Aurora high school student to travel to Uganda

Jose Ramos used to think disappointment was seeing the Cubs lose in the playoffs.

But the 16-year-old high school student now knows the distress he'll witness this summer goes far beyond the results of a couple games.

Ramos, a junior at West Aurora High School, will travel to northern Uganda for two weeks in late June with Invisible Children, a nonprofit organization dedicated to documenting and alleviating the suffering of people in the war-torn central African nation.

Children in Uganda have had to watch family members die and have been abducted and forced to become soldiers themselves, Ramos said.

"I don't want to see what's going on but I have to witness it," he said. "I want to help these kids out as much as possible."

Ramos didn't choose to go to Uganda; the opportunity chose him. This past November, he attended an assembly at his school in which a representative of Invisible Children spoke. Ramos decided to buy a copy of the group's latest documentary for his mother, who had made a trip to Ethiopia with another humanitarian group.

Unknown to Ramos, three copies of the documentary contained a golden ticket providing the buyer with a trip to Uganda.

"They were screaming at me saying I won. I still had no idea what was going on," Ramos said. "There were three tickets spread across the world and I just happened to get one."

Already moved by a previous documentary on Uganda, Ramos became actively involved with the efforts of the Invisible Children Club at his school to collect books to benefit children living there.

He collected 5,000 books. Alden Gardens of Waterford Assisted Living Community in Aurora, where Ramos was employed as a dietary aide, pitched in with residents, their families, friends and staff donating 1,000 books.

Ramos returned to Alden Gardens in February to show an Invisible Children documentary and update residents on the book collection effort and his trip.

"The residents really pulled together a huge amount of books," he said.

Resident Rosan Bailey said she didn't participate in the collection but was impressed with what Ramos had done.

"These books, they sit around. It's good someone will have some use of them," she said. "It's a great program to give hope to these children."

Residents also benefitted from their efforts to help Ramos, said Rob Anderson, Alden Gardens' executive director.

"It gives them an anticipation. It gives them the experience and it gives the memory," he said. "I'm proud of my residents. I'm proud of Jose for getting involved."

Ramos said employees of Caterpillar, where his mother works, also donated many of the books.

Altogether, West Aurora High School collected between 16,000 and 17,000 books, said Christina Tammen, a social studies teacher who serves as co-leader of the Invisible Children Club started three years at the school. Ramos collected the most by far, she said.

"He was moved regardless of whether he won the trip," she said. "It makes you more appreciative of what you have and it opens you up to more ways you can give."

Invisible Children partners with another organization that donates some of the books to be distributed in Africa and sells the rest. The funds raised help provide scholarships and to rebuild secondary schools through Invisible Children's Schools for Schools program, said Natasha Harris, book drive manager for Invisible Children.

Harris said Invisible Children started its first book drive in fall 2008 and now has 30,000 cartons of books from around the United States.

"West Aurora did an amazing job. The number we're sharing is 384 cartons of books," she said.

Ramos will come to Invisible Children's headquarters in San Diego for an orientation just before leaving for Uganda in June, Harris said.

Ramos said when he returns from his trip, he'll make another presentation to Alden Gardens residents. He'll also make a presentation at his school.

"I want to spread the word around our school," he said. "I want to spearhead this program. I want to take it to the next level."

Tammen said West Aurora High School will back his efforts. Earlier this month, students viewed Invisible Children's new movie, "The Rescue," and were invited to an awareness-raising event at Grant Park in Chicago on April 25.

"We are really supporting Jose and behind him 100 percent," she said.

Edward Kropiwiec, head chef and Ramos' former supervisor at Alden Gardens, said Ramos already has helped spread the word with the presentation he made at the retirement home.

"That video was a real eye-opener. I didn't know that it was that bad," he said. "I think it's brave he's going."