GuluWalk attracts diverse crowd
Maddie Hanna
Issue date: 10/25/05 Section: News
They were thousands of miles away from the turmoil, but the 350 Notre Dame students and members of the South Bend community who participated in Sunday's GuluWalk on Notre Dame campus showed strong solidarity with the children of northern Uganda.
"This really was a special event not only because of how many people turned out to walk, but also because of the diversity of the crowd," co-organizer and senior Peter Quaranto said. "It was truly a community event."
The Notre Dame/South Bend GuluWalk was just one of more than 43 different GuluWalks that took place last weekend in cities around the world in efforts to raise awareness of the plight faced by northern Ugandan children.
"Today we are walking to tell their story and demand international action to end this war," co-organizer and junior Lindsay Hero said in a speech at the walk. "Today, we are part of the largest international mobilization ever for these children and their families. Let us walk with resolve and courage."
The northern Ugandan children are the victims of what Quaranto called "one of the world's most neglected and forgotten humanitarian crises," a 20-year conflict that has forced over 30,000 children as young as six to become child soldiers and sexual slaves.
"These kids, no different than those who study down the street at Perle Elementary or Clay High School, are forced to kill and maim people, even sometimes their own families, in the most brutal fashion," Quaranto wrote on the Uganda Conflict Action Network (Uganda-CAN) Web site.
Uganda-CAN is a campaign of Ugandans and Americans working for peace in northern Uganda. Quaranto founded the organization five months ago after he spent last spring studying at Mak-erere University in Kampala, Uganda, through the School for International Training.
He called the event "a great step forward in the longer walk by global civil society to end the war in northern Uganda."
"The feedback was all positive," Quaranto said. "The crowd was electric, inspired by seeing the large numbers and feeling the passion."
"This really was a special event not only because of how many people turned out to walk, but also because of the diversity of the crowd," co-organizer and senior Peter Quaranto said. "It was truly a community event."
The Notre Dame/South Bend GuluWalk was just one of more than 43 different GuluWalks that took place last weekend in cities around the world in efforts to raise awareness of the plight faced by northern Ugandan children.
"Today we are walking to tell their story and demand international action to end this war," co-organizer and junior Lindsay Hero said in a speech at the walk. "Today, we are part of the largest international mobilization ever for these children and their families. Let us walk with resolve and courage."
The northern Ugandan children are the victims of what Quaranto called "one of the world's most neglected and forgotten humanitarian crises," a 20-year conflict that has forced over 30,000 children as young as six to become child soldiers and sexual slaves.
"These kids, no different than those who study down the street at Perle Elementary or Clay High School, are forced to kill and maim people, even sometimes their own families, in the most brutal fashion," Quaranto wrote on the Uganda Conflict Action Network (Uganda-CAN) Web site.
Uganda-CAN is a campaign of Ugandans and Americans working for peace in northern Uganda. Quaranto founded the organization five months ago after he spent last spring studying at Mak-erere University in Kampala, Uganda, through the School for International Training.
He called the event "a great step forward in the longer walk by global civil society to end the war in northern Uganda."
"The feedback was all positive," Quaranto said. "The crowd was electric, inspired by seeing the large numbers and feeling the passion."