Social justice and action is a common theme on college campuses around the U.S. and Gustavus is no exception. Building Bridges is a student-led initiative that focuses on raising awareness about important global issues and showing students how they can help make a difference.

Each year Building Bridges holds a diversity conference based on a specific humanitarian issue. This year?s theme is ?Liberation Through Education,? and special attention is being given to efforts to maintain schools in Uganda.

Uganda is currently home to the longest-running civil war in all of Africa, and Gulu Senior Secondary School is not unaffected by the conflict that surrounds it.

The school is located near an internal displacement camp (IDCs) [for refugees], so most of the students come from there,? said Building Bridges Co-Chair and Senior Biology Major Alli Linn.

The students really aren’t safe in either the school or the IDCs,? said Building Bridges Co-Chair and Senior Psychology Major Rita Stevermer. The dorms at the school house about 80 students, and [Uganda’s] rebel army sometimes kidnaps the children and forces them to fight.?

Even in the IDCs, the guards sometimes harm the refugees,? said Stevermer. These kids really aren’t safe anywhere.

Building Bridges is working with another non-profit organization, Invisible Children, to raise money to make Gulu Senior Secondary School a place where students can get an education while being protected from the conflict that permeates their everyday lives.

With the help of Invisible Children, Building Bridges is hosting a book donation to raise money for the school. The books will be sent to Invisible Children, which is working in collaboration with Better World Books, another non-profit organization, to then sell the texts online. The profits will go directly to Uganda to help restore the Gulu Senior Secondary School to working order.

We already have about 3,500 books from libraries, schools and other donations, said Linn. Our goal is to collect 30,000 books. We think we can make it with student participation, of course.

We’re really looking forward to student support. Donating to our cause is easy. Almost all books are accepted, even textbooks, said Stevermer.

This yea’s speaker at the Building Bridges Conference will be Erin Gruwell, the woman portrayed in Freedom Writers, a film released in theaters in 2007. The conference will be held on March 14, but the book drive will begin immediately after Thanksgiving break.

Book drop-offs will be located on the first floor of the library, as well as in academic buildings.