Rescued

Invisible Children

by Q Ideas

In our Q community, we have been blessed with the privilege of seeing many significant culture-shaping projects grow and mature in the last few years. And we celebrate these glimpses of renewal in very dark and broken places.

Another recent story of rescue and restoration continues to unfold through the work of Invisible Children.

Back in 2003, three curious guys from Southern California traveled in pursuit of a story. They found themselves in Uganda where they learned that over 30,000 children had been abducted and forced to join the rebel group known as the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).

The product of this exploration became a film, Invisible Children; an incredible documentation of the tragedy and despair among villagers and children forced to fight a war that is not theirs.

Opening credits in the film explains the name: "They are Invisible because no records are kept of their numbers or age. Their own armies deny they exist. They simply vanish."

Filmmakers, Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey and Laren Poole, first screened Invisible Children on June 22, 2004 and soon after, the DVDs became viral in nature; students began passing the documentary around and positioned themselves as advocates for the children in Northern Uganda.

In response to this very public interest, the filmmakers co-founded the nonprofit organization, Invisible Children Inc., to help foster awareness and solution to the crisis.

Recently, as we were preparing to come together at Q in Austin, thousands of Invisible Children advocates gathered in 100 cities across the world to symbolically "abduct" themselves to free the abducted. One of the cities they sought rescue was in Chicago.

Seeking a prominent influence and wide exposure, the Chicago group petitioned to Oprah Winfrey for rescue. Winfrey responded by inviting filmmakers and co-founders, Russell, Bailey and Poole for an interview. Shortly after, so compelled by this story, she asked the entire group to enter into the studio.

Winfrey, with a reputation for shedding light on important social topics, made a huge impact in sharing the story of Invisible Children and how we may stand in opposition to the corruption existing in Northern Uganda, even still.

Here is a video featured on the Invisible Children site, sharing the burden for this crisis and how advocates have been standing up and making a difference over the last few years all around the world.

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