2008 Woodie Awards
Trying to make the invisible, visible
Jordan Crook/RHA Reporter
Issue date: 12/6/07 Section: News
A short video showing how decrepit and unsafe schools in Uganda are can be viewed online.
Wood said the group decided to build new schools and renovate old ones. Many of the new schools and renovations included giving them new textbooks and teachers while providing safe and sanitary institutions of education.
To fund these projects, the group created the "Schools 4 Schools" program, in which high schools and colleges in the U.S. could adopt a school in Uganda and raise money to help supply or make repairs to their individual school.
Wood said the program has been effective at funding the school building projects.
"It has allowed us to enact a lot of changes in the Ugandan school system," he said.
In 2006, nearly 600 American schools in the program raised $1.2 million for schools in Uganda.
Wood said this money has gone toward funding the construction and renovation of 10 schools in northern Uganda.
He said the money goes toward several different uses in the schools, depending on the individual needs of the schools. Some require better water processing systems while others require more teachers or better dormitory facilities.
Suggs said Eastern's group currently comprises about 30 members, but said she expects this number to grow as word of the group spreads.
As membership in each of the college and high school groups in the U.S. grows, so does the influence of Invisible Children on the events in northern Uganda.
Wood said the Invisible Children group has had a definite effect on the education system in Uganda and may have helped the peace accords, which are now being discussed in the country.
He said four of the five major points in the negotiations between the two sides have been agreed upon and a tentative cease-fire is now in effect, bringing the country closer to peace than it has been in 20 years.
"This is the closest they have ever been to being successful at making peace," Wood said.
The effect Invisible Children has caused may be credited not only to the efforts of schools in the U.S. but also to the thousands of people across America who support peace in Uganda.
Wood said nearly 80,000 people have participated in Invisible Children-sponsored protests and demonstrations nationwide over the past two years.
"When that many people raise their voices,it really has an impact," he said.
Wood said the group decided to build new schools and renovate old ones. Many of the new schools and renovations included giving them new textbooks and teachers while providing safe and sanitary institutions of education.
To fund these projects, the group created the "Schools 4 Schools" program, in which high schools and colleges in the U.S. could adopt a school in Uganda and raise money to help supply or make repairs to their individual school.
Wood said the program has been effective at funding the school building projects.
"It has allowed us to enact a lot of changes in the Ugandan school system," he said.
In 2006, nearly 600 American schools in the program raised $1.2 million for schools in Uganda.
Wood said this money has gone toward funding the construction and renovation of 10 schools in northern Uganda.
He said the money goes toward several different uses in the schools, depending on the individual needs of the schools. Some require better water processing systems while others require more teachers or better dormitory facilities.
Suggs said Eastern's group currently comprises about 30 members, but said she expects this number to grow as word of the group spreads.
As membership in each of the college and high school groups in the U.S. grows, so does the influence of Invisible Children on the events in northern Uganda.
Wood said the Invisible Children group has had a definite effect on the education system in Uganda and may have helped the peace accords, which are now being discussed in the country.
He said four of the five major points in the negotiations between the two sides have been agreed upon and a tentative cease-fire is now in effect, bringing the country closer to peace than it has been in 20 years.
"This is the closest they have ever been to being successful at making peace," Wood said.
The effect Invisible Children has caused may be credited not only to the efforts of schools in the U.S. but also to the thousands of people across America who support peace in Uganda.
Wood said nearly 80,000 people have participated in Invisible Children-sponsored protests and demonstrations nationwide over the past two years.
"When that many people raise their voices,it really has an impact," he said.
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