The Rescue Atlanta

April 29, 2009

On April 25, Invisible Children had The Rescue event in 100 cities in 10 countries, including Atlanta. I was fortunate to be a part of this event, and feel honored to have been so.

Basically, the purpose of the event was for people who care about the abducted child soldiers of Northern Uganda to come together to make them visible to a world that rarely sees them, in the hopes that the world will take action to rescue them.

We wrote letters, made art projects, reached out to news outlets, and (in Atlanta’s case) marched from Turner Field to Grant Park, holding onto ropes and signs.

Each city was to wait until it was rescued, by a politician, celebrity, or other person of cultural influence who could help raise a voice for these people. In Atlanta, we were rescued by Jeff Foxworthy (who has an amazing heart for Africa, and also has endorsed some great books) and Congressman John Lewis, who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King in the Civil Rights movement. My friend has a short video of John Lewis‘s words to us, and it is very powerful.

It was really powerful for us to have the opportunity to meet and hear from both of these, and especially a man who was such an integral part of the Civil Rights movement, and is still such an important voice for peace. We are all hopeful that the kind of change sought by this event will really be able to come to Uganda. This June, there will be a lobbying event in Washington, that will hopefully be another step of what, we hope, took a huge step this weekend.