“We are storytellers. We are visionaries, humanitarians, artists, and entrepreneurs. We are individual parts of a generation eager for change and willing to pursue it.” On InvisibleChildren.com, this opens the description for the non-profit organization Invisible Children, Inc. In 2003, three filmmakers from South California, Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey, and Laren Poole, went to Africa in search of a good story. They returned with a film entitled
“Invisible Children: Rough Cut” telling the stories of Ugandan night commuters and child soldiers. When the filmmakers returned home to California, they shared the video with friends and family. It has now circulated to millions of homes and sparked the creation of the Invisible Children organization.
Invisible Children gives people a chance to help. The website sums up how the program makes a difference. “We focus on long-term goals that enable children to take responsibility for their future and the future of their country. Our programs are carefully researched and developed initiatives that address the need for quality education, mentorship, the redevelopment of schools, resettlement from the camps, and financial stability.”
In one such program, named Schools for Schools, schools from the United States are paired up with schools from Northern Uganda. This fall, Invisible Children ‘hit the road’ and sent people who participated in this program around the country to visit schools and put on screenings of “Go,” a movie that tells the story of three kids’ trip to Uganda. These students are from the schools that raised enough money that Invisible Children chose them from their schools to take a trip to Africa.
On Monday, Nov. 3, the student council presented a screening of “Go.” The movie was introduced by a few young adults from Invisible Children. It began with a black screen and a voice saying, “We love it because it is the only true adventure.”
Amanda Mitchell, a senior in Collegedale, TN, was one of the students to go. Collegedale High is a school where no swearing is allowed and no singing or dancing either. “Go’s given me a chance to figure out who I am and get out of this town,” said Mitchell. “Kids my age are trapped in a war and I could do something about it.”
“Go” followed students like Mitchell as they arrived in Uganda, visited the schools, made friends and as some of them visited the Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps. But it also followed them home. When students like Mitchell heard that Congress was considering passing a bill to help Northern Uganda, they went to Washington, D.C. There they had meetings in Senator Barack Obama’s and John Kerry’s offices, and more. Congress eventually passed a bill giving $17 million to reconstruction in Uganda.
Northern Uganda has been in a relatively peaceful state of war for the past two years, but many say it is far from over. Britta, one of the organization’s young adults who visited the school, warned of thinking conflict was done. She talked about the rebel leader Joseph Coney, who is still at large. “No children or night commutes have taken place in the last two years in Uganda,” said Britta. “But recently Joseph Coney abducted 90 students out of a classroom in Congo.” There is talk that Coney may be rebuilding the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) that he started when the war began 23 years ago. Coney and his LRA have spent years trying to overthrow the government in Uganda. Despite peace talks, Coney is still being waited on to sign a treaty.
“The story of northern Uganda does not end here,” said “Go.” “Because of the devastation caused by war, people are displaced in camps and thousands are still dying. They have no homes to return to, and the children have no access to education.” After all, even when the war ends, the country will still have to be rebuilt.
Invisible Children’s responded to the educational crisis with the Visible Child Scholarship Program, which provided school fees and has sent over 700 students to secondary schools, has been named one of the most innovative micro-economic programs in Northern Uganda.
Students in Northern Uganda still attend schools ravaged by war. Schools for Schools was created to give other international youth the capability to raise money for Ugandan schools. In one year, students have raised over $3 million dollars. Now, local students can become a part of the story. Local students now have the opportunity to not only make a difference but to see the difference they make.
“We want you to see your work firsthand,” said a video advertising Schools for Schools. Invisible Children offers three ways for students to not only help the situation in Uganda but to see it with their own eyes. First, in their schools book drive, a student can collect the most books. Second, they can have the best idea for a fundraiser (Ty, a student from Alabama featured in “Go” went to a poor school, where he came up with the idea that whatever class raised the most money got one day off from school). Third, some students can purchase the Invisible Children movie and inside they may find a ticket. All three actions result in the student’s flying to Northern Uganda with Invisible Children.
Minnechaug began the book drive for Invisible Children, though with barely 10 days left, many students feel that our time to make a difference is next year. There is also a consensus that the issue in focus should be the crisis – not the chance to go to Africa.
“I do think our school can do this,” said junior Sam Wahr. “I think everyone in our schools should be well-educated on the issues that are going on in Uganda, and every other country for that matter. I kind of wish Invisible Children hadn’t advertised the incentive like, ‘raise money and you can go to Africa.’ People should know that this is something they should do because it’s something they need to do.”