Members of the University community had a chance Wednesday to view a documentary about the plight of displaced children in Uganda.
Representatives from Invisible Children, Inc., which produced the documentary titled “Sunday: The Story of a Displaced Child,” showed the film at the Alpha Chi Omega house.
Aly Lubov, vice president of education for Alpha Chi Omega, organized the event. Last year she became involved with Invisible Children, Inc. and developed a passion for the group’s mission to aid displaced children in Uganda.
“It’s something I feel very passionate about,” Lubov said. “There’s so much media for many other great organizations, so I thought it was a good idea to educate people about this because it’s something that we can relate to.”
About 60 people crowded into the sorority house’s living room to view the documentary. After a brief introduction by Josh Orr of Invisible Children’s national tour group, the lights dimmed and the film began.
The documentary followed Bobby Bailey, co-founder of the Invisible Children movement, and three of his friends as they traveled from the United States to northern Uganda to document the lives of thousands of displaced citizens. The four wanted to understand what it is like to live as a refugee in Uganda; thousands in the country have been forced from their homes because of strife caused by a rebel militia group called the Lord’s Resistance Army, or LRA.
During their 10 days in the Ugandan refugee camp Atanga, the filmmakers met a 15-year-old boy, nicknamed Sunday, who lost his parents to the LRA. Sunday showed Bailey the small hut in which he lives and shared his aspirations of someday becoming a doctor. Sunday then introduced the filmmakers to a schoolmate named Daniel who said he hopes to one day become a teacher. The boys go to school each day to further their goals of one day helping others in Uganda.
The filmmakers documented many other displaced Ugandans living in Atanga. The camp is home to approximately 30,000 people, the majority of whom were forced to move there by the Ugandan government. An African refugee advocate featured in the documentary said the government responded to unrest caused by the LRA by issuing a decree that people had just 48 hours to leave their homes; those who remained behind in their villages would be considered part of the rebel militia.
The documentary ended with moving footage of Sunday and the other children of Atanga dancing and laughing, somehow able to find cheerfulness in the face of their struggle.
When the lights came back on, many in the audience had been moved to tears.
“This was a really big eye-opener,” said University senior Kristin Oberding. “All I wanted to do was get involved somehow. I want to do something.”
Another audience member felt compelled to act on what she’d seen in the documentary as well. Alisha Rambo, also a senior, said she thought the event was important for raising students’ awareness of a worthwhile cause like Invisible Children’s.
“I think things like this can show us ways to get involved,” Rambo said.
So just how can University students get involved in the Invisible Children movement? Orr said there are three main ways in which students can help the organization’s cause.
“Our three keys to student involvement are that it starts with you, then moves to your school, and finally affects your nation,” he said.
Orr said students can first become involved individually through Invisible Children’s “Tri Campaign.” The Tri Campaign encourages people to donate three dollars a week for a total of $12 a month to Invisible Children’s efforts in Uganda.
“We’re just asking people to give up one cup of coffee a week, that’s really what the cost is equivalent to,” he said.
Beyond the Tri Campaign, the organization has a program called “Schools for Schools,” which divides U.S. schools by region and assigns each region a school in Uganda to which students donate money. The University is part of the Pacific Northwest region; all funds raised here go to the Anaka Secondary School just outside the Ugandan city of Gulu. In each U.S. region, the school that raises the most money during each school year gets to send one student representative and one faculty member to their region’s sponsored school in Uganda.
Finally, Orr implores students to become involved with Invisible Children’s cause at the national level through annual events that the organization puts on each April. This year’s event, Displace Me, was a rally for action to help Uganda’s refugees. Over 70,000 people in 15 cities participated in the event and the United States Congress subsequently sent a letter to President Bush asking for further aid to the refugee crisis in Uganda.
Recently President Bush appointed a U.S. delegate to Uganda’s peace talks with the LRA being held this month in Juba, Sudan.
“We got what we wanted,” Orr said, “but there is always a need to raise new awareness.”
For more information about Invisible Children, Inc., visit the organization’s Web site at www.invisiblechildren.com.