Get it.

Since I've decided to go to Kenya, I've started paying more attention to what's happening on the continent.

There's a lot.

This last week, Oprah did a great program on conflicts and problems in Uganda and Sudan.

Uganda
In case you haven't seen it, I highly recommend catching the documentary Invisible Children to see first-hand what the Ugandan children are going through. It will break your heart in half. Every night, hundreds of children walk to the center of town, sometimes for hours, just to escape the possibility of being kidnapped from their homes and forced to fight for a rebel leader.

Tomorrow night, people across the world are participating in the Global Night Commute in metropolitan areas to raise awareness. What would it look like if hundreds of suburban eight-year-olds had to walk to the center of town to be saved from someone climbing through their windows and abducting them in the middle of the night? It's an interesting way to look at what could be happening in our own backyard.

If you're in KC, people are meeting off the plaza from 6-10 p.m. to raise awareness for the Ugandan people.

Sudan
Although I've been following the Ugandan crisis since January or so, I've pretty recently been clued in to the fact that there is a holocaust happening in the Sudan.

I don't use that term lightly. Referring to the problem there as a holocaust might not even do it justice. According to the Web site savedarfur.org:

Right now a campaign of rape, slaughter and displacement is currently being carried out in the western region of Sudan, the largest country in Africa. Government-supported troops have displaced 2.5 million people in the past two years, hundreds of thousands have died due to attacks, disease and starvation, and it is estimated that 500 men, women and children continue to die every day.

On Oprah's show, George Clooney spoke about how women go out at night to chop wood, knowing full-well that they'll most certainly be gang raped. They go, because if their husbands went, they'd be murdered.

That's an unreal choice to have to make.

Follow that with today's news that the UN had to cut food aid to the Sudanese in half because of a lack of funds (see BBC article). They need our help. Badly.

I realize I'm being awfully serious for a Friday afternoon, but I'm sort of outraged. I'm sick of sitting here when there are so many things that we can do.

We've got to get educated. Ignorance is just not an excuse. There are way to many people paying attention to these issues, and I've been way to slow waking up to it.

So, I'm going to keep posting things as I hear them on my blog, but I highly encourage you to visit sites like BBC News Africa, create a Google News Alert about Africa, or check out a book, magazine or movie about Africa.

Then, research charities that are already helping. Oprah's got a great resource on her Web site.

Then, Email your representatives and let them know this is important.

And finally, make sure to sign petitions with the ONE campaign, and email President Bush at Save Darfur.

We can make a difference. Our voices collectively will help make a lasting change in the world.