By Delinda Lombardo on May 6, 2009
In 2003, three guys from Southern California with a passion for filmmaking took a trip to the Sudan in search of a story. Instead, they ended up in Uganda where they learned that over 30,000 children had been kidnapped to fight for the rebel group known as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).
Their film, Invisible Children, is a moving and powerful documentary about one of Africa’s longest running wars and how thousands of people are being brutally and viciously attacked by the rebel army and fleeing their villages without any sign of hope.
The filmmakers – Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey and Laren Poole – first screened ‘Invisible Children’ on June 22, 2004 at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice at the University of San Diego to friends and family of the filmmakers. Not long after, students across the United States were passing along DVDs of the documentary and wanted to know how to help the children in northern Uganda.
“The world knows that they are just a rebel army, but in truth they are children,” says Poole in the film.
Due to overwhelming public response, the filmmakers co-founded the nonprofit Invisible Children Inc. – an awareness and development organization about the great humanitarian crisis of child soldiers.
And the organization took it to the streets, where last week, what started with one volunteer camped out in front of Oprah’s Harpo Studios, soon turned into a crowd of thousands begging Oprah to hear their voices. And she did.
She’s urged viewers to visit the Invisible Children website and watch the 36-minute film. Activists outside the studio thanked Oprah and cheered as they were given a plug by one of the worlds most powerful and influential women.
The films opening credits explain the title: “They are Invisible because no records are kept of their numbers or age. Their own armies deny they exist. They simply vanish.”
To join the movement, watch the film or simply learn more about how to help the children of Uganda escape this outrageous humanitarian crisis, please visit Invisible Children.com.
almost 3 years ago
In response to the link in the comment above, I was a part of this movement The Rescue traveling all over the midwestern US before ending up in Chicago for the finale.
The point of this organization is not to label the children and Internally displaced persons by that status. Rape does not define you, nor does poverty, nor does military rank. This event was not looking for a savior; it was not looking for Oprah to fly over with $3 million in her pocket and build everyone new homes and single-handedly turn around the Ugandan economy. Not only is that shallow-minded, it is impossible.
These people do not need a savior. They have survived this long, haven't they? They are stronger than any I have known for sure. What they need is the international attention to their crisis. A 23-year war with no end in sight using children, so revered in our culture and just as much so if not more in theirs, to fight at the front of the battle.
What Oprah did for us was a kindness. She has raised the profile of the war that has remained invisible, fought by invisible children. There is an end in sight to this war and it is only with international cooperation that the warlord Joseph Kony can be stopped, for he has created his own international war by spreading into Sudan and Congo and Central African Republic.
So no, Invisible Children does not wish to label these people. Just the opposite. The goal is to make the invisible visible. That is why there are microeconomic programs in place and more being set up to give them a name.
If you are unfamiliar with the bracelet campaign or more currently the MEND label, I suggest you look into them.
almost 3 years ago
there is another side to IC, especially in the world of International Development
http://halalandharam.wordpress.com/2009/05/02/to-be-saved/
almost 3 years ago
Camping outside of Oprah's studios was part of a worldwide event called "The Rescue." It wasn't like one person showed up at Harpo Studios and others joined in. 100,000 people in 10 different countries in 100 different cities each camped out and waited for media and a public figure to come out and "rescue" them, or make a public statement about the child soliders. Chicago targeted Oprah as their public figure, and people who had been "rescued" in other cities drove to Chicago in order to help get some more attention.
www.therescue.invisiblechildren.com
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