For twenty years, Northern Uganda has been embroiled in a complex civil war. The Lord's Resistance Army, or LRA is a rebel group of soldiers led by Joseph Kony who claim to be fighting the government on behalf of the Acholi, Teso, and Langi. These are all tribes that make up a majority of Northern Uganda's population.

At one time the LRA had some support from Northern Ugandans but that is no longer the case for the LRA terrorizes the very people who they claim to be helping.

Ninety percent of LRA troops are now children. These children have been kidnapped from their villages and forced to bear arms and attack other citizens. Each night many children who fear abduction by the LRA commute from their villages to sleep in town together.

The Invisible Children Movement believes the crisis in Uganda does not receive enough attention. Invisible Children Movement encouraged Americans to gather together on April 29 in different locations around the country.

In Columbia, many people gathered at the State House from 7 pm Saturday night until 5 am the next morning. Some played frisbee on the grass, some brought instruments and played music, and some simply talked to each other. All who participated were asked to write letters to our president and our state senators asking them to press the United Nations and Uganda's president Yoweri Museveni to do everything in their power to end the conflict and protect the children who are being kidnapped.

When asked why this conflict affected her personally, participant Alexis Murdoch responded, "God made me and them. We are part of the human race together." In addition to writing letters to the government, each participant was asked to create something on a blank sheet of paper showing what being an American meant to them and why they were concerned about the children in Northern Uganda.

The pages will be put together by the city to make scrapbooks. Some scrapbooks will be sent to government leaders, and some will be auctioned online for funds to help Invisible Children.