I was invited to a screening of a compelling documentary about child soldiers in Africa last week. Specifically northern Uganda. I highly recommend it, it's short and you can see it at
therescue.invisiblechildren.com. The film was made by three adorably naive surfer bros from So. Cal who went to Africa six years ago to find a subject for their movie and in their travels stumbled upon hundreds of refugee children fleeing a raided village in the night. It turns out an evil warlord named Joseph Kony has been terrorizing the area for decades, kidnapping young boys in these raids and forcing them into horrendous acts of violence. He says he's some kind of god or deity (naturally) and lives deep in the jungle. The event catapulted these filmmakers into documenting the war and starting their own movement to bring peace to the region. They came close once to striking a deal with Kony last year but he pulled a no-show and retaliated a short time later by killing 600+ people in one village! Today, the people of Uganda and all involved would rather Kony be brought to justice at any cost. The problem is that no major countries have financial interests in the region and don't really care enough to do anything. That's where you and I come in.
On
April 25th, 2009 join us in cities across the country, including Salt Lake City for THE RESCUE.
It is time for us to help end this war, to see Joesph Kony arrested and
the children he has kidnapped returned back to their families. Here's what you need to know and how you can help make the event a success...
1. SIGN UP! If you haven't signed up for The Rescue yet, do not worry! Just take a few minutes and go to http://therescue.invisiblechildren.com
and get signed up in a city near you! You will be able to read the
latest information about what is going on for your cities event! You
can also contact the person from Invisible Children working over your
city with any questions that you have from the sign up page!
2.
SPREAD THE WORD! Take some time to tell your friends, family members,
classmates, employers, ANYONE you can about The Rescue. You don't
have to know what fancy words to say, the film speaks for itself! And
if you don't have time to show the film, just tell them about the event
and to come help some kids!
3. USE YOUR CONNECTIONS. We need
politicians, celebrities, people of influence in your area to make this
event a success. So take a few minutes, call that friend who knows Brad
Pitt and get them to come to The Rescue. Or watch this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDUji365-VQ) about how to make this happen.
One of the facinating things about The Rescue movement is how networked and progressive it is in our digital age. I'm interested in how much exposure we can get on the war and if our participation can really make a difference. I think that could go a long way to showing how much we really are more connected than we think. And regardless of where it is, young kids shouldn't have to live in fear of becoming a soldier when they are 8 or 12 years old.
