Invisible Children shares stories of struggle in Africa

They describe themselves as storytellers, informing the public through visual art.

“It is more effective to tell a story than to throw facts at the audience,” sophomore Kristen Cattell said. “When you really see it on-screen, it makes you think ‘What am I doing to help this situation?’ and ‘Why isn’t this being brought to the public eye?’”

Cattell is highlighting the work being done by Invisible Children.  

Invisible Children is a national organization that creates documentaries about children affected by war in East Africa and travels around the world sharing its findings with others, according to its Web site.

The group’s work is multifaceted and involves many people, which now includes students at IU. Cattell is leading the IU chapter as its founder and president.
Documentaries are the organization’s main focus, but other programs range from microlending and fair trade to providing clean water for East African nations.  

As a fledgling group, the IU chapter essentially implements any initiative that Invisible Children sends its way, Cattell said. The program the IU chapter has adopted is Schools for Schools, which pairs struggling Ugandan schools with others that can help.

Cattell said the project focuses on secondary education in northern Uganda. IU is partnered with Layibi Secondary School and is currently focused on providing the local students with books and other reading materials.

The long-term goals for Layibi Secondary School involve building up the surrounding village by providing clean water, new technology and microfinance opportunities, Cattell said.  

“This will allow the community to grow, and it will allow families to come back from displacement camps and rebuild their lives,” Cattell said.  

To achieve these goals, the IU group is working on a national book drive. They are collecting new and used textbooks that will be resold with 20 percent of the money raised going toward the fund for Layibi.

Last year, working with only a few devoted friends, Cattell collected more than 10,000 books out of her dorm room for Invisible Children.  

The IU group has received support from the campus. The callout meeting during the second week of classes drew so many students that Cattell thought she was in the wrong room.  

“People really want to get involved when they see the clips we show,” said sophomore Mitchell Schoeneman, member of IU’s Invisible Children chapter. “Once you see how these children are treated and how they grow up, it feels inhumane to not respond.”

Cattell said that the group now has about 20 to 30 constant members, though the Facebook group boasts more than 80 students.  

“This is really a grassroots experiment, and people usually get hooked when they hear the story,” Cattell said.  

Through the work of national and local groups, Invisible Children hopes to urge President Barack Obama to lead the rest of the world in efforts to bring peace to northern Uganda, a region that has been plagued with war and genocide, Cattell said.

The IU chapter is concerned first and foremost with informing the public about the cause.

Cattell urges the Facebook members to sign the Invisible Children petition.  

Cattell will spend next summer as an intern for Invisible Children in San Diego before becoming president of the IU chapter.

“This is something that has moved me,” Cattell said. “I want to share the story with as many people as I can.”