Rarely has the potential to make a change been as evident as in the story of three guys who left their California homes to explore the world and came back to start a movement.
In 2003, three friends in their early 20s, Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey and Laren Poole, got on a plane for eastern Africa. They left knowing only that stories were happening worth seeing and that needed to be talked about. They took little money, no real plan and an eBay-bought camcorder.
In time, they found themselves in northern Uganda, confronted with a scene so bitterly raw and consuming that they were swept up in its reality. The story would later grow into a cause, shaping their lives and capturing our nation's attention with their documentary "Invisible Children."
In northern Uganda, the three learned of children as young as five being kidnapped, brutalized, raped and forced to witness the savage murders of other children, and then told to do the same or also be killed. By some estimates, since 2002, a group called the Lord's Resistance Army has taken and terrorized upward of 12,000 of these children.
Caught in the crossfire of a 20-year civil war between the government and the LRA, these kids, many orphaned by the AIDS epidemic, are being seized in order to fill the LRA's waning ranks.
They live in constant fear. At sunset in northern Uganda, the country roads fill with children on a nightly commute to the relative safety of larger cities, where they will pass the night in huddles in public verandas or cramped shelters away from the LRA.
But many do not remain safe. In the documentary of their trip, the three Americans listen to one young boy as he frankly relates being captured by the LRA. Now, he tells, he would rather die than continue running.
Still others plead to the camera simply to not be forgotten.
Thankfully, they have not been. Compelled by the realities of northern Uganda, Jason, Bobby and Laren returned home to tell what they saw. Their first step was to compile and begin showing their documentary.
Immediately, as audiences were exposed to the stories of these children, the message began to sweep the U.S. What started as a small project spread into a national wake-up call to awareness and compassion, stirring people to speak out for and assist in ending the crisis.
"Invisible Children" the documentary turned into Invisible Children Inc. Through public support, the new organization has started a scholarship program, providing full-ride scholarships and full-time mentors to children affected by the war. It also initiated a bracelet campaign providing work and cash flow for the nearly 95 percent of northern Uganda's population that has recently been displaced into refugee camps due to the war.
Invisible Children Inc. has also continued work rallying the U.S. public. The organization has mobilized volunteer groups who tour the country, continuing to get the message out.
In 2006, the organization also initiated a Global Night Commute, mirroring those of the Ugandan children, as a demonstration and call to political action. In one of the biggest demonstrations in the U.S. for Africa, over 80,000 across the country participated in an act that contributed to later federal involvement in the crisis.
The story of "Invisible Children" is one of a tragedy that has inspired international involvement through the efforts of a few guys from California. But also, it shows the ability for a small few to start a big change, if they will engage in the issues of the world.
As the opening quote of "Invisible Children" tells, "Once one has been to these challenging, terrible places, they're always strangely drawn back... It disgusts and inspires." Change does not require the extraordinary, only people willing to see the world and let its gravity move them.
Reach the reporter at: matthew.bowman@asu.edu..
