In a symbolic gesture to raise awareness about the war in Uganda, Adrian Bradbury walked with Kieran Hayward seven miles every night to sleep in front of the Toronto City Hall.
In short time, they gained the media attention and volunteer support they needed to launch their organization — Athletes for Africa — from a name to a formal charitable organization.
Their fundraising activity, the Gulu Walk, named after the city Ugandan children fled to in order to avoid abduction, will take place locally on Saturday and in 75 other cities across the globe. The Iowa City walk will start on the Pedestrian Mall at 11 a.m. and wind more than two miles through Iowa City.
The UI Global Health Club has organized the event for past three years, but those involved said they expect more people this weekend than in previous years.
“I think it is a really easy thing for college students to do to have a pretty significant impact,” said UI senior Laura Henkle, a member of the Global Health Club who helped organized the Iowa City event. “We really don’t hear about [Uganda] in the news.”
The five-kilometer walk will start at 11 a.m. Saturday with a speech from UI economics Assistant Professor Philip Davies on his experiences in Uganda.
Bradbury said circumstances have changed in Uganda since his first visit in 2006, when he was escorted everywhere by armed guards. Although Bradbury is not a native of Uganda, his concern for the country came about as he learned of the travesties that befell the children who walked to Gulu, north of the capital of Kampala.
Before fighting ended in 2006, around 45,000 children were believed to walk from their homes to safer locations each night, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Since the war’s end, there is an increased sense of security in the African nation, but the country still needs help as it rebuilds, Bradbury said.
“[We are] pushing governments to continue to stay engaged and fund support for peace project,” he said. “People’s attention wanes when it is not an emergency situation.”
This year’s donations will go toward the construction of a Cultural Youth Center in Gulu. The center will be designed to accommodate art, music, and dance classes, in addition to a library and sports facility.
UI senior Ann McCarty, another member of the health club, said the dream is that the Cultural Youth Center will help build a closer community through sports and education. This, she hopes, will help heal wounds caused by the war.
But Bradbury said the most important thing is to prevent another war from happening.
“We never know what the future might be,” he said. “A lot of charity organizations disappear when there is no emergency.”