Footprints on Conflicted Soil

~Three Experiences, One Purpose

Behind his eyes, you see fear and innocence, but in his hands, you see strength and potential destruction.

This particular child's worries went beyond something simple like what video game he was going to play next or tomorrow’s playground game. This image of an eight year old boy holding an AK-47 gave Caitlin Trotter, a UA sophomore in New College studying international relations and development, the motivation and desire to raise awareness about Sub-Saharan issues. The image she saw was part of the Invisible Children's campaign to stop the use of child soldiers in Joseph Kony's rebel war in Uganda. Throughout Trotter’s story, she leaves traces of more than just her footprints or her influence on the conflicted soil of foreign countries such as Uganda, Cairo, Egypt and Beirut, Lebanon. She leaves her desire to stop these global issues that are affecting these countries.

After seeing these images of this young boy in Uganda, she began to fuel her desire to impact those young children whose footprints were engraved in the dirt of the conflicted battle areas in Uganda. The Lord’s Resistance Army has taken more than 30 thousand children between the ages of 7 and 17 from their homes and uniformed them as soldiers. These child soldiers are forced to commit violent acts and are oftentimes given to their commanders as sex slaves. “When I first saw those images, I just couldn’t believe it,” Trotter said. “I just knew it was wrong.”

She began to work with a group called Resolve Uganda. With that organization, she was able to meet with state senators and lobby their support on a national effort to successfully get a bill passed that would gain U.S support to stop the Lord's Resistance Army in the Ugandan rebel war. The bill was passed in June of 2010. While these issues are global they have a local connection in Tuscaloosa through this sophomore from Huntsville. While there is a difference on sight of Trotter’s skin color and those of the child soldiers, Trotter looked deeper than that and saw no difference in race. At such a young age her motivation and passion for these world issues all started with a photograph.

Upon transferring to the University of Alabama from its sister campus in Huntsville, Trotter began working with a group called Apwonjo that raises awareness about Sub-Saharan issues. She also continued her efforts by meeting with state senators to lobby them to support the bill that would help gain U.S support to stop the war in northern Uganda.

“There are not many people that meet with their representatives about an issue,” Linn Groft, president of Apwonjo said. “You may have those that call or write a letter when they are angry, but Caitlin was able to articulate to them the problem to let them know this does matter. It was a great feeling to know someone who had gained support for the bill to pass in June of last year.”

She recalls becoming acquainted with Trotter at a mandatory meeting for New College students and spoke with her about Apwonjo. The efforts of this group involve raising funds for organizations that aid these pressing issues in Sub-Saharan Africa. Currently, they are planning to host a bake sale to benefit “Freedom in Creation”, a nonprofit organization that empowers communities in the Gulu district of northern Uganda. The organization provides art therapy classes for former child soldiers.
Trotter has a connection to other locations in addition to Uganda and has worked to aid some other pressing global issues. As a student of the University’s International Honors Program, she also had the opportunity to go abroad and have her own firsthand experiences. Her footprints were once only in the states, but they have graced the soil of foreign cities such as Cairo, Egypt and, in most recent times, Beirut, Lebanon where she was one of 22 global participants in The Beirut Exchange.

While a vast majority of the American population can only associate the images of Cairo, Egypt with those that have been in the news most recently, the images that come to Trotter’s mind are those seen with her own eyes. She visited Cairo this past summer working with Sudanese refugees while visiting her sister Kristen, who has lived in Egypt for three years.

She said the kids that came to the school had not fled from the war themselves, rather their parents had relocated years ago. The schools that sought to aid these refugees struggled with the finances to provide adequate resources for the classrooms.

“There were children of all ages at the school. I taught a class of about eight fourth graders with two other instructors. All we had as resources was a classroom and a white board, but we knew we had to make do. The school didn’t have very many funds to afford supplies, or to pay many teachers. All in all, I think seeing the desire of those children to learn made more of an impact on me than I probably made on them,” Trotter said.

Just months after Trotter returned to the states, events took place that gained the city of Cairo news coverage that oftentimes her sister had a hand in reporting. Kristen Chick, a University of Alabama graduate works for “The Christian Science Monitor” as an international journalist. Most recently, she covered the protests of an outraged people in Egypt where citizens wanted their former leader Hosni Mubarak to step down after 30 years of his dictatorship. She also found herself amidst the angry protesters in the streets of Tunisia to cover the events involving the anguish against their leader as well.

Trotter described the situations that took place before Mubarak stepped down and said, “The government shut off the Internet for a week and I was unable to get in touch with my sister. After the connections resumed, I learned she had been in some really dangerous situations, and it worried me. Though the situations were very historic and it was a big opportunity for her to cover the events, it was also very dangerous as well.”

Since Trotter’s desires and passion lie in international relations, her quiet strength slowly became known on campus through Apwonjo and with her advisor in the Honors College. Dr. Fran Oneal, director of the International Honors Program, has known Trotter for about a year or so since her transfer to the University. She also knew her sister and said they both have similar interests. Because she knew Trotter’s interests and places she could possibly want to study, Oneal was able to notify her of the opportunity to go to Beirut, Lebanon.

“I believe any overseas experience for a student is important on all levels such as personal and professional,” Oneal said. “We have such a global environment that some things you can’t just read about. You have to get out and experience them for yourself.”

When Caitlin arrived in the 120 degree Beirut weather, she got into a taxi and immediately connected her driving experience to Cairo. “The driving was crazy,” she said. “No one obeys the stop signs or traffic laws.” While driving down the road, she saw buildings that had been burned down or had bullet holes, and then the one next to it would be a nearly renovated condo. After 15 years of war, the city has a mixed beauty. While there is construction going on to rebuild the city, history can’t be erased. “The city has been through so much. It had a unique feel to it because it possessed the old and the new,” she said.

In efforts to finance her trip abroad, Caitlin sought sponsors and she also held a bake sale that she said helped to pay for airfare. Dr. James Hall, director of New College, also helped her find ways to fund this endeavor to study abroad in Beirut. The Student Support Fund in the New College department was used to help with her trip.

“She definitely wears her desire of transforming the world on her sleeves and no one had to twist my arm to convince me to aid her in this wonderful opportunity. I think Caitlin’s work with international development is pretty remarkable, and it is going to aid her in making a difference,” he said.

While on the trip, Trotter said The Beirut Exchange allowed them to experience many amazing things such as meeting famous politicians, journalists and Christian politicians. Lebanon is a conflicted country and has a history of violent situations given its past wars. Caitlin said none of those types of situations occurred during her stay. “The only thing that did happen was their government collapsed during our stay which it was very interesting to see how that would play out,” she said. “The only way this affected us directly was some of the political leaders we were scheduled to meeting could not make their appointments.”

Groft, Apwonjo president, has been working with Trotter since the beginning of the fall semester and said knowing a person like her has been truly an inspiration to her and her organization. She recalls when Trotter was going to talk to the senators and said she admired how she is never intimated to talk about the things she is truly passionate about. Groft said all of Trotter’s experiences in these countries weave together her overall love and desire for helping others.

“Caitlin always goes above and beyond your expectations and is constantly evaluating herself in areas where she can do better. She is a natural leader not only because of her own qualities, but those that she looks to bring out in other people. Some leaders are visible and mainstream, but the matters that she wants to change are not. For that matter, some of the best leaders are those that may not be the most visible,” Groft said.