A year and a half ago, I was introduced to the war in Northern Uganda at a screening of a documentary. For nearly two decades, there has been a civil war raging there. Joseph Kony is the head of the Lord’s Resistance Army, a group trying to establish a theocratic government in Uganda. This group is the cause of much of the rebel activity in some sections of the country.

“Invisible Children” focuses on the children of Uganda and the suffering they experience. These children are captured and forced to become soldiers. Some choose to flee to camps where the food supply, based on foreign donations, is scarce, and where malnutrition, malaria, cholera, and HIV are all plentiful. Other children risk being abducted or killed by Joseph Kony. Their choices are terrible.

However, some of these children have taken matters into their own hands and come up with survival techniques. Each day, they pack a blanket and go to school. Every evening, they walk many miles, usually with bare feet, to a town where the rebels are less likely to attack. They sleep outside or, if available, in indoor shelters. Sleeping is extremely uncomfortable. They often lie body to body, crammed in rooms just to make it through the night safely.

This documentary opened my eyes to a civil war I had no idea existed, and it also broke my heart. It made me realize how lucky I am to live in a safe community. But it also made me feel ignorant. I had lived my life completely oblivious to the horrors others experience.

The “Invisible Children” who were interviewed for this documentary made me change the way I lived. Since the screening, I’ve donated money to the children of Uganda, and have shown the documentary to others, trying to spread awareness of the situation. I am planning to arrange a screening at my high school to raise money and awareness of this civil war. Innocent, a night commuter from Uganda, is quoted on the website InvisibleChildren.com: “I walk rain or shine. I will keep walking until there is peace.” I wish we could all walk with them, or at least for them. I hope these children will not have to wait much longer for peace.