ban female circumcision. Anyone convicted of the practice will face 10 years in jail or a life sentence if a victim dies.

2010 January - President Museveni distances himself from the anti-homosexuality Bill, saying the ruling party MP who proposed the bill did so as an individual.

The Ugandan army says it killed Bok Abudema, a senior commander of the Lord's Resistance Army militant group, in the Central African Republic.

2010 February - Heritage Oil sells its assets in Uganda to the UK firm Tullow Oil after Italian energy company Eni dropped out of the bidding.

2010 March - Uganda's main opposition party has accused President Museveni of preparing his son Lt Col Kainerugaba Muhoozi to succeed him. Mr Muhoozi commands a special forces unit and has now been given control of the elite presidential guard.

A fire caused by an arsonist destroys historic burial site of four rulers of traditional Buganda kingdom, sparking riots. The tombs are a UN world heritage site.

2010 June - Public prosecutor opens corruption investigation against Vice-President Gilbert Bukenya, Foreign Minister Sam Kutesa and several other ministers and officials over the alleged theft of $25m.

Troops step up border security following apparent resurgence in DR Congo of ADF-NALU rebels striving for an Islamic state in Uganda.

2010 June-August - Operation Rwenzori against Ugandan ADF-NALU rebels prompts 90,000 to flee in North Kivu province of neighbouring DR Congo.

Blasts

2010 July - Two bomb attacks on people watching World Cup final at a restaurant and a rugby club in Kampala kill at least 74 people. The Somali Islamist group Al-Shabab says it was behind the blasts.

2010 August - National Resistance Movement primary elections for parliamentary and local candidates suspended amid irregularities, violence.

2010 October - UN report into killing of Hutus in DR Congo between 1993 and 2003 says they may constitute "crimes of genocide". It implicates Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, Zimbabwe and Angola.

2010 October - Constitutional Court quashes treason charges against opposition leader Kizza Besigye.

Outcry as The Rolling Stone newspaper publishes names and pictures of men identified as gay. Homosexuality is illegal.

2010 December - Security tightened after a grenade explosion kills three people on a Kampala-bound bus in Nairobi, Kenya.

2011 January - Leading gay rights activist David Kato is murdered.

2011 February - Museveni wins his fourth presidential election. Challenger Kizza Besigye alleges vote-rigging and dismisses the result as a sham.

2011 April - Kizza Besigye arrested several times over ''walk-to-work'' protests against rising prices.

2011 July - US deploys 100 special forces personnel to help Uganda combat LRA rebels.

2011 September - Court orders release of LRA commander Thomas Kwoyelo, saying he should be given the amnesty on offer from the government.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14112446

What we need to take from John McCarthy's Meeting

research:

- interaction design Jenny Preece
- case studies from the book he gave us
- empathethic framework and key factors
- graphic novels
- VR
- mauss
- animated film "waltzes with bashir"

Talk to:

Angela Veale his co worker who has researched and worked on the subject of child soldiers.
John suggested talking to him again if we need to.

Important:
- the story, narrative
- information
- keeping audience in mind
- choice of charity
- location
- don't use shock advertising or guilt it needs to be more than that
- have audience interact/view it for approx 10 minutes
- don't make them feel like they are being manipulated
- use charity brand cleverly
- general target audience
- keep in mind demographic differences
- not just pulling at the emotional heartstrings but thats straight, honest, informative, factual
- even just generating awareness education of situation is important
- give people an understanding
- cant just be one story has to be a few

Minutes from meeting with John McCarthy a lecturer in psychology UCC

empathic design

papers, textbooks, casestudies on the area

two kinds of papers

1 says in order to design stuff properly, websites, public installations you need to have some empathy with the people for whom your designing it. In order to do that you need to find out something about the people your designing for. That might mean interviewing them, observing, use of their public space, getting to understand how they live in that space, do they run by fast or sit around. What does it feel like to be in that place.

That's one type of paper: how do you find out about those people so that you can
do design that is empathic to their needs.

2 This is more related to our project.
You need to design something that illicts or get empathy from people for your product/project.

You want to design something that people will respond to positively like in a fundraising way so they will feel for the child soldiers. They will get some information about them, they will understand what their life is like and you will get some kind of as ye said pro - social behaviour with respect to them, it might be petition, fundraising etc.

Experience centered design framework

How do you go about designing something like that. we can read it and he will email us the original paper if we are interested.


Text book case studies

Text book: interaction design Jenny Preece

HCI or interaction design. Working out ways of designing and evaluating. Chapter in it that has a bunch of design ideas. Their case studies attached to that. 2 of these case studies are design projects, using the technology of experience framework that Pete and I developed.

