Loyola exhibit displays Ugandan children's terrors and joys

Some sketches show children riding bikes, playing soccer and beating drums. Others show images of flowers, family and home.

The crayon and pencil drawings, matted on burlap sacks, are familiar creations made by young children.

But these sketches show other things: A tanker dumping "poisdus chemicals" into a river. A child-like figure huddled in a doorway as a machete-wielding man approaches. Stick figures are shooting each other.

The artwork by Ugandan children, depicting their lives in the war-torn country, is lined up along the winding hallways of the Push Pin gallery in Loyola University's Museum of Art through the efforts of a Loyola student group, Invisible Conflicts.

"It's heartbreaking to see that these kids are drawing people being shot down," said sophomore Carolyn Ziembo, who suggested creating the exhibit. "They just have to deal with horrible circumstances, but still have hope."

The children are victims of a 21-year civil war in northern Uganda between a guerrilla militia known as the Lord's Resistance Army and the government. The conflict has led to the displacement of more than 2 million people into internal refugee camps.

The exhibit, "Be a Witness," which continues through April 27, is a mix of drawings, poems, letters and artwork done by about 20 children. It also includes photographs taken by Invisible Conflicts member Dave Thatcher.

One goal of Invisible Conflicts is to raise awareness of war-torn areas, and in Uganda, an aspect of this is "letting [the children] tell their own story through art and music," said Ziembo, 20, who is the organization's secretary. "People who don't know about the conflict [in northern Uganda], they can come here and hear about it."

Loyola senior Nathan Mustain, 28, said he first heard about the war in Uganda from a magazine a few years ago. He said the awful things the kids were forced to do, such as kill their parents and friends, horrified him. But something bothered him even more.

"The thing that disturbed me besides the pure atrocities is that [it seemed like a lot of] people hadn't heard about it," Mustain said.

Together with a friend, Mustain decided to host a viewing of "Invisible Children," a documentary about northern Ugandan children, on the Loyola campus to raise awareness about the war and its effects. This led to them organizing the Chicago Global Night Commute in 2006, a nation-wide protest and rally initiated by the creators of "Invisible Children."

But Mustain said he felt more could be done and eventually Invisible Conflicts was born.

Its mission, he said, is to tell the stories of conflict that are ignored by governments and media. They also wanted the group to be about personal growth, recognizing that everyone has individual conflicts in his or her life.

They sought out Ugandans in the Chicago community, feeling their social advocacy group was too disconnected from its causes, Mustain said.

"We felt if we're going to do this kind of work, to really get connected to the people," he said. "We wanted to make a more efficient use of our money . having a transformational experience in the conflict zones."

In 2006, Invisible Conflicts established the Dwon Madiki Partnership, which sponsors the education of 20 Ugandan children. Mustain said the group didn't think paying for school fees did enough for the children, and last spring they opened a center for the kids in Gulu, a major city in northern Uganda.

The DMP center is a safe place for the children Invisible Conflicts sponsors, and provides holistic education modules to help them break the cycle of poverty and violence and eventually give back to their communities.

Each module includes an art or multimedia activity to bring healing and act as a catharsis for the atrocities the kids have experienced and seen.

"We are trying to live out our mission," Mustain said. "We made a point to seek out Ugandan refugees [in Chicago] and ask them what Uganda needs. Education was the answer across the board."

With about 40 active members, and over 700 on their mailing listserv, Mustain said Invisible Conflicts has raised almost $40,000 for Dwon Madiki. Their major fundraiser is the "IC Plunge," where they collect pledges and challenge students to jump into Lake Michigan in December.

Mustain said the exhibit at LUMA fulfills Invisible Conflicts' mission to "be amplifiers of the voice of these people."

"Now that these kids have an outlet for their voice is just amazing," he said. "These kids' art on Michigan Avenue, who in the world would have thought?"

David Thatcher, 20, who has been running the partnership, took the pictures mixed with the children's work. He said he spent many days in the displaced persons camps, marked by poverty, hunger and scant access to education.

Taking pictures of children with missing toes or parts of their skulls gone was hard, he said, and he broke down a lot while photographing life in the camps. However, Thatcher said it was worth it to also photograph the 20 kids Invisible Conflicts helps through DMP and to see their happiness.

"It was a really powerful experience," he said. "Seeing both sides of the coin."

In choosing the photographs to go into the exhibit, Thatcher said the group wanted to focus on the connection Invisible Conflicts has made with the children they help. They wanted the children to tell their own stories.

In the exhibit, some of the children answered questionnaires sent to them by Invisible Conflicts. One question asks, "If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be?" Another, "What makes you laugh?"

The answer to both: fighting.

"I was really struck by the dichotomy," Mustain said. "The juxtaposition of normal kids stuff . and the chilling things that children never, never should experience."

Mustain said he doesn't think the evidence of trauma in the children's work is a coincidence. The violent images are not mere recreations from TV or movies since none of the children have access to even electricity.

"This is stuff they've really seen," he said of the artwork. "That's real."

Where to see 'Be a Witness':
The Loyola University Museum of Art
820 N. Michigan Ave. (between Chicago and Pearson)
Hours: Tue.-Sun., 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Extended hours on Tuesday till 10 p.m.
Cost: general admission, $6; $5 for seniors, age 62 and up; free for students, military families and museum professional organizations. Admission is free for everyone on Tuesdays.
For more information call 312-915-7600.