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With the wet morning air behind them, around 1,000 GuluWalkers set out from Lawrence Park in Toronto on Saturday afternoon – flooding Yonge Street with a sea of orange. The sun came out, as did passersby, asking for an explanation. "I'm walking because I have a responsibility. I can try to make a difference in the world where people need it,” said Rudrapriya, age 15. “It's not only that it's fun and it makes you feel like you're doing something, but it's also your moral duty."
She wasn’t alone – On Oct. 25, GuluWalkers took to the streets in nearly 80 cities around the world, including Gulu, Uganda, New York, London, Amsterdam, Los Angeles, Dallas, Ouagadougou, Lome, Cardiff, Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, St. John’s and many, many more.
They walked to raise awareness of the plight of northern Ugandans, where war has terrorized its citizens for the past 22 years. They walked to raise funds for much-needed health, education and rehabilitation programs for youth in the region. They walked to let their governments know there is more to be done to secure peace in northern Uganda, and that a greater push for a due peace process needs to be made.
In Toronto, where New Democratic Party leader Jack Layton addressed walkers, calling for Canada to step up in its promise to aid the now-stalled peace talks, Louise Brown said this: "When you realize how long these conflicts have been going on, and how off the radar they are to us here, it's frustrating. You feel frustrated and somewhat ashamed. It seems like such a challenge to make the Western governments pay attention, so when there's something you can do, anything, and when there's a walk you can do, it's satisfying."
A handful of cities have yet to walk, and fundraising and walker numbers have yet to be tallied, yet we already know that more needs to and can be done. GuluWalkers around the world have shown their support for this cause and lead the call for peace in their respective countries – it’s a great showing worthy of so many thank-yous and applause: Thank-yous to the countless volunteers who put in so many hours, to the walkers, to those who supported a walker, to the tireless and committed walk organizers and leaders in each city, and to those who gave a moment of their day to stop and ask: Why are you walking?
Thank-you. Keep asking, keep walking, keep holding what is out of sight, in your minds.
***Although walks went smoothly around the world, the GuluWalk team would like to alert supporters and walkers that our walk leader in Lome, Togo, Mr. Kokou Sotia, was in a serious traffic accident on Friday, the day before the walk. We have been told he is recovering in hospital, but in serious condition. Kokou, his family, and the Lome team (who went ahead with the walk on Saturday, headed by Florence Adaki), are in our thoughts at this time***
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Thousands of people in more than 80 cities around the world are preparing to walk this Saturday, October 25 -- to raise their voices for peace and stability in northern Uganda.
It's not too late to sign-up -- online registration at www.guluwalk.com closes on Thursday, Oct. 23 at 6 p.m. EST, but anyone can register onsite the day of the walk.
Where will you walk?
The following cities are walking to raise awareness of the current situation in northern Uganda, where sustainable programs are instrumental to rebuilding the country and providing a future for the children in the region:
In Canada: Antigonish, Burlington, Calgary, Edmonton, Fort McMurray, Fredericton, Goderich, Grande Prairie, Guelph, Halifax, Hamilton, Kelowna, Kitchener-Waterloo, London, Montreal, Oshawa, Ottawa, Regina, St. John's, Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, Windsor, and Winnipeg
In the United States: Albion, Atlanta, Boston, Boulder, Chapel Hill, Charlottesville, Clemson, Colorado Springs, Dallas, Grand Rapids, Greenville, Iowa City, Kansas City, La Crosse, Lawrence, Lewisburg, Los Angeles, Memphis, Nashville, New York, Norfolk, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, Providence, Raleigh, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Slippery Rock, South Bend, St. Augustine, St. Louis, and Washington
Internationally: Amsterdam (The Netherlands), Beijing (China), Birmingham (England), Cardiff (Wales), Flekke (Norway) Gulu (Uganda), Gwangju (South Korea), Jerusalem (Israel), Kampala (Uganda), Lome (Togo), London (England), Manchester (England), Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), Perth (Australia), Tweed Heads (Australia), and Uzice (Serbia)
For more information on route specifics, why we walk, what programs we support, and to download posters or to buy merchandise, visit www.guluwalk.com.
