Youth Join together for the Crisis in Uganda: Invisible Children

Invisible Children is a non-profit grassroots organization that works towards transforming apathy into activism. It all began as an adventurous trip to northern Uganda for 3 friends from Southern California in 2003, and has since turned into an incredible social, political and global movement among the youth to engage in the atrocities there, and around the world, creatively and effectively.

Invisible Children: The Rough Cut is a film about the plight of child soldiers and night commuters in northern Uganda. The documentary was filmed in 2003 when three young men from Southern California—Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey and Laren Poole (then 24, 21, and 20)—traveled to Sudan “to find a story”.

Instead, their adventure took them into the depths of northern Uganda where they discovered thousands of people affected by the brutality and attacks of a rebel group known as the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The documentary chronicles their experience as young Americans learning firsthand about a conflict largely unknown to the international community, while also informing audiences about the great humanitarian crisis of child soldiers.

The film was screened for the first time on June 22, 2004 at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice at the University of San Diego to friends and family of the filmmakers. Soon after, students across the United States were passing along DVDs of the documentary and wanted to know how to help the children in northern Uganda.

Out of the overwhelming public response, the filmmakers co-founded the nonprofit Invisible Children Inc. – an awareness and development organization.

Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey, and Laren Poole remain instrumental in the success and creativity of the nonprofit and are currently working on the feature film, tentatively scheduled to release in theaters in 2009. Look out for it. It’s promised to one of the most moving and inspiring documentary this year. In the mean time, check out a quick overview of their work:

To learn more about these young men and the movement they’ve initiated, go to:
http://www.invisiblechildren.com/media/videos/detail.php?id=673477611