TORONTO STUDENTS TO ‘WALK THE WALK’ FOR THE
CHILDREN OF NORTHERN UGANDA, TAKE PART IN
‘CREATIVE SOLES’ ART EXHIBIT

On Tuesday, February 28 the grade eight students of Toronto’s Annette
Street Public School walked 10km from their west-end school to Metro
Hall to raise awareness and show support for the ‘night commuters’ of
northern Uganda, who continue to be pawns in a civil war that has raged for
nearly 20 years.

This student-driven event was initiated when Annette St. P.S. was asked to
contribute to a student art exhibit at Metro Hall themed ‘Creative Soles’.
The school’s art teacher, Lisa Klug, had participated in Global GuluWalk
Day in October of 2005 and shared the story of the ‘night commuters’ with
her classes.

Klug insists that she only shared the story; it was her students who came
up with the idea to support GuluWalk with their art and their feet.

“These kids are real local heroes,” said Klug. “The empathy and compassion
our students have shown for children thousands of miles away is incredible.
It was their idea to walk 10km in nasty February weather to tell this
story. They are truly leading by example.”

Every night as many as 40,000 children living in rural northern Uganda walk
into the town of Gulu and other urban centres to sleep in relative safety
and avoid abduction by the Lord’s Resistance Army. Desperately afraid of
abduction, vulnerable children as young as four years old will walk from
their homes or displacement camp to sleep on porches, in school yards or
other open areas. These ‘night commuters’ walk from as far as 12km away and
make the return trek home every single day.

posted by Jing @ 7:54 PM