April 2009The Service Learning Council and the TCHS Students for Peace teamed up to host Invisible Children for a day at Timber Creek High School. Over 1,600 students and teachers heard the story of the Rescue and the child soldiers of Uganda.
From the Invisible Children web site:
In the spring of 2003, three young filmmakers traveled to Africa in search of a story. What started out as a filmmaking adventure transformed into much more when these boys from Southern California discovered a tragedy that disgusted and inspired them, a tragedy where children are both the weapons and the victims.Invisible Children works to educate people to the plight of the people in the Sudan.
After returning to the States, they created the documentary "Invisible Children: Rough Cut," a film that exposes the tragic realities of northern Uganda.s night commuters and child soldiers.
The film was originally shown to friends and family, but has now been seen by millions of people. The overwhelming response has been, "How can I help?" To answer this question, the non-profit Invisible Children, Inc. was created, giving compassionate individuals an effective way to respond to the situation.
...The war in northern Uganda has been called the most neglected humanitarian emergency in the world today. For the past 23 years, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Government of Uganda (GoU) have been waging a war that has left nearly two million innocent civilians caught in the middle. The GoU's attempt to protect its citizens from this rebel militia has largely failed, resulting in an entire generation of youth that has never known peace.
TCHS students signed up to volunteer at and attend the April 25th Rescue. They are working to call attention to the plight of victims of the Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel group which has fought against Uganda's government since 1987. The LRA is led by Joseph Kony, who claims to be a spirit medium.
About 1,000 students joined the rescue in Orlando to call attention to the tragedy in the Sudan and advocate for change through bringing attention to the issue and writing letters to policy makers. "Rescues" took place in cities across America.
Here are some photos of the TCHS event and a video of the Orlando Rescue.
