Cary, N.C. — Marie Hamm, a member of Green Hope's Class of 2007, was slated to deliver soccer equipment to northern Uganda later this month, but fears of a revamped civil war have put those plans on hold.

"Right now we feel it's important to support the groups already there doing their work with the people, and keep lobbying for the peace agreement to be signed so there is stability in the country," Hamm said about postponing the trip.

In April, Joseph Kony, the leader of the LRA, refused to sign the Final Peace Agreement (FPA) with the Government of Uganda (GoU). The following month, Kony did not show up for a meeting with religious and community leaders in northern Uganda.

The GoU is planning attacks against Kony and the LRA because the military has intelligence suggesting that the LRA, which fled to Congo and the Sudan, is regaining strength and numbers in preparation for a new attack. The Uganda military has said that they have intelligence that the LRA has split into smaller groups and crossed the Nile.

With fear that the LRA may return to northern Uganda, including Gulu, Hamm decided it was not a good time for her to travel to the area.

"If [the LRA] came back to northern Uganda, they wouldn't designate Westerner from Acholi," Hamm said. "It could be a dangerous situation."

When the LRA was in northern Uganda, they abducted children, brainwashed them, and used them as soldiers. These children were trained to kill, and Hamm would have been working at a school for former child soldiers. The fear is, if the LRA returned, they may target such a school to get more child soldiers.

"We don't know when the LRA might come back, or if they will come back," Hamm said.

Hamm was supposed to deliver soccer equipment to the Northern City Football Club located in Gulu, Uganda, one year after Green Hope and Leesville Road soccer teams sent equipment to Uganda with Garner High School teacher Chris Waluk.

Waluk also collected the equipment that Hamm was going to take over later this month.

Hamm told WRAL that there were 8 pairs of shoes, a full set of jerseys, socks, cones, shin guards, and other equipment. Although she didn't know exactly when the soccer equipment would go to Uganda, she said she thought it would be within the next year. That, of course, depends on the conditions on the ground in northern Uganda.

According to Invisible Children, the Uganda military will use a coalition including the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and the UN mission in Congo (MONUC). The United States will reportedly support the military attack of the LRA by Uganda, but the State Department wants the conflict to be resolved peacefully.

Stay with WRAL for more on this story and be sure to pick up your copy of VYPE Magazine on Aug. 1 for more information, photos, and to learn how you can help.