In the spring of 2003, a group of young film– makers ventured to Africa hoping to hnd a story, but when they got th e re they found much more-they saw firsthand the struggles of th e Afr ica n p eople and th e suffering that the children the re could n ot escape. A group that calls th emse lves the Lord 's Resis– tance Army ( LRA) pl'oclaimed Christian values, but in reality kidnapped chi ldren and forced them to fight in an effo rt to ove rthrow the Ugan dan government . Joseph Ko ny. the leader of the LRA, led a campaign that resulted in over 30,000 child abductions since hi s "che ilion began in 1987. Aft e r showing a screen ing of a documentary about th e eve n ts the filmake r s witnessed, called "Invi sible Children," o n campus in the spring of 2009. sevel'al studen ts worked to help organize a nation-wide event caUed "The Rescue ," where p eople voluntarily 'abducted' th em selves and as– sembled at specil1.c places in citi es all around th e cou n try until they we l'e ' rescued ' by some political or celebrity I1.gure, The idea was to attract media coverage 10 raise awa reness and alert political lead– e r s of th e situation in Uganda, Soph omore Kayla Ross and May 2009 graduate Kacy Meadows were som e of p eople who helped organize the event in Little Rock, 'Tm preny sure I made at least 10 trips with various volunteer s to Little Rock in the month be – fore The Rescu e took place in order to scout out a [location] , Time was runn ing out, but somehow God a n swe r ed man y of our p r ayers and we were able to have a su ccessful eve nt ," Ross sai d. Acco rd ing to soph omore C laire Bracken, about 300 p eop le s howed up to the overnight eve nt in Lit tle Rock, m any of whom we r e Har – d ing st uden ts. Throughout the night. parti c i – p a n ts strove to make t h e i r vo ices hea r d, "Stud e n ts from acro ss Arka n sas sacrifi ced a night to sp eak up [abo ull social injustices, " Ross sa id. "They wrote lette r s to their Con – gressmen and made phone calls to local radio and n ews sta tions, as well as to the l egisla – ture. " The g ]'OUP accomplished its goal of getting media coverage and was eventually rescued the foll OWing day. "Th e n ews in Li t tl e Roc k cove red us twice: when everyo ne fi ,'s t sta rted showi ng up on Sat – urday night an d the n at the end when we were r escued," Bracken sa id. "Mark Stodola . th e Little Rock mayor, rescued us [on Sund ay] at 10;33 a. m. i n his cas ual clothe s . " The Rescue proved to be a successful e ffo r t for p eop le to voice the i r opposit ion to the in– just i ce in Uganda. Some students did not st op there, Se ni or Amb er Comp ton and junior Lind sey Sh ade mad e th e trek to Washington D,C. to participate in an o ther Invisi ble Chil– dre n eve nt called " H ow It Ends" to help t he gove rnm ent unde r st and the pain that so many children in Uganda were ex periencing. "Wh en I he8l'd and ,'ead about the torture. mutil atio n , rape, and b as ical ly enslavement of t h ese children, I knew I wan ted to d o ev– e ,-yt h ing in m y powe r to raise t h e awareness of t h e i r s uffe ring," Comp ton sa id. Compton and S h ade joi ned thousands of p eople from all ove r th e count ry to m eet with Ame r ica's lea d e r s a nd rep rese ntat ives to try and make a difference for those children who live a life of const ant fear and struggle . "Our government gives us the opportunity t o be directly invo lved, We can go to Washing – ton, D. C . and lobby ," Comp t on sa id , "We ca n talk fac e to face with a u" r eprese ntatives and te ll them what we ca r e about and what's impor – tant t o u s . I wanted to take advantage of t ha t bleSS ing. I kn ew that I had the ability to go and d o someth ing, sO I did," The LRA Di sarmament and Nonhe rn Ugan d a Recovery Act was laid o ut before co n – gressme n and re p resentatives an d found great s uccess in th e firs t few days in the C apit o l. What began as a docume ntary, shown to open people's eyes to problems they had been unawa r e o f , turned into motivation for many to make a sta nd aga ins t t h e inj ust ice they saw, "Befo r e, I wo uld see somet h ing and feel sad for t h e issue but mostly be apathetic towards it ," Sh ade said , "Now I fee l empathy and I am doing something to help." Joe/B/ake campus activi ties 23
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