Invisible Children Viewing

Vital Stats

Courtney M

Portland, OR

people helped60
People Doing It20

The Problem

"Since Invisible Children: Rough Cut was filmed in 2003, night commuting has ended for the children of northern Uganda. For the past few years, the region has been closer to peace than ever before. From June 2006 to March 2008 in Juba, Sudan, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Government of Uganda (GoU) engaged in a series of peace talks in order to end the conflict. These peace talks, supported by special envoys from the United States and other nations, allowed for the longest period of peace in northern Uganda’s 23-year war.... In the last two years, an estimated 800,000 of the 1.8 million displaced have returned to their homes. But that leaves one million people currently living in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps. While the majority desires to return home, the issues surrounding their return are complex. Some have been displaced for more than a decade, and their former way of life is all but gone. Access to clean water, economic opportunities, health centers, and education are a pressing concern for all, and even more so for the many who contemplate returning to resource-barren villages." (http://www.invisiblechildren.com/about/history/)

Plan of Action

First, we raised money in the summertime by putting on a Kool-Aid stand. Then, we called the Tigard Public Library to rent out the community room and set a date. Next, we asked businesses like Gerber Legendary Blades and Sesame Donuts to donate some of their products for our event. We also called Invisible Children and asked for merchandise to sell there. We designed posters and brochures and made 100s of copies at Staples, and then we hung up the posters at our schools and passed out the brochures to everyone we know. Up until the event, we had multiple meetings so we could practice what we would say, make t-shirts, and test the equipment. (using the projector, that we borrowed from a friend, with the laptop, who we borrowed from another friend.)

Project Updates

We have decided to make this an annual event!
We are spending the summer collecting pop cans to raise money for the rental of the community room, and we are also working on getting a guest speaker from the Invisible Children organization to visit us on their fall tour.