How It Ends: Lobbying in Washington DC

A war spanning over two decades; relentless bloodshed and abduction; child soldiers and sex slaves; this is the strife that seems anything but finite. When madness ensues and apathy brews, the ongoing misery of Uganda and its surrounding regions can seem doomed to forever dither in its chaos.

How can it end? This is the question that was addressed at the Washington DC Convention Center the morning of June 22nd. Nearly two thousand people, mostly college and High School students, gathered to listen to speakers and share ideas. The ultimate goal of the gathering was to lobby for a bill regarding United States support in the removal of Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army. Students from around the country met with their respective Senate or Representative offices to beseech support for the bill that would ultimately sow the seeds of peace in Uganda.

The lobbying was concluded with a massive rally in front of the White House accompanied with music and speakers. A strange antithesis was woven between the glee of those enjoying the rally and the sobering reality of child soldiers, war and poverty. It seemed almost a sin to indulge joy when so many are without it, but thus is the woe of human solidarity. When questions spin about absurd answers and prayers left unanswered, by what means can suffering be alleviated? Why, genuine human solidarity, of course. With hands made to hold and arms made to lift, like a cross we will carry one another through shallow and through deep. But yes, solidarity will blow woe like wind; however, joy too will permeate to those who do not feel it. The rally, therefore, did not mark an antithesis of worlds but rather a splash rippling joy across the Atlantic to grief stricken homes of Uganda; for what greater rebellion can exist than to love in an unloving world.

-Colin Thomas