Invisible Children merit a glance

By: Diana Calderon

Posted: 10/13/08

The displacement camps in war-torn northern Uganda are not a pretty sight.

Last Friday, sophomore Alex Gamble, education, organized the Invisible Children event so people on campus would have one less excuse not to look.

Gamble came up with this idea after being in the African nation of Uganda. He first heard about the Invisible Children Organization (ICO) in high school and he wants to raise awareness of what is happening there now.

The ICO is a not-for-profit group that motivates high school and college students to raise money for students in northern Uganda. The schools that raise the most money choose a student and a teacher to represent their school in Africa.

These students are given video cameras and encouraged to record their time spent in the camps.

The movie chosen for the evening was called "Go," the sequel to the movie "The Invisible Children."

"The movie chronicles the trip to Uganda that the high school students won for raising the most money," Gamble said.

Although Gamble traveled to southern Uganda, an area not devastated by war, he was still impacted by the struggle of its northern residents. He went there with his girlfriend, Mackenzie Higgins, and her father, whose family had adopted a child from Uganda.

As an Activity and Program Council (APC) employee, Gamble said the fundraiser was not too difficult to organize, thanks to the help of his friends and colleagues.

"It was inexpensive," he said. "Most events run in the thousands."

Gamble's vision was that the viewers would gain a feeling of empowerment after watching the documentary.

He said he hoped that the event would promote the "elimination of the plight of neglected people."

"Go" focused on three students: Amanda, Tye and Britney. These teens formed strong bonds with students from Uganda who were close to their own ages.

A big part of the film focused on the good times the participants experienced, but it showed the bad times, too.

One particularly disturbing story (filmed by Amanda) was about Gloria, a very cheerful young lady who loves to sing along with her favorite American songs. Amanda discovered Gloria had lost her will to live.

Gloria, who is HIV-positive, stopped taking her medication because she believed there was no hope for her life due to her perilous shelter.

Amanda took Gloria to the doctor and encouraged her to continue taking her medication. Gloria's doctor stated that she is still on medication and is doing fine.

When the teens came back to the United States, they heard Congress was discussing legislation on whether or not to spend any more money on rebuilding Uganda.

Inspired by the troubled citizens who had to survive and struggle through hardship, the teens took action. They traveled to Washington, D.C., to fight for funding.

Two members of the ICO, Lauren Bazan and Patrick Campbell, were at the UMKC showing of the film. They had also traveled to Uganda.

Bazan and Campbell took questions from the audience and promoted ICO merchandise, some of the proceeds of which go toward the Schools for Schools initiative.

The Invisible Children activists asked audience members to spread the word about the war in northern Uganda, as so many people are unaware there is any conflict in that region.

dcalderon@unews.com