Iris_chapter 10: Heartland Education Seminar

Me and Han went to the Monday Session of the Heartland Education Seminar (Liz was there, too) and I was quite (EXTREMELY) impressed by the keynote speakers.
....Why I am telling this?...Well it just made me think how the negative and positive things in and about a story can enforce the message you pull out of it!

Bobby Bailey, Jason Russell and Laren Poole are three young filmmakers who traveled to Africa in 2004 and discovered the children of Northern Uganda being abducted from their homes and forced to fight as child soldiers in the country’s battles. Every night the children commute from their homes to gather together in a place they feel is "safe". The filmmakers decided to record/film their experiences to create a cultural wake-up call. Their Film is called "Invisible Children - Rough Cut" (because it is a project still progressing) They received the highest possible award of Heartland.

http://www.invisiblechildren.com/home.php

The negative part of the story is the situation in Uganda, the positive part is how we (All!) are able to change the situation. In course of the last three years the non-profit organization founded by the trio has raised 12Mio $ (most donations under 20$!) and the different events and projects (e.g. national commute night in US 2006, school for school) caused so much involvement that the peace talks in Uganda are running and at the moment the night commuting of the children has decreased dramatically! Now the filmmakers are focusing on the displacement camps still existing in Uganda. The creativity of the guys was overwhelming!!! They pulled all the projects with almost no seed money and are able to spark young people to take initiative and get involved in the projects contributing whatever their strength may be.

What struck me was that the film started out as a documentation of unimaginable atrocities and devastating life circumstances will turn into "an anthem for this generation" (according to filmmakers), because the filmmakers say that this young generation has the power to change the world ("Go Millennials"!!!!!!!!). They clearly state that Uganda is just a starting point and involvement can be everywhere -even locally in US communities!

I like their approach of the "rough cut" ...history always has preceding and descending events! Just because one problem seems to be "solved" doesn't mean that the work is over....(and I caught myself feeling too comfortable when hearing that the commuting ended!!!)