are the children our future?

yesterday st stephen's had it's first childrens' mass. it wasn't that bad. the children were very good. ruth was great. very sweet voice. she did very well i think, especially for "lord of the dance". so how did it feel ruth, to sing and have the entire congregation singing with you. future cantor. not future cantor, she's already cantoring. haha! guess this is the way it should be, i mean, with regards to the children. most other churches have their own children's liturgy, it's nice to see that our church isn't neglecting the kids. it was kinda amusing to watch sr enrica(?) constantly telling the children "sing! sing!" while belting out the hymns with extremem gusto herself. (sing my angel of music! sing for MEEEEEEE!!!!!!!) there's hope for the future of this church cos there are so many kids that are in training to take over from my generation.

but this isn't exactly what i wanted to talk about in this post.

i came across an interview clip, it was talking about the plight of the children in uganda. i don't know who knows about this, maybe i'm the only goondu who doesn't know. but, it was kinda shocking news to hear about. i wanna spread the info for those who don't know. (i hope i'm not rambling incoherently)

there are places in uganda, especially in the northern parts, there's this thing called the "night commuter phenomenon". to explain: for the past 18 years, children from villages in uganda have been terrorised by the LRA rebel army. the LRA sweeps into the villages at night, killing, torturing, raping, kidnapping children aged between 6-14+ years old. these children are used as sex slaves, manual labour, what have you. there is even a case where the LRA broke into a school (St Mary's College) and kidnapped 152 of the students. this is the only war that is targeted specifically at children. the rationale behind it is the LRA wants to cleanse the land of the 'bad' adults and create a new society with the children. this is also known as "auto-genocide". the children and their families live in fear, they are not safe even in their own homes. so every night, children would leave their villages and walk into the big cities to sleep. unlike their villages, the cities are protected by the government. they'd sleep anywhere where they can find shelter; street corners, bus stops, store front verandas, alleyways, carparks...anywhere where they are safe from the LRA. and then they go home in the morning.

bit of background: the LRA (Lord's Resistance Army) formed in 1987 is led by Joseph Kony, who claims to be a spirit medium. it is a paramilitary group rebelling against the ugandan government. they want to establish a state based on kony's unique interpretation of Biblical millenarianism. nearly 2 million civilians become refugees in their own country, leaving their villages and retreating to the safety of the larger cities (called 'internally displaced persons'). the UN issued a formal condemnation only last year (2004). peace talks between the LRA and the ugandan government never resolved anything and the government's attempts at crushing the LRA has caused more retaliation from them (mutilations and more kidnappings). politics and 'face' play a large part in the success, or rather, failure, of the talks. and meantime, the innocents are still suffering. over these 18 years, 12,000 people were killed and 20,000 children abducted. currently, there are still hopes for negotiation. the UN has stepped in to try to help. the international criminal court has issued arrest warrants for the LRA leaders. but nothing has been done yet.

it's sad that such a thing is happening and the rest of the world hardly know what's going on. apparently there has been very little media coverage about this. it's been happening for 18 years. it's a long time. politics etc etc are all stopping the people in power from actually doing something. one of the reasons why the LRA is doing this is to prove how ineffective the government is in protecting its people. in a way it's true. the government clearly isn't doing enough to protect its citizens. sometimes, it's just ironic that in trying to overthrow the current system, the rebels are doing their utmost to show how terrible they will be if they claim power. it's hard to understand why all this is happening. i guess, safe here in singapore, where the only night terrors are those that are in our mind, we tend to take safety for granted. or maybe, like most of the world, we think that, oh, the UN's handling it, it'll be over soon, everything'll be ok. history has proven that things like this are not so simple. the whole thing took 18 years to build up, it'll take more than a few years to end it. and the innocents will suffer. even after the whole shebang is officially over, the effects of it will still be there.

i pray that somewhere, the right person will exert the right influence and stop all this. not just this in uganda, but all over the world, wherever there is any conflict/wars. maybe mere individuals like ourselves can't make a big difference, but enough people can make a better world. no matter what god you believe in, whichever omnipotent, omnipresent deity, remember these children. they have just as much, if not more, right to a better life as any of us.

to quote michael jackson:

heal the world,
make it a better place for you and for me
and the entire human race.
there are people dying;
if you care enough for the living,
make a better place for you and for me.
heal the world we live in, save it for the children.

p.s. this is completely off the subject, but, seeing dawn's blog, i just gotta ask, WHAT DA HELL HAPPENED??????? did i, in my infinite blurness, miss something??????
church politics are just sick. *bloody hypocrites*