MACLEANS NAMES GULUWALK FOUNDERS NEWSMAKERS OF THE YEAR
I promised to keep you posted on any developments surrou nding the GULUWALK, so, true to my word, here's the latest as sent to me, in its entirety.
Adrian Bradbury & Kieran Hayward GuluWalk for the children of northern UgandaMacleans magazine features duo with Bono and Nelson Mandela in year-end issueToronto, ON In the December 26, 2005 issue of Macleans, Canadas only weekly news magazine, GuluWalk co-founders Adrian Bradbury and Kieran Hayward were honoured in the Heroes section of the publications year-end double issue titled Newsmakers 2005.Bradbury and Hayward were recognized alongside 18 other notable international recipients including Bono and Nelson Mandela, as well as Canadas soldiers in Afghanistan and Justice John Gomery.
The Toronto natives were featured in Macleans in recognition of GuluWalk, their 31-day night commute in support of the children of northern Uganda. Every evening in July, Bradbury and Hayward walked 12.5 km into downtown Toronto to sleep in front of city hall. After about fours hours sleep they made the trek home at sunrise, all while continuing to work full-time and attempting to maintain their usual daily routine.There was a worldwide response to the GuluWalk that resulted in GuluWalk Day on October 22, which saw over 15,000 people in 38 cities worldwide take the first international step towards telling the story of the children of northern Uganda. GuluWalk Day attracted people of all nationality, colour, race and religion in a global show of support for the innocent victims of the worlds most ignored humanitarian emergency.Every night as many as 40,000 children living in rural northern Uganda walk into the town of Gulu and other urban centres to sleep in relative safety and avoid abduction by the Lords Resistance Army. Desperately afraid of abduction, vulnerable children as young as four years old will walk from their homes or displacement camp to sleep on porches, in school yards or other open areas. These night commuters walk from as far as 12km away and make the return trek home every single day.The success of GuluWalk wasnt just Kieran and I, but the work of so many committed volunteers, charities and advocates for peace all over the globe, said Bradbury. Weve played a role in raising awareness of this pointless conflict, but today there are still children night commuting and thousands dying every week in appalling conditions in IDP camps. Were not going to stop raising our voices for these courageous kids until there is indeed peace and opportunity in northern Uganda.About the night commuters and the conflict in northern Uganda:Children are lucrative resources for the LRA rebels in northern Uganda. The atrocities committed against these children are impossible to imagine: in captivity children as young as seven years old are tortured, beaten and raped. They are then forced to become rebel soldiers, sexual slaves, porters and laborers. Some are forced to kill, maim, beat or abduct innocent victims, including family members and neighbors, or to look on as these abuses are committed. Girls are used as domestic servants or forced into sexual slavery as LRA commanders wives. They are subject to rape, unwanted pregnancy and the risk of infection, including HIV/AIDS.The war in northern Uganda has been ravaging its people for nearly 20 years and has gone largely unnoticed by the mainstream media and the general public. In the past three years alone, over 30,000 children have been abducted by the rebel-led LRA to be used as soldiers and sex slaves and over 1.7 million people remain confined in internally displaced persons camps that offer neither security nor basic provisions. Over 1,000 people are dying every week because a war that has paralyzed an entire nation with fear, forever altering families, cultural traditions and way of life for an entire generation.About GuluWalk:GuluWalk started in July of 2005 as an attempt by two average Canadians to better understand the ordeal of the night commuters of northern Uganda. It has now grown into an urgent, impassioned worldwide movement for peace.
Adrian Bradbury & Kieran Hayward GuluWalk for the children of northern UgandaMacleans magazine features duo with Bono and Nelson Mandela in year-end issueToronto, ON In the December 26, 2005 issue of Macleans, Canadas only weekly news magazine, GuluWalk co-founders Adrian Bradbury and Kieran Hayward were honoured in the Heroes section of the publications year-end double issue titled Newsmakers 2005.Bradbury and Hayward were recognized alongside 18 other notable international recipients including Bono and Nelson Mandela, as well as Canadas soldiers in Afghanistan and Justice John Gomery.
The Toronto natives were featured in Macleans in recognition of GuluWalk, their 31-day night commute in support of the children of northern Uganda. Every evening in July, Bradbury and Hayward walked 12.5 km into downtown Toronto to sleep in front of city hall. After about fours hours sleep they made the trek home at sunrise, all while continuing to work full-time and attempting to maintain their usual daily routine.There was a worldwide response to the GuluWalk that resulted in GuluWalk Day on October 22, which saw over 15,000 people in 38 cities worldwide take the first international step towards telling the story of the children of northern Uganda. GuluWalk Day attracted people of all nationality, colour, race and religion in a global show of support for the innocent victims of the worlds most ignored humanitarian emergency.Every night as many as 40,000 children living in rural northern Uganda walk into the town of Gulu and other urban centres to sleep in relative safety and avoid abduction by the Lords Resistance Army. Desperately afraid of abduction, vulnerable children as young as four years old will walk from their homes or displacement camp to sleep on porches, in school yards or other open areas. These night commuters walk from as far as 12km away and make the return trek home every single day.The success of GuluWalk wasnt just Kieran and I, but the work of so many committed volunteers, charities and advocates for peace all over the globe, said Bradbury. Weve played a role in raising awareness of this pointless conflict, but today there are still children night commuting and thousands dying every week in appalling conditions in IDP camps. Were not going to stop raising our voices for these courageous kids until there is indeed peace and opportunity in northern Uganda.About the night commuters and the conflict in northern Uganda:Children are lucrative resources for the LRA rebels in northern Uganda. The atrocities committed against these children are impossible to imagine: in captivity children as young as seven years old are tortured, beaten and raped. They are then forced to become rebel soldiers, sexual slaves, porters and laborers. Some are forced to kill, maim, beat or abduct innocent victims, including family members and neighbors, or to look on as these abuses are committed. Girls are used as domestic servants or forced into sexual slavery as LRA commanders wives. They are subject to rape, unwanted pregnancy and the risk of infection, including HIV/AIDS.The war in northern Uganda has been ravaging its people for nearly 20 years and has gone largely unnoticed by the mainstream media and the general public. In the past three years alone, over 30,000 children have been abducted by the rebel-led LRA to be used as soldiers and sex slaves and over 1.7 million people remain confined in internally displaced persons camps that offer neither security nor basic provisions. Over 1,000 people are dying every week because a war that has paralyzed an entire nation with fear, forever altering families, cultural traditions and way of life for an entire generation.About GuluWalk:GuluWalk started in July of 2005 as an attempt by two average Canadians to better understand the ordeal of the night commuters of northern Uganda. It has now grown into an urgent, impassioned worldwide movement for peace.
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