Peacekeeper offers nuanced opinion about 'Kony 2012'

Press Clip Source: StarTribune
Written By: Gail Rosenblum
Date: March 28, 2012
Read Original Article: Here

The staggering power of the Internet was again evident early this month with the debut of "Kony 2012." The 30-minute documentary (www.kony2012.com) examines the brutality of Joseph Kony, leader of Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), which forces children into sex slavery and war.

For two years, Tiffany Easthom, a native of Victoria, British Columbia, has been NP's country director for South Sudan, the world's newest nation. She oversees 65 unarmed civilian peacekeepers in eight locations, including areas affected by Kony.

Her team has rescued children from the LRA, finding their families and getting them medical checkups and psychological help, as well as support to reintegrate. "Some girls come back as mothers," she said, "and are rejected by their communities." It's something they are changing due, largely, to the resilience of children. "They can survive any ordeal," she said. Some eventually join the NP team.

Easthom, 40, did her graduate thesis in Uganda "in the heart of the Lord's Resistance Army." Uganda, she said, has endured a long history of conflict, first led by Kony's cousin. The LRA, she said, "is shrouded in mysticism and extreme violence against their own people and others."