It has taken me a couple days to step up and come out about an issue that tore at my heart strings in the spring of 2009. As many of my fellow sheep peeps know I am the staff writer for The Banner Magazine http://www.bannersheepmagazine.com/ published out of Cuba, Illinois. Many of my stories relate to various prominent breeders and people involved in our US sheep industry. I always love these stories as I come away from each interview with a greater knowledge and respect for the many people that make up our sheep family, however from time to time Greg Deakin, my publisher gives me a story that is deep, meaty and leaves me searching my soul for answers. From the Shambow fire in Wisconsin to the wildfires of California I have covered a number of instances when people are left searching for answers. Always inspiring and always uplifting these stories leave me thinking all of my woes at home are a bit petty in nature.
However, with that said, there is one story over the years that has led me to see the world in a different light and that was the story of Conrad Mandsager from New Hampshire. It was in the spring of 2009 and the initial story was about a former Suffolk producer from the Northeastern United States that created a missionary program in Northern Uganda to help former child soldiers. With little knowledge of this plight I would spend the next few weeks in utter disbelief hearing about the atrocities being committed by adults on children in war-torn Africa.
Born out of passion, Mandsager would work to create a school in Uganda that would help to rehabilitate some of the most vulnerable of warlord Joseph Kony’s victims…the young girls, some as young as seven and eight, that were forced into becoming sex slaves only to be shunned by their families when turned back out into society with offspring from the revolutionary forces. Many lacking both parenting skills or job skills struggled to bring up their offspring barely younger than themselves in camps. This is where Mandsager saw a need and stepped into to do his part by creating Child Voice International http://childvoiceintl.org/ , a rehabilitation and educational center that takes in these young girls and their families and gives them an education, security and most of all hope of fulfilling their dreams through gaining skills.
So up until a few days ago, Conrad Mandsager and his cause have been a lasting memory that comes to the forefront when I read about the atrocities or hear of a friend going on a missionary trip to Uganda, however the last couple days with the Kony 2012 video going viral it has held a pretty steady presence in my mind.
Although I can’t speak for the Kony 2012 invisible Children campaign, after listening to Mandsager’s words and watching the now famous video with almost verbatim facts I am a bit taken back by the naysayers of this world that are trying to sweep these atrocities under the carpet as if they have never occurred. Which in turn has compelled me to write this post.
If you are looking for a way to support the anti-Kony movement and in turn support another sheep peep in his endeavors to create a better world, check out the Child Voice International websitehttp://childvoiceintl.org/ . You can read my story in either an April or May 2009 copy of the Banner Sheep Magazine entitled A Life Changing Experience. I know for certain Conrad Mandsager’s journey was life changing, but I can also say for certain so was mine when I wrote this story a few years back.
One of my biggest memories came after the story was published when Mr. Mandsager sent me a photo of a 10 foot python that was killed while trying to consume an almost two month old Dorper lamb raised on the school’s site in Uganda. As Mandsager probably put it best, “this is not your typical US predator”. Thank you Conrad Mandsager for sharing your photo. Child Voice International is also on facebook.
Oregon Sheep Connection 