Invisible no more

Ugandan children get a local voice

Laura McPhee

On Saturday, thousands of people across the country will take a new approach to ending a devastating war abroad — they’ll take it lying down.

Invisible Children Inc., an organization committed to ending the war in Northern Uganda where children are forced to fight as soldiers, has organized a Global Night Commute in more than 130 cities across the United States, when thousands of Americans will sleep outside on behalf of the invisible children of Northern Uganda as a plea to the U.S. government to help put an end to this horrific 20-year-long war.

Invisible Children began in 2003 when three naive filmmakers flew to Africa in search of a story that would change the world. What they found was a situation in Northern Uganda that disgusted and inspired them. They documented their findings of a war where children are the weapons and the victims. The result was a film called Invisible Children: Rough Cut. After seeing the impact of their film worldwide, they formed the non-profit Invisible Children Inc.

The organization is dedicated to ending the war in Northern Uganda, where children are abducted and forced to fight with the rebel army as child soldiers. For fear of being hunted by the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army), these children commute on foot every night to find safe places to sleep in their town centers. To date, more than 30,000 children have been abducted and forced into war.

“The Global Night Commute is an opportunity for Americans to rally with one voice,” said Jason Russell, one of the filmmakers and founders of Invisible Children. “We are asking people to lie down and close their eyes with us for one night, so that we can open the world’s eyes to this unseen war.”

Indianapolis resident Sara Sterley is just one of the many volunteers working locally to help the children of Uganda, and one of the organizers of Saturday’s event. “As Americans, we often would rather not hear about things like child soldiers, AIDS, Africa in general, but we cannot continue to turn our backs to the immense suffering that is currently taking place there,” Sterley believes. That is why she, along with many of her friends and family, joined the Invisible Children project.

“We have been continually amazed by the power of this story and by how much a few individuals who decide to dedicate their time and talents to a cause can accomplish,” she continues. “You cannot deny the power of a few determined, and maybe a little crazy, people to really make a difference.”

The Global Night Commute in Indianapolis will be held at University College on the IUPUI campus, 815 W. Michigan, beginning at 7 p.m. A screening of the film will be followed by a discussion, as well as the planned overnight sleep outdoors.

For more information on Saturday’s event, or to find more information on local events and screenings of the film, go to www.myspace.com/icindianapolis.

For more information on the national Invisible Children project, go to www.invisiblechildren.com.