Incidentally one of them is about fundraising for poor people in Boston. It uses the word empathy once or twice, but what is really talks about is an emotional response from people so that they help. it goes through the user experience framework, some design concepts, scenarios. Its a fundraising website. Kind talking about his life and your drawn into it immediately, his story. You could have all the statistics in the world that you like but you wouldn't shake anyone. You put on a couple of stories and it make a huge difference. A video with a face as they tell a story and it gets more of a reaction. If you put that together with information then you start to get empathy. If you just do the emotional heartstrings thing its just like advertising its manipulating people to do something. People get fed up of that very quickly. This is designed as an ongoing giving site. As well as giving the emotional side of it you give the information you give practical stuff about what people can do.
Keep it up to date with stories of projects that were developed using the money.

Empathy is not just emotional its knowing what its like to be that other person, trying to feel what its like to be that person and then knowing that your action has had an effect.

That's what the case study did. * he gave us a print out of two case studies including the one above

Empathetic framework and 3 key factors
In terms of empathy in the framework that Pete and I did, when people are interacting with anything there are 3 or 4 key things which dominate, 1 is your emotional response, sadness doesn't often get people going actually has to be sad and i must feel like i can do something about it. 2 sensual side, touch, hear, taste, smell. very important if you can get stuff like that it would be great. 3 cognitive or thinking side, compositional you need to be able to put the whole thing in a story. compose a whole experience around it. and that works at different levels, you need to be able to put the specific event into a story so child soldiers, most people don't know anything about child soldiers, but you also need to put what your meant to do in this interaction, like give money.
4 Temporal thing if people feel that its a once off thing that they give money and that's the end of it, if they feel there is an ongoing story here they might give more.

imagine ye were designing something to really get people engaged with this and doing something about it over a period of time. imagine money is a useful thing I've no idea if it is or not in those situations. it might be from talking to Angela some of the people are kidnapped as kids so there is not much that money would do about it. But in a general way giving money might help bring the standard of living up so that their parents and the families aren't in the situation where they are so easily kidnapped or whatever or might pay for the volunteers like Angela.

* Angela Veale is also in the Psychology department of UCC and a co worker of Johns who has done work and research on child soldiers.

Think about the emotional, sensual, story and the story of the person interacting, temporal ie the time span of all of this. you have covered most of the basis for empathic design.

ideas

cant just be one kids story, where do ye get the stories from? you tube?
documentary, reintegration back in their homes, former child soldiers, what emotion did they experience? excitement, terror
get some sense of that terror in the story. so if you got a couple of their stories but also i think you need to get something in there about what some organization can do about it. people are not going to give money unless they feel somebody can do something about it. with the whole problem of child soldiers, it would be very easy to just go "oh god isn't the world an awful place" and what can you do. where as if you also give people information on what can be done that will draw them in and make that real as well eg goal concern, raise money specifically for a charity that would make all the right connections.

People would know more about child soldiers, the problems and issues around it, they would know more about what their intervention would do, they could imagine it making the kids lives a little bit better.

I think most people who will encounter your installation/project wont even know what child soldiers are.

Its a hard problem to sell, these kids are kidnapped and abused and brutalized and they are out shooting people, how do you raise money for kids that are out shooting. They become pretty brutalized and awful themselves after a while so how do you make that empathetic? What would your typical child soldier be?
they don't question anything, told what to do, don't have a choice, parents are wrong, they are superior, indoctrinated.
What age are they?
From 6 up
That would shock most people.
Male or female?
Both
really.

Its an awful situation but its one where allot of people will know nothing about. So even if you got no money and you got some useful information out there and got people to understand the problem that would be a very useful thing to do.

broadly speaking something like the story of child soldiers, story of how organizations can make that better cause i think that will be the next thing once people hear about it, they want to know what can we do about that ? you must do both of these in a way that's not just pulling at the emotional heartstrings but that's straight, honest, informative, factual, that's enough almost.


Questions we asked

narrative and imagined other, which is more effective in this situation or both?
it doesn't have to be one or the other, narrative is part of most things, you have to tell them the story, the story is very important here. if you are going to give them the experience as well then it has to be authentic. What you need to do with the imagined other in this case is very hard to do, how do you get people or even adults to feel what its like to be a child soldier in Africa. animation would be a good option. Virtual reality technology, VR situation where it has to be frightening to be real. Have to feel your immersed in their situation. that's not very mobile though. you could just do a bit of imagined other, so what bit would you do if you could? they don't have a choice they were robbed of their childhood. How do you get that across as an experience or imagined other? face talking to you, it could be ethically dangerous. we suggested doing this in a game. that's interesting, game has strange connotations though most games are fun, some are social conscious games. Graphic novels, theres a brilliant one on being in Palestine when the place is being bombed and they quality of the graphics absolutely brilliant and you do get a strong sense of what it is like to be in that situation. There is an animated film "waltzes with bashir" and its about being an Israeli soldier in Palestine. There are also ones by a guy called mausse about being a Jew in concentration camps. These are all done in comic/graphic novels and they are brilliant. One of the reasons they are so good is the drawing is amazing and its better than text. if its not better than another method then its not worth doing.

does empathy affect people of different demographics differently?
the evidence on that is very mixed. Women are supposed to be more empathic than men. empathy isn't something your born with it develops as you go along. once you reach adolescence its fairly settled it doesn't change much after that except through events, something might happen that makes you more empathic. Kids can be empathic they learn fairly quickly, they identify with hurt/pain. They don't make all the connections but they can feel the pain of another creature. Its not as well developed its like an immediate emotional response.

