Gaining international awareness

A group of students at UTPB will stop at nothing to raise money and awareness for African secondary schools.

On a typical Wednesday afternoon Tim McDaniel picks up change from jars he leaves all over the UTPB campus to raise money for the Invisible Children Schools for Schools fund-raising effort designed to help rebuild the Northern Ugandan schools from the bottom up after civil wars have torn them to shreds for the last two decades.

McDaniel started the club two years ago when he was a student at Permian High School, and he brought the club with him to UTPB both to take advantage of the university's resources and to further awareness efforts.

Although several students in the UTPB sociology department had already shown interest in the cause, McDaniel quickly gained more than 100 members after he spent almost a month trying to get the club registered.

"This group is a challenge. It's not like the sand beach volleyball club; it's a serious club. We have to work daily to get work done," freshman Ryan Harrison, the club's treasurer, said.

WHY THEY DO IT

"We all join for different reasons," vice president Alyssa Jimenez said. "I love children, and the documentary (on Uganda) hit me hard because I have a little sister the same age as those children."

Jimenez is talking about Ugandan schoolchildren. Rebels abduct the children from their homes and schools and force them to fight in the war.

"Those schools have been torn apart by war. The children in schools were prime targets," McDaniel said.

For now, the Ugandan government has pushed the rebels out of the country, but thousands of citizens are now living in displacement camps, he said.

These camps are peace zones, but thousands of children have been displaced from their homes. 

Aliza Joiner said she joined to help children who don't have opportunities like children in America.

The war has cut deep into education. According to the Invisible Children website, "Prior to the war, at least five of Uganda's top 10 schools came from the North. Today there isn't one school from the North in the top 100."

Groups like the one at UTPB virtually adopt a school and try to help. The new UTPB club is linked to the Pabbo Secondary School, a school tied to the largest displacement camp in Uganda, McDaniel said. The money raised helps fund school improvements so children can get a better education.

In Uganda, children are not required to go to school after the sixth grade, and then they have to start paying tuition for secondary schools, McDaniel said.

Tthe Invisible Children website said that even the children who are able to actually go to school still "face unfair limitations because of the poor condition of their classrooms."

"I get to see how other people live their lives and am reminded how good we have it here," McDaniel said.

FUND-RAISING ISN'T EASY

The organization is about a month into a 100-day drive to raise as much money as possible for their partner school in Uganda, Jimenez said.

McDaniel said he would like to raise $20,000 by Dec. 17.

They aren't even close, but Jiminez was happy to see a $20 bill Thursday afternoon when she emptied the change jar at the club's first official meeting.

"Aim high, because then you'll get somewhere," Kamille Garcia said to her club at a recent meeting.

WHERE THEY GO FROM HERE

McDaniel's group said they hope to grow the club more and stretch its effectiveness.

"There are a lot more resources available in college," Harrison said.

As Jimenez sat cross-legged on the floor counting donations, she noted, "It's great to work with other clubs, too."

McDaniel said he has worked closely with the Young Democrats on campus to raise awareness. The two clubs helped students register to vote and kept change jars out for Invisible Children donations.

"It's really good to see young people involved," said Joanna Hadjicostandi, club sponsor and associate professor of sociology at UTPB.

 FACT FILE

>> The Invisible Children Schools for Schools nonprofit group chose 10 African institutions officials said had the best hope for creating lasting change in the educational sector. Three of the 10 are schools displaced by conflict and are now looking to return to their original sites after more than 10 years.

>> The displacement camps are established havens of safety and peace in case war erupts again. Traditionally a farming community, Ugandans now have to find new ways to develop economically.

>> In the first semester, 582 international schools joined the competition and raised more than $1.6 million in only 100 days. More than 90 percent of those funds are used in northern Uganda.

Source: http://www.invisiblechildren.com/home.php