Calvin Students Organize GuluWalk

October 24, 2007 == MEDIA ADVISORY

Summary: Calvin students were among 30,000 people from 100 U.S. cities and 15
countries taking part in GuluWalk recently to raise awareness about the 20-year
civil war in Uganda.

Full story and JPG see
http://www.calvin.edu/news/releases/2007-08/gulu-walk.htm

On Saturday, October 20, 2007, Calvin students were among 30,000 people from
100 U.S. cities and 15 countries taking part in GuluWalk to raise awareness
about the 20-year civil war in Uganda.

"It's basically a ripple effect that we're trying to create," said Calvin
senior Anna Lion, one of the walk organizers.

In Grand Rapids the GuluWalk commenced from Rosa Parks Circle and took a
planned route around 4 ½ miles downtown, mimicking the nightly commute of the
Acholi children of northern Uganda. Each evening during the long civil war,
these children have left their villages and walked to city centers to escape
being kidnapped and forced into military and sexual service by the Lord’s
Resistance Army (LRA).

The GuluWalk event, now in its third year was an innovation of two Canadians
who imitated the Acholi commute for a month while trying, as the Acholi
children did, to maintain normal working and social routines. Those continuing
to make the walk hope to keep Uganda prominent in the public eye as the peace
talks go forward and also to raise money to assist in the rebuilding of the
country.

Calvin has sponsored several events geared to raising awareness of the Ugandan
situation, including the Global Night Commute in 2006, a student-planned
Interim that brought two Ugandan development workers to the college in 2007 and
the award-winning documentary "Drawings and War: The Testimony of the Children
of Uganda," by communication arts and sciences professor Daniel Garcia.

The recent walk went really well said Lion.

"It was a perfect day for the walk," she said. "We have been praying about the
weather since it was so rainy the week before. Most of us were quite hot by the
end of the walk! We had a pretty good turnout, about 40 people. We had people
come from all around GR and we raised around $2,300 through sponsorships online
and through sales of shirts and bracelets. This money will go to projects on
the ground in northern Uganda which is fantastic."

-end-
Received on Wed Oct 24 08:41:14 2007