As a professional cynic (read journalist), I am usually pretty negative about the do-gooder attitudes of Americans -- or Westerners for that matter --who think they can parachute into third-world countries and change the world. It might look good on a College resume but after they fly home, the struggle continues.
The one thing I have learned from living in Uganda is that the people in power here are often more concerned with their own wealth and power than with the plight of the common Ugandan. Why should a UN worker who works a three-year stint in Uganda care for the welfare of its citizens when many Ugandan politicians and civil servants don't? Or more precisely, why do they even care?
For the common Ugandan, life here is extremely difficult and an "every man for himself" attitude exists in all aspects of life from politics to business to driving. It is matter of survival. But for the ones in power, it is a matter of corruption, of selfishness, of power.
But to hear about a small group of American students who camped outside a US Senator's office in the freezing cold for 12 days is heartening (read more on the Monitor, local US news video and Resolve Uganda the group who spearheaded the protest). The goal of the protestors was to get Republican Senator Colburn to drop his hold on a bill that would provide $40 million of aid to Northern Uganda. Other students even staged a hunger strike.
For many of these students the only connected they have to Uganda is the film Invisible Children. A documentary that tells the story of young people living in the North who sleep on streets to avoid being kidnapped by LRA rebels, the film has been running the college circuit for a number of years.
One of the leaders of the protest said after Coburn relented: "We have a responsibility to take care of our brothers and sisters all over the world."
Cheesy? Naive? Absolutely!
Impressive? Heartfelt? Enlightened? Even more so!!!
I'm still a cynic and corruption still reigns today in Uganda, but for a few American activists and their Ugandan benefactors, today is a good day.
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