Invisible Children

This evening (Sunday), at 8:30 pm, we had a presentation here at JPUSA brought to us by a small group of people from California who are part of Invisible Children (including Natalie, my friend Michael's sister who grew up at JPUSA, but whom I had never met before). They showed us a beautiful and shocking documentary that deeply touched me and that is now keeping me awake to write. I can't just go to sleep, just like that. I need to write and share about the film and my thoughts.

The DVD was made in 2003 (so now things have changed in many ways thanks to Invisible Children) by three college students. They left for Africa to make a documentary of Sudan, but ended up discovering horrible things in Uganda and made this incredible documentary and founded the organization called Invisible Children. They found out that, for 17 years (now 22), there has been a terrible war (which is Africa's longest running war) between a group called the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Government of Uganda. The LRA are being led by a crazy man who lives in the jungle who wants to overthrow the government. These rebels are killing many people and they keep abducting children from 5 to 12 years of age and train them to be their soldiers. So, since it's so dangerous to stay where they live, thousands of children travel during the day to find a secret place to sleep in (though this has gotten a little better now). So these children pretty much lived on their own, hiding for fear of the rebels, with hardly any clothes or food and some being sexually taken advantage of from men in the towns (who use bags found in the sewers as condoms).
You can watch the whole movie here (it's 55 minutes long but PLEASE WATCH IT!!):
The first part of the movie is funny, but then it gets intense (though it's not really graphic, but obviously not something I would show children under 13).
While watching it, the hair on my skin would stood up and I felt a knot in my throat. I wanted to lock myself in my room and just cry and cry...If I wouldn't have been in a big room full of people I would have been crying and sobbing, but I was able to contain myself till one of the children in the video started crying and at that point I lost it.

There is now a second movie that has come out (that I bought, but haven't seen yet) that shows what Invisible Children are doing (basically bringing American students together to help raise money for protected schools in Uganda so these children can have an education and can be somewhat protected from the rebels). They also have people in Uganda make bracelets that they then sell in the U.S. with a DVD about the person who made it. 90% of the money goes back to the person that made the bracelet.

Natalie shared how, when she went to Uganda, the thing that struck her the most was that, even with all the horrible things going on, even in their tremendous desperation, they always turned to God and praised and thanked God for the blessings they have. When we, on the other hand, blame God for the smallest "bad things" that happen to us and get angry at Him! That really got me thinking of how true that is, and how THAT is one of the many reasons why poor countries attract me: the craving for God instead of material things and the beauty of those people's hearts.
I wish I could do something right now! Yeah, I bought their DVD and therefore gave money towards Ugandan children's school tuitions, but....I wish I could do MORE!

When Hannah and I got back to our room we started talking about the DVD that we had seen and all the thoughts that were going through our heads. Hannah brought up the fact that the guys left the day the war in Iraq started (which I actually didn't catch) and how that made her think of how horrifying it is that our Government has spent SO MUCH MONEY on the war for oil when there are things like this (Abducted children in Uganda forced to kill and children with nothing forced to hide) going on all over the world! It's so sad and aggravating!!

And that made me think of how it would be SO easy for God to just wipe everything and everyone off of the Earth, so that all that's bad would be over. But then I realized that God can't do it. Not because he can't 'cause, I mean, God can do anything, but God gave Noah and all of us a promise, he gave his only son for us because he loves us so much, and he has given us freedom of choice which lead to where we are now. Destroying everything bad, killing everyone who's evil, would break all of the above. And that is more important to God, WE are more important to God, than all the EVIL in the world. That is such a huge, insane and unbelievable thing!

Why does God love us so much???
Why does He do SO MUCH for us???
Why can certain people like me grow up without ever lacking any needs, while other children oceans away don't have a place to sleep, don't have clothes, don't have food, are beaten, raped, made to kill???

I guess He loves us because we're His creation, His children....
I guess I've had so many blessings, so that I can help those others who don't have them...
But I still wonder why He even created us if He knew that we were going to be so much trouble and were going to be so self destructive...

Just now I stopped to pray with Hannah, and while I was praying I had a revelation...Though I can't really help the children of Africa, India, Central America or some other poor country, I can still make a difference by being patient and loving towards others around me and try to show others who Jesus is. That IS what being a Christian is all about...