To shine a light on the plight of children in Africa, Invisible Children will present a screening of its new video, “Move,” Sunday, Oct. 7, in the St. Francis Borgia Regional High School theater.
Invisible Children is an international group dedicated to stopping the Lord’s Resistance Army, a terrorist group in Africa headed by Joseph Kony.
“Kony is known to take children and desensitize them and make it so they can’t come back to their families,” said Alex Blechle, a SFBRHS senior who is organizing the event.
“Boys are put into the army. Girls are raped and sexually abused. A lot of times they’re forced to do awful things to their families so they would never be accepted back into their households,” he said.
Members of Invisible Children, called “roadies,” and Geoffery Ochen, a guest speaker who grew up in the conflict zone in Uganda, will visit the school for a 45 minute documentary, personal testimony and question and answer session.
The event is free and open to the public.
“These children are in situations they can’t get out of and they’re forced to do things no child should have to do,” Blechle said. “By supporting (the cause) they can re-energize Africa as a whole and make it more self-sufficient so they can stop their children from being harmed.”
Blechle said Invisible Children is not just about giving the people of Africa money, but giving them resources to change their lives, as well as a way to be independent and self-sufficient.
“People, teenagers especially, can make an impact thousands and thousands of miles away,” said Blechle, adding that he would like to have involvement from both SFBRHS and Washington High School.
“Besides directly affecting Africa, I think we can take this event home here and realize that social boundaries between Washington and Borgia don’t apply when you’re helping people,” he said. “It’s a good thing that both schools can get behind and support.”
Borgia’s Mass&More youth group is sponsoring the screening.
Merchandise, much of which was crafted by women impacted by the conflict, will be for sale at the screening.
Proceeds will benefit Invisible Children and the Roadie group.
For more information, people may search “Invisible Children Screening at SFBRHS” on Facebook, or email Blechle at Alexander.Blechle@students.Borgia.com.