On October 25, join actor Forest Whitaker, NBA star Steve Nash, opera singer Measha Brueggergosman, former World Junior Middleweight boxing champion Kassim 'The Dream' Ouma, former UN Secretary General's special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa Stephen Lewis and actor Melissa Fitzgerald in supporting the children in northern Uganda.
Best of luck!
In Peace,
The GuluWalk Team
Join The Official GuluWalk Facebook Group
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 This column was published Friday, Oct. 10, 2008, in the Chronicle Herald.
By Laurent Le Pierres
SHE has the word "hope" tattooed on her wrist.
That’s quite a statement for this passionate young woman who came close to despairing over the state of the world just a couple of years ago.
Jill Leiper does not want this column’s focus to be on her, and I respect that.
But I feel I should at least take a moment, by way of this snapshot, to introduce you to the person who introduced me to the issue at hand.
The issue is a long-running, pointless conflict in an obscure part of the world. Before Jill came to see me this week, I didn’t know much about the plight of child soldiers, sex slaves and the legions of kids who fear and share that fate in northern Uganda.
Now I know more. And to repeat after her, knowledge is responsibility.
Jill is on the local committee for GuluWalk, so named because of the region in Uganda that has felt the brunt of the countless atrocities committed by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group led by a spirit medium. Joseph Kony and his henchmen have been indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity, but remain at large in the African bush.
For 21 years, their campaign of terror has known no bounds. More than 1.5 million people have been internally displaced.
But it was the story of the "night commuters" that first drew the attention of the outside world. These were the thousands of children who would undertake nightly treks from rural refugee camps to town centres like Gulu, where they would be safe from abduction. For this is how the LRA replenishes its ranks – by kidnapping children and by turning them into slaves, murderers and kidnappers.
It was two Canadians who inaugurated the first GuluWalk in 2005 in a show of solidarity with these children.
Adrian Bradbury and Kieran Hayward decided to trek a dozen kilometres to Toronto city hall, sleep outdoors there overnight, get up at the crack of dawn and go about their business. They did this for a whole month, not to replicate but to help illustrate what the real Gulu walkers put up with on a daily basis.
GuluWalks have since become a worldwide phenomenon, part fundraiser, part awareness-raiser. In Halifax, people like Jill will soon be walking in the footsteps of the Africans and Canadians who came before them. Today’s GuluWalks are no longer as demanding as the original one. They’re over in a couple of hours and don’t require you to rough it outdoors.
The Halifax event, which has drawn hundreds in the past, will kick off at Grand Parade on Oct. 25 at 11:30 a.m. For more information, consult guluwalk.com or attend the free screening of the documentary War/Dance on Oct. 23 at 8 p.m. at the Dalhousie University art gallery. You don’t have to give money to join in the march, but many have. The movement has raised $1 million worldwide so far towards programs that help Uganda’s children of war get back on their feet.
That brings joy to Jill’s heart, as well as the fact a tenuous peace has begun to take hold in northern Uganda recently.
To her, it’s as if all this were taking place next door.
At age 23, Jill has what can only be described as a heightened global conscience. It was first stirred during a school trip to Haiti in Grade 11 and later forged during a Christian mission trip to Cambodia.
During her first year of university – she’s studying international development at Dalhousie University – Jill did a lot of soul-searching about why she was born with so much while the world’s destitute are afforded so little.
"It has haunted me, yes," she told me in an interview.
"This year is a good year. I’ve really pulled myself together. My first year of university was a really rough year … I would just cry all the time.
"It wasn’t just because of Uganda, but because I was so shocked by the state of the world … and guilty. Guilt hurts. I wouldn’t buy anything. Oh, I don’t need a shirt. I don’t need this, I don’t need that. And it wasn’t to be all, like, holy. It was because I felt so awful about it. Like, why do I deserve this when other people don’t?"
Unlike most of us, Jill’s instinct is not to suppress those pangs of conscience. It is to express them – in word and deed. My hope – although it’s not etched on my wrist – is that there are a lot more young people like her out there.
( llepierres@herald.ca)
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