Collegiate Times

Virginia Tech students thank Mr. President for his affords to stop LRA in Africa.

The cries of Ugandan children echoed through Burruss auditorium Tuesday night. But an international organization is trying to quell those cries through the power of multimedia.

Jason Russell, a co-founder of the international charity Invisible Children, and Stella Mistica, a Ugandan who lived in the war zone and is now a mentor through the program, spoke at Virginia Tech last night. 

The Tech chapter of Invisible Children held a screening of the documentary “Tony,” which tells the story of a young Ugandan child’s life in a war-stricken nation, a lecture, and question and answer session. 

Invisible Children is an international organization committed to ending the war led by a militant terrorist group known as the Lord’s Resistance Army, headed by Joseph Kony. Kony established the army in an attempt to take over the Ugandan government, using an army of abducted children to fight the cause.

“The people who have seen (Invisible Children) have invested in it and committed to its success,” Russell said.

Russell has spearheaded the organization with the two other co-founders, who have all spent a lot of time in the African war zone.

“Africa has become a second home to me,” Russell said. “It’s like when I go there — and I’ve been there over 20 times — that I’m at home. A lot of my friends and family live there, and I feel that as I touch the African ground, I’m right back at home, back to being with the people that I love as much as my family.”

But although the night would highlight a lot of Russell’s and other Invisible Children’s members’ experiences, the main focus of the night was awareness.

“Tonight we’re focused on awareness — getting the word out about what’s happening in that area,” said Jessica Robertson, the president of Tech’s chapter.

Mistica, who lived in the war zone as a child and has been a mentor for Invisible Children for five years, said living in the war zone has been a moving force for advocating awareness about children soldiers.

“I grew up living it it for more than 10 years, and it was not easy,” she said. “Doing this is something that I do with a lot of will, a lot of interest, and I am so intentional about it because I know what it means. I went through it because I am a survivor of the war.”

Mistica said she hopes the organization will really have an impact on ending the violence in the region.

“It’s great to tell so many people

in the world about it and get together to do something to change the lives of these kids and stop the war,” Mistica said. “The only way we can do this is create awareness, and make as many people as possible to join hands and join the cause.”

Robertson said the event brought light to issues prominent in Uganda — and now in surrounding countries, as the LRA and Kony are beginning to abduct children from other countries as well.

“I don’t think any person will be able to leave the room saying they didn’t learn anything,” she said. “It’s an incredible task the founders have taken on. But I think the movie itself is very inspiring, and there’s a lot to learn from the movie and from Jason.”

The film captured eight years of the life of a Ugandan child named Tony, and how the founders of the organization got to know him and use him to help the cause. The movie highlighted the struggles of living in a world of war. Tony, along with his family and friends, were “night commuters,” which are children who travel to designated safe places to avoid abduction by the LRA. 

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A version of this article appeared in the Nov 9 issue of the Collegiate Times.