Let’s Have the Balls to Bring Joseph Kony to Justice!

Anyone who has ever been fortunate enough to travel in Africa knows how friendly and beautiful the children there are.  They are like gorgeous flowers filled with joy and hope, their smiles as bright as the light in their eyes.  William and I can’t wait to return to the Continent one day so that we can pass out soccer balls to some kids there….

For TWB, the Goal is Joy!  Behind our mission to get people to give out soccer balls to children during their travels in developing countries is the belief that children everywhere should have the simple right to play and to be happy.  

But children can’t be happy when they are turned into brutal killers.  In northern Uganda, Lord’s Resistance Army leader Joseph Kony has been kidnapping children from their parents, drugging them, and forcing them to serve as vicious murderers in his guerilla army for decades.   Often, Kony forces these children to kill their own parents…

Kony’s atrocities are well-known to anyone with more than a passing interest in Africa, and the nonprofit organization Invisible Children (www.invisiblechildren.com) has done heroic work on educating the public about Kony for years, but now there is a global campaign underway to raise awareness of his heinous deeds so that international pressure will be applied and Kony will finally be brought to justice.  Every one of us has a choice to make here: we can turn a blind eye to what is happening or we can add our voice to the rising call for Kony to be apprehended.  (To hear one such powerful voice, listen to this audio piece by performance artist Osiris Booque)

It would be wonderful if Travel With Balls could always feature videos of happy kids playing with soccer balls but as long as children are threatened by the likes of Joseph Kony then we feel a responsibility to use this blog to occasionally call attention to it so that we can help change the situation.  Once Kony is finally apprehended, perhaps the children of northern Uganda will be free to play again!  Please take the time to watch the 30 minute video on Joseph Kony at the top of this blog and then post it on your facebook page so that others can join the call for justice.   

Peace & Blessings,
Jan