By Emily Carson
News Assignment Editor
On April 21, St. Bonaventure students will participate in an event called “Cover the Night” in response to the KONY 2012 campaign launched by Invisible Children, Inc. earlier this year.
Invisible Children, Inc. is a nonprofit organization founded in 2004 to bring awareness to the activities of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Central Africa. Specifically, the group seeks to put an end to the practices of the LRA, which include abductions and abuse of children, and forcing them to serve as soldiers, according to the group’s website.
One of the organization’s main goals is to advocate the arrest of who they call one of the world’s worst war criminals, Joseph Kony, who leads the LRA and has sanctioned the capture and abuse of more than 60,000 children since its start in 1985.
A video to explain Invisible Children’s “Kony 2012” campaign quickly made its way around the cyber world. As of press time, the video has more than 85 million views on YouTube.
Invisible Children created a nationwide event called “Cover the Night” to ensure more Americans would learn about Kony and his plans. The group is asking others to show their support by buying Kony posters and covering their surroundings with them in an effort to spread the word.
Freshmen Aayushi Sardana and Anisha Satish created an event on Facebook to inform students about the “Cover the Night” event, and to encourage to students to participate on campus, in Olean or in Allegany.
Both hope the event will raise awareness.
“After we saw the Kony 2012 video that Invisible Children posted and saw the response that it generated, we figured that many other students would want to participate in an event like this,” Sardana said. “We created the event after we saw other colleges take initiative.”
Invisible Children finally gained political interest in finding and arresting Kony following numerous previous attempts. President Obama ordered a small group of American soldiers to assist the Ugandan Army in the mission. However, with little interest from the American public, it’s likely the mission will be canceled, according to the organization’s website.
Both Sardana and Satish encourage Bonaventure students to get involved and help make a difference.
“We are hoping that the students at Bona’s will participate in this event by putting up a poster or two,” Sardana said. “We want this event to inspire everyone to find an issue they feel strongly about and fight for it. People say that raising awareness isn’t going to do anything, but it’s the first step after which actions follow.”
To buy posters or to learn more, visit www.kony2012.com.
carsonek10@bonaventure.edu