Target audience?
If its about fundraising then your target audience would be the people with the funds. If its more general then like being educational, informative and a bit of fundraising then i think as broad as possible. I guess you have to be careful not to do things that would frighten kids.

Charities use empathy to make people feel guilty and donate, is there other emotions that empathy would provoke? Is guilt an effective means?
I think that's an awful way to it, if you just pull the heart stings that's what you get. Guilt is not a sustainable way of getting involvement or engagement or money. That has to come from a place which is both emotionally engaging and informative. example of adoption programme as a way of sustaining peoples interest for years. Its not about guilt its about wanting to make a difference. The guilt method gets lots of money quickly and then it stops and starts again. If you could get people involved in other real peoples lives that would be much more engaging and sustainable over long periods of time. it might be that ye set up a mechanism where people get in touch with other people and organise something.

Would the location, where we situate the project, public or private would that effect the audiences ability to be empathetic?
Not in terms of the psychology of empathy. It would take at least 10 minutes to know enough and want to do something about the situation. So where would that be possible? you could do 2 things, a public installation which draws peoples attention to it and give them a URL or leaflet or something that they can look at after. So you can go home and look at it properly. Publicity immediate engagement to the project. Would weather effect it? How many people can see it at a time? Are people busy? That is all about the practicalities of it, empathy can work either way as long as they have enough time to view it.

If we were joining with an existing charity who have a brand identity would it effect peoples empathy because of pre-conceptions of the brand?
It could, it might want to be something you would play up or play down. That goes beyond empathy into some positive and negative areas. interesting research on people trusting or not trusting information they see. One thing that increases trust is if their is a recognised big organization behind it. Trust is also something that develops so if they have interacted with that organization before and if it was negative or positive that will carry over into your project.

would feeling pressure of donating effect peoples feeling of empathy negatively?
It is a very good point i think people might feel that we are being used so if you over do the emotional thing and then you ask to give money they think I'm being manipulated here, if you put it all together in a package with information, project. If a charity in Ireland is doing a project on child soldiers then id hook on to that and make it an added extra. Have the info as the main part and then say by the way if you want to support it here's what you can do. if the main thing at your installation is a box to put money into then they are going to read everything else through it. Id start with awareness and education and then move on to how to help.

Charities often use shock advertising and its an emerging trend do you think that method induces empathy?
I think shock advertising works for some things but it wont work for empathy. there is an immediate emotional response like guilt or empathy which is a long lasting thing. Shock isn't going to get the long lasting effect. If ye want awareness, education and ongoing involvement in this well then you have the project for the year and then pass it on to an organization that's involved with it. Ye are doing something for that organization that they could use, its ongoing that will also appeal to people that are involving themselves. if you felt empathetic with someone it wouldn't be something that would switch on and switch off.

Why Children Join Armed Forces

Children are forcibly recruited into armed groups in many conflicts but the vast majority of child soldiers are adolescents between the age of 14 and 18 who "volunteer" to join up. However, research has shown that a number of factors may be involved in making the decision to actually join an armed conflict and in reality many such adolescents see few alternatives to enlisting. War itself is a major determinant. Economic, social, community and family structures are frequently ravaged by armed conflict and joining the ranks of the fighters is often the only means of survival. Many youths have reported that desire to avenge the killing of relatives or other violence arising from war is an important motive.

Poverty and lack of access to educational or work opportunities are additional factors - with joining up often holding out either the promise or the reality of an income or a means of getting one. Coupled with this may be a desire for power, status or social recognition. Family and peer pressure to join up for ideological or political reasons or to honour family tradition may also be motivating factors. Girl soldiers have reported joining up to escape domestic servitude or enforced marriage or get away from domestic violence, exploitation and abuse.

