The Invisible Children

In the spring of 2003, three young filmmakers traveled to Africa in search of a story. What started out as a filmmaking adventure transformed into much more when these boys from Southern California discovered a tragedy that disgusted and inspired them, a tragedy where children are both the weapons and the victims.

After returning to the States, they created the documentary "Invisible Children: Rough Cut," a film that exposes the tragic realities of northern Uganda.s night commuters and child soldiers.

The film was originally shown to friends and family, but has now been seen by millions of people. The overwhelming response has been, "How can I help?" To answer this question, the non-profit Invisible Children, Inc. was created, giving compassionate individuals an effective way to respond to the situation.

Invisible Children is close to my heart and it immediately came to my mind upon reading the topic for this week’s entry. Back when Invisible Children was just getting launched, I had the honor of meeting some of the people on the crew at a conference in Washington D.C. While I didn’t meet the main stars of the documentary themselves, I was still impressed by the production members about the journey the message the organization has made from a small story in the middle of Africa to an international movement to bring awareness to a devastating situation.

What do the Invisible Children do?

We use the power of media to inspire young people to help end the longest running war in Africa. Our model has proven effective, and hundreds of thousands of people have been called to action through our films and the volunteers that tour them. We are made up of a tireless staff, hundreds of full time volunteers, and thousands of students and supporters. We are young, we are citizens of the world, we are artists, activists, and entrepreneurs. This fall, we are using our voice to ask President Obama to spearhead efforts to bring peace to Northern Uganda. We are mobilizing a generation to capture the attention of the international community, and make a stand for justice in the wake of genocide.

This is an amazing example of how the media can be utilized to bring peace. The guys who went on to found Invisible Children hadn't intended to find this story when they went to Africa. The movement has caught fire internationally. There is no limit to the impact a few people can have on the world when they set their minds to it.

Maryville seems to already be hosting a viewing of the Invisible Children documentary. I strongly suggest, if you haven't already, go see this documentary. Over the years, with various groups I've worked with, I've seen it many times and every time I get something new out of it. If anyone is interested, I own a copy of the documentary and would be more than happy to host a viewing of it for our class sometime this semester.