'Invisible Children' Film and Speakers at DCCC March 15 to Raise Awareness of Africa's Child Soldier Victims

By Myra Thompson
Davidson County Community College

March 10, 2011

On Tuesday, March 15, representatives of the national “Invisible Children” organization who work to stop the use of child soliders in Africa will present their new movie, “Tony,” at the Davidson County Community College Conference Center on the Davidson Campus.
The newly-released movie will be shown twice since seating is limited. No tickets are needed, and the event is free. The showings will take place at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. on the second level of the Conference Center.

The film documents the life of Tony, a Ugandan who has been affected by war in his home country. The Invisible Children organization raises awareness about and helps children who are abducted and forced to fight as soldiers in the Lord’s Resistance Army, a rebel group waging war in central East Africa.

The Inivisible Children event is sponsored by the DCCC Rotaract Club, whose members work to provide opportunities for personal development through service to their communities that promote better relations between all people worldwide.

The Lord’s Resistance Army or LRA was founded in 1986 by Joseph Kony and since then, it has abducted over 30,000 children in northern Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and the Central African Republic. It is estimated that more than 90 percent of the LRA’s troops were abducted as children.

The majority of the middle and high school age students assisted by Invisible Children are orphans who lost their parents to the war or to HIV/AIDs.  Almost 13 percent have been kidnapped by the LRA at least once. Five percent are members of families headed by children, and three percent are child-mothers.

Four Invisible Children speakers will introduce the film, including a native Ugandan who will give insight into the civil war. Following the showing of the film, the speakers will answers questions about their experiences. Invisible Children was founded in 2003 by three college filmmakers who traveled to Africa and discovered the cruel use of child soldiers in northern Uganda’s 20-year war, a  war that has been called the most neglected humanitarian emergency in the world today.
Seth Williams, a team leader for Invisible Children, is in his fourth year with the group. He first became involved with the initiative during his senior year of high school in Southern California. Joining Williams at DCCC will be Jessica Tkachuck, a lifeguard, piano teacher and future photojournalist, who is from Calgary, Alberta and is completing her baccalaureate degree at Mount Royal University. Also on the team is Katie McKenzie of Columbia, S.C., a communications graduate of Clemson University.