reference: http://www.child-soldiers.org/childsoldiers/why-children-join

Facts About Child Soldiers

December 3, 2008

Although there are no exact figures, hundreds of thousands of children under the age of 18 serve in government forces or armed rebel groups. Some are as young as eight years old.
Since 2001, the participation of child soldiers has been reported in 21 on-going or recent armed conflicts in almost every region of the world.
Children are uniquely vulnerable to military recruitment because of their emotional and physical immaturity. They are easily manipulated and can be drawn into violence that they are too young to resist or understand.
Technological advances in weaponry and the proliferation of small arms have contributed to the increased use of child soldiers. Lightweight automatic weapons are simple to operate, often easily accessible, and can be used by children as easily as adults.
Children are most likely to become child soldiers if they are poor, separated from their families, displaced from their homes, living in a combat zone or have limited access to education.
Many children join armed groups because of economic or social pressure, or because children believe that the group will offer food or security. Others are forcibly recruited, "press-ganged" or abducted by armed groups.
Both girls and boys are used as child soldiers. In some countries, like Nepal, Sri Lanka and Uganda, a third or more of the child soldiers were reported to be girls. In some conflicts, girls may be raped, or given to military commanders as "wives."
Once recruited, child soldiers may serve as porters or cooks, guards, messengers or spies. Many are pressed into combat, where they may be forced to the front lines or sent into minefields ahead of older troops. Some children have been used for suicide missions.
Children are sometimes forced to commit atrocities against their own family or neighbors. Such practices help ensure that the child is "stigmatized" and unable to return to his or her home community.
In some countries, former child soldiers have access to rehabilitation programs to help them locate their families, get back into school, receive vocational training, and re-enter civilian life. However, many children have no access to such programs. They may have no way to support themselves and are at risk of re-recruitment
In 2000, the United Nations adopted an Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict. The protocol prohibits the forced recruitment of children under the age of 18 or their use in hostilities. To date, it has been ratified by more than 110 countries.
The ILO Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labor prohibits the forced or compulsory recruitment of children under the age of 18 for use in armed conflict. It has been ratified by over 150 countries.

Source URL: http://www.hrw.org/news/2008/12/03/facts-about-child-soldiers

Amnesty International Ireland

We got in contact with a charity that is involved in a child soldiers campaign, Amnesty International. see what they do here.
We emailed the Irish department and got a reply, they are delighted to hear we are doing a project to raise awareness and funds for child soldiers and are willing to give us information and help on the topic. Therefore any funds we raise from the project will be going to Amnesty International.

Central Concept

Our central concept is empathy and child soldiers.

Why should this subject matter be addressed?
Worldwide, hundreds of thousands of children are recruited into armed
forces. Often they are abducted at school, on the streets or at home.

This means that girls and boys illegally and under force, participate in
combat where frequently they are injured or killed. Others are used
as spies, messengers, porters, servants or to lay or clear landmines
and are at risk of sexual abuse.

These children are robbed of their childhood and exposed to terrible
dangers and to psychological and physical suffering.

Through getting people to empathize with these children then we
can raise awareness of the situation and contribute to help stopping
it.

Why Empathy?
I read an article called Guilt and Giving: A Process Model of Empathy and Efficacy which is about the use of empathy and self-efficacy to generate guilt in charity work, "charity guilt advertising". I found this article useful as it explains empathy very well and how and why it is used in charity work. I took alot from it that is in relation to what we want to do and why we chose empathy to raise awareness of the existence of child soldiers and in turn get the user to do something about it.

Empathy involves viewing another person’s situation from the perspective of that person and understanding how the situation appears to that person and how that person is reacting cognitively and emotionally to the situation. As a result, empathy allows an individual to assess a situation as if it were affecting them rather than someone else. "putting yourself in someone else's shoes"

Charity appeals frequently use pictures/video footage of people in need of help, accompanied by the their sad stories. These appeals are an attempt to induce guilt and generate empathy on the part of viewers. The critical question is whether they successfully generate guilt and empathy or instead result in reactions that distance the viewer from the situation.

Empathy motivates and increases pro-social behaviour. Pro-social behaviors are those intended to help other people. Pro-social behavior is characterized by a concern about the rights, feelings and welfare of other people. Behaviors that can be described as pro-social include feeling empathy and concern for others and behaving in ways to help or benefit other people. Pro-social behavior in turn can also be motivated by a desire to reduce one’s sense of guilt.
Our society holds the social norm of helping the less fortunate (Mead, 1985), so failing to do so can lead one to anticipate feeling guilty as a result.

Empathy and Personal Relevance
If a situation affects oneself then it is more personally relevant than a situation that affects another. If empathy is used to enhance personal relevance, then the perception of need is increased. The more personal it is the more effective. Both dispositional and demographic factors have also been shown to impact peoples response to charity appeals. Dispositional factors are a person's inherent qualities of mind and character, for example some individuals have a natural tendency toward feeling guilty or being empathetic. Demographic factors iclude age, race, gender ect.

This explains why empathy will play an important role in our project. Whatever we create it is crucial that the audience effectively empathize with it so we can achieve good results from them for example get them to donate.