Invisible Children

L to R: Okori Eric, Jolly Grace, me and Sam

I've been back in the States for a while now, but wanted to write about the group Invisible Children in Uganda. Many of you have probably seen the Invisible Children movie (if you haven't, you need to!) about the war in Northern Uganda and the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) led by Joseph Kony, seen Invisible Children staff on Oprah, worn a bracelet, participated in a rescue, etc.

While in Uganda, Sam Kisolo (a member of the Chalmers' Center Global Fellowship of Trainers) and I were able to meet with the Invisible Children Country director, Jolly Grace, and their economic director, Okori Eric. Those of you who have seen the Invisible Children video may recognize Jolly Grace as the driver who takes the guys making the Invisible Children movie around Uganda (in the video she's pregnant and explains much of the situation in Northern Uganda with the LRA).

Invisible Children is now working on long-term development efforts, as the region has thankfully been more peaceful in recent years. They are working with Internally Displaced People (think refugees but within their own country) at the IDP camps, helping them return to their communities and working with them with educational and development efforts so that the IDPs are equipped to better handle life's challenges living in a developing country when they return home.

This information from their website offers an idea of their current work:

"Our approach to humanitarian work is founded in the strength and intelligence of the Ugandan community. We learned early on it was not only important but essential to heed the wisdom of people that had not only lived in the war, but were surviving it. People who would know better than anyone what the greatest needs were and the best ways to meet them. What we came to find is that while there have been many efforts to address the issues that stem from living and fighting in such a long-lasting war, the people of Uganda are asking for a future beyond the conflict.

Their pleas have become our development strategy.

All of our programming is a partnership between those of us at Invisible Children and those in the Ugandan community. We focus on long-term goals that enable children to take responsibility for their future and the future of their country. Our programs are carefully researched and developed initiatives that address the need for quality education, mentorships, the redevelopment of schools, resettlement from the camps, and financial stability."

Sam and I met with them because one of their strategies is to promote community-based savings and credit associations (similar to the savings group I worked with in Peru) among those they work with. The Chalmers Center has done extensive research on these savings and credit associations, has written a curriculum for it, has trained hundreds of people around the world in this poverty alleviation strategy, and believes that it is a great tool to spread the blessings of the Gospel to the materially poor around the world. So, we were very excited to meet with Invisible Children to see how we could partner with them to offer training as they work among the people of Northern Uganda. I was very impressed with Sam's knowledge of Christian economic development and what holistic ministry should look like. He will most likely do the training with Invisible Children staff in the coming months. It was wonderful to see the Chalmers training put into practice in the form of our GFT, to see how practical and applicable our economic development strategies are in so many settings, and to meet with this great organization. My only complaint is that I probably won't be able to go back and do the training alongside Sam, but I'll keep hoping. ;)