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| Just Imagine - You are eight years old and your only desire in life is to play, laugh, and get into trouble with your friends - to simply be a kid! To explore, to adventure, to conquer the world at eight years old - a universal truth for all children no matter what color, race, parents, or background. The right to safety, protection, and security to be a kid and enjoy life with an innocence that adults sadly seem to lose. An innocence that is so beautiful it can warm the spirit of any man or women. The smile and laughter of a child is truly a gift from God - it melts the heart and gives us a joy that is unexplainable. Simply put - all children are blessings from above and should be treated so. Sadly, not all children get to have a childhood or even have the chance to be kids - children I want to tell you about - a story that will disgust and hopefully inspire. A story of horror, terror, pain, and anguish that with your help will be stopped for without knowledge, change will never occur. The story begins with 3 college guys from California. What started out as a film-making adventure in Africa, transformed into much more, when these three men's original travels took a divine turn, and they found themselves stranded in Northern Uganda. The story that they fell upon was of a magnitude and seriousness they never expected. An untold story of hurting children. They discovered innocent children being kidnapped nightly from their homes and subsequently forced to fight as child soldiers. These children live in so much fear of abduction they literally commute every night to the larger towns and cities to sleep in public areas where the rebels will not go, for the rebels only attack the defenseless rural villages. The three men came back to the US with a vigor and a passion to act - so they did what they went to do, make a film. They originally screened the film in June 2004 for friends and family and soon expanded to high schools, colleges, and religious institutions, from suburban living rooms to Capitol Hill, with coverage on CNN, Fox News, Oprah, the National Geographic Channel, and more, this film has taken on a life of it's own. After audiences viewed the movie, one question repeatedly surfaced, "What can we do?" And so, a non-profit was born. The organization has grown by leaps and bounds over the few short years and has dedicated their resources to provide health, safety and education for the children of Northern Uganda who are affected by this 20-year-long war. It is their belief that we need to live for more, because the invisible children need more to live. A small group of Lincoln Christian College students, including myself, started doing fundraising work and viewings to benefit the Invisible Children organization last school year. Through this work grew a desire to go ourselves and to help these children in any capacity we can. What started out as a crazy dream by some ambitious students has turned into a reality - a 3 week planned trip this Christmas. To raise money for the trip we have been continuing viewings over the summer and also selling t-shirts. One such viewing will be held at the Fall Festival on Friday night starting around 9:00 (directly after the hypnotist) in the Christian Church parking lot. Admission is completely free - because above all else we want to spread the word of what Invisible Children is doing, for without knowledge, change will never occur. We will be selling our t-shirts at the viewing and would greatly appreciate any and all who would come and discover the unseen and support our group. The film is dedicated to exposing this tragic, and amazingly untold story. It is fast paced, made for the young and young at heart. It is something truly unique. To see Africa through young eyes is funny and heartbreaking, quick and informative - all in the very same breath. See this film, you will be forever changed. Until the kids can play
web page by phil bertoni |
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