Cycling Event Raises Money to Help Young Victims of Uganda's Civil War
by Allie Martin and Jenni Parker
July 19, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A Christian organization in the United States is trying to raise awareness of the plight of children living in northern Uganda, where an ongoing civil war has taken a devastating toll on the lives of the citizens, especially the most vulnerable among them.The Virginia-based ministry known as Sports Outreach Institute recently sponsored a 440-mile charity bike ride along the Natchez Trace Parkway. Twelve cyclists took part in the week-long ride, which began in Natchez, Mississippi, and ended in Franklin, Tennessee.
The charity sporting event was called "Gifts for Gulu." Proceeds from the ride will go to help build the "Good News Community Center," a Christian outreach facility for children in Gulu, Uganda. Gulu is a government military base to which thousands of children displaced by violence have fled for safety.
Rodney Suddith, executive director of Sports Outreach Institute, says there is a sad history behind this situation in this region. "There's been a civil war going on in northern Uganda for over 20 years," he says. "The battle is between the national government, whose army is the UPDF [Uganda People's Defense Force] and a rebel army called the Lord's Resistance Army, which has been led by a rebel by the name of [Joseph] Kony."
This paramilitary "guerilla" group's leader, who is reportedly waging a violent campaign to establish a theocratic government in Uganda, has earned a terrifying reputation for his army's terrorism and brutality against the people of northern Uganda. "And the way Kony raises his army," Suddith notes, "is he kidnaps children, forces them to kill their parents or siblings, and then he turns them into trained killers."
Not only did riders collect pledges for the Gifts for Gulu ride, but many of them also spoke at churches along the Parkway. "I think people have really been touched by it," the Sports Outreach Institute spokesman observes. "The response has been overwhelming. People are just opening their hearts to us."
At the same time, Suddith adds, the "Gifts for Gulu" ride has helped to raise awareness and to educate many Christians along the Natchez Trace Parkway about the plight of the children in this war-torn African region. "Many people do not know about it," he points out. "There are some who have heard something about it, but they don't really understand the full scale of the problem."
The cycling event has been a small step on what will ultimately be a very long journey to help the people of northern Uganda recover, the ministry executive director acknowledges. The citizens have been caught between the terror and violence of the LRA and their national government's neglect for more than two decades now.
Nearly two-million Ugandans are confined to displacement camps, where death rates are estimated at almost a thousand weekly. Meanwhile, many of the children of northern Uganda are deeply traumatized from the violence and war in their region. Still others have been victimized by poverty, hunger, or diseases, including AIDS.
"It's going to take generations to heal the land," Suddith says, "and only the Lord can do that." Still, he says the Sports Outreach Institute is hopeful that the Good News Community Center it is building will help brighten the lives of many young people in Gulu and help them see the love of Jesus demonstrated as Christians workers there strive to meet some of their needs.
