Invisible Conflicts educates students about world conflicts

Night falls and thousands of people commute to a place of temporary sanctuary carrying mats. Imagine a sea of thousands of children, lying on top of each other sleeping, limbs intertwined and shifting positions; it is impossible to get comfortable because of the volume of children in one confined space.

This is what the children of Northern Uganda, a civil war torn country with a rebel group that has resorted to stealing children for soldiers, face each night for safety. They commute for fear of their lives, pack up each morning, just to do it all over again the next night.

"We fear that if we sleep at home, we will be abducted," said one little boy from the "Invisible Children" documentary.

"At this moment in Uganda, children as young as eight are methodically kidnapped from their homes by a rebel group called the "Lord's Resistance Army" or more commonly referred to as the LRA. The abducted children are then desensitized to the horror of brutal violence and killing as they themselves are turned into vicious fighters. Some escape and hide in constant fear for their lives," says the official Web site.

In fact, a child in this video said that he gets a headache if he doesn't see blood.

This is the situation that the "Invisible Children" documentary touches on, as well as the Registered Student Organization on campus, Invisible Conflicts.

Brett Heaton, junior in LAS and member of Invisible Conflicts, said that their group focuses on awareness and that they hope to educate people about the conflicts in the world.

"We just want to get the information out there and give people really simple things that they can do to make a tangible difference," Heaton said.

Invisible Conflicts is not completely under Invisible Children; they do, however, partner with them by showing their documentary.

"We want people to research different conflicts and to bring them to our meetings," Heaton said. "Right now we are researching conditions in Haiti and also throwing the idea around about the sex trade. There is room for anyone to get involved (in our organization)."

Patrick Mustain, junior in AHS and member of Invisible Conflicts, said that these conflicts do affect students even though they are not immediately present in their lives.

"I think we just close ourselves up in these bubbles," Mustian said. "A lot of Americans don't realize what the world is going through because we are so comfortable. I personally don't think that we should go about living our life just for our own comfort, and once you see that there are other problems going on, we have a responsibility to help."

Munstain said help does not always have to be in monetary form.

"Money is great," Mustain said. "It's necessary, but action is more meaningful."

Such an action sent three American boys to Africa. They wanted to see if a story could change the world, but what they found was much more than what they expected.

One of the young boys describes losing his best friend, and the emotion nearly jumps from the screen and into the viewers' hearts.

"His name was Jack Robinson; he was my best friend," he said. "I don't know where he is now, maybe he is dead or alive, I don't know now. We were abducted with him. When I think of him, sometimes I can even cry but nowadays, I cannot cry because if I feel of him, my heart will only be beeping like this. So instead of crying, my heart will just keep on beeping. And if my heart is beeping, I should stop thinking about him."

However, amidst the chaos and poverty that has come out of a nearly 20-year-long war, the situation is not completely desolate.

"The people of Africa are resilient to the situation. They choose joy, and this is what Africa is about," said a man in the documentary.

Like it or not, this is the children's story. The documentary asks people to look at the world outside of our comfort zone and see all the turmoil.

Invisible Contacts
For those interested in becoming a part of Invisible Conflicts, meetings are held Wednesdays at 9:30 p.m. in room 186 Lincoln Hall.