Invisible children: Grace
A woman in my office surprised me with a present today, a gift profound, heart-wrenching, and uplifting all at the same time. It’s a simple bracelet of reeds, nothing much to look at, perhaps, but that the construction is cunning and unusual.
It’s the story behind the bracelet that compels me to write, today.
You see, my bracelet, with its green fastenings, is for Grace. She is one of the Invisible Children. Grace is a child mother in Uganda. Her story is breathtaking in its hellish courage. I will wear Grace’s bracelet. She is not invisible to me. Please read more about this incredible young woman and the organization that strives to bring the devastation of Uganda’s people into our collective focus… Please read on and view the video behind the cut
The package that houses my new bracelet is slick and gloss, obviously appealing to someone like me, jacked into the Net, hip and wise to the ways of the world. The pamphlet inside the box introduces me to Grace, the real person behind the symbolic green of my particular bracelet. I learn that there are five colors, total, each with a child behind it. My friend chose Grace for me, not because I like the color green, but because Grace is a child mother. Here is the first thing I learn about Grace:
Abducted from her home at 10 years old and forced to fight as a soldier, Grace was beaten repeatedly for three years, and at 13, was forced to become a sex-slave to a 40-year old commander in the L.R.A. (the Lord’s Resistance Army). After her narrow escape from the bush, with a gunshot wound to the leg, she discovered she was pregnant with the commander’s child.
Invisible Children gives a region destroyed by two decades of war some small but meaningful way to be employed, go to school, change the cycle of violence. These bracelets are made in Uganda, and the makers are paid a generous wage to do so. The bracelets are then sold in the U.S. The proceeds are then reinvested in education.
I can’t fathom what these children have been through. I can, however, think of a few friends of my own who would proudly wear these bracelets. I think I’m going to do some Christmas shopping this weekend. I think I’ll find out what the other children represent, what their colors are, and who in my circle of friends would be inspired by the Invisible Children.
Tags: child mother, Grace, green is for Grace, Invisible children, Lord's Resistance Army, single-mother, Uganda
3 opinions for Invisible children: Grace
mia
Oct 23, 2008 at 12:03 pm
thanks for wearing the bracelet, christina. for both meanings and the story. the plight in uganda deserves more press and help than it gets. and thanks for being part of my circle!
Eight year old accidentally kills himself at gun show
Oct 27, 2008 at 9:07 pm
[...] shoot a semiautomatic MACHINE GUN. Don’t we have enough problems with children the world over losing their innocence too young, and being forced into violence and soldiery? Must we play at it, too? Must [...]
Deb Benz-Buchholz
Oct 30, 2008 at 11:04 am
Thank you for telling this story. I am going to buy a bracelet.
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