A United Nations official has called the war in northern Uganda “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.” Up to 1.7 million Ugandan people have been displaced, living in refugee camps and dying at a rate of 1,000 people each week. Although students may want to help the Ugandans, a number of questions invariably arise. Where exactly will their contributions be going? Who are the people receiving it, and whom will it benefit? The answers are now simple. The Garfield chapter of Amnesty International has recently become a part of a charity to help northern Ugandans that includes a personal factor that many other foundations ignore.

Schools for Schools is a fundraising competition that challenges schools across the United States to raise money for schools in war-torn northern Uganda, which has been entrenched in multiple conflicts for 20 years. The Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) is fighting the civilian population in northern Uganda, as well as the Ugandan government. The LRA believes the Ugandan government is unfair to an ethnic group in the north and wants to create a government formed around the Ten Commandments. During the war, the LRA has committed horrific crimes and resorted to appalling tactics, the most heinous being the abduction of more than 30,000 children whom it now uses as soldiers.

These attacks are the basis of the documentary Invisible Children. The film has led to an organization of the same name, which helps the children affected by the war receive proper treatment and education. Schools for Schools stems from the charity Invisible Children, and gives much needed support to the school system in northern Uganda that was left in tatters after such a long period of fighting. While Garfield’s chapter of Amnesty International has previously been involved with Invisible Children, it has only just recently started supporting Schools for Schools.

“Invisible Children is interesting because it’s a really concrete way to see what your money is doing,” said Andrea Lindsay, a co-head of Garfield’s Amnesty International chapter.

The Schools for Schools program has a unique set-up. Schools register with the program online, and are then placed in a group, called a “cluster,” to help raise money for a single school in Uganda. Once in a cluster, it’s up to the school to come up with ways to fundraise, and ideas are shared on the organization’s website. The point of the program is to get students to work together for kids just like them by giving Ugandan students an education which can carry them throughout life.

Garfield is the only school from the Seattle Public School District participating in the program and is working with a group of 83 other West Coast middle schools, high schools, and colleges to raise money for Anaka Secondary School in the Gulu District of northern Uganda. Thus far, Garfield and those schools have collected more than $40,000 in donations. The money has been spent on books and supplies for students, and funds are currently being used to build new classrooms. Last year, in just 100 days, students raised over a million dollars for the cause. This sum is especially powerful because 85% of the money raised for Invisible Children goes directly to the kids and schools.

The Schools for Schools website keeps the American and Ugandan schools connected. It includes information on the specific school being helped, short bios of both Ugandan and American students, and tracks the progress being made. In the “Notes from Uganda” section, the reader can learn personal information about the students they are helping. The most popular sports are track and field and football, for example, and students participate in extracurriculars such as Debate Club and Children’s Rights Club.

“I think it’s a lot more powerful to raise money when you know exactly where it’s going to than to just write a check,” said Lindsay.

At the sign-up assembly Amnesty held in November to spread awareness about the situation in Northern Uganda and the program, over $100 was raised from student donations. A screening of Invisible Children was also held on December 5, which helped to rake in even more donations. To become more involved with Schools for Schools, visit the website s4s​.invisiblechildren​.com, or go to Amnesty International meetings which are held each Thursday at lunch in Ms. Sloan’s room at S115.