Students will have the opportunity to learn more about the Invisible Children organization and their work in Africa during InterVarsity’s screening of the organization’s new documentary this October.

The screening will take place on Oct. 10 at 7:30 p.m. in the Stark Auditorium. It will be the main event in a campaign to raise awareness about Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army. Kony is known as the leader of the LRA, a group which is responsible for abducting and killing children under the age of 18 who found outside of cities in Africa.

InterVarsity holds a social justice campaign every year. This year, the InterVarsity staff hopes that this campaign will encourage students to improve the world on a global scale rather than focusing only on a local scale.

“Just because we’re in America doesn’t mean we can turn our backs on other places,” said Mike Thornton, the staff leader for InterVarsity.

The goal of the campaign is to increase awareness about Kony and the LRA, as well as to show people what they can do to help with this problem and other international issues. By learning about an issue, students may be inspired to make their voices heard.

“Democracy can change the world,” said Brittany Ann Erickson, the student president of InterVarsity. She encourages students to contact their government representatives and make their voices heard regarding the LRA issue in Africa, as well as other issues around the globe.

Invisible Children has been in existence for around ten years. The organization began when a group of filmmakers travelled to Africa in search of something to film. When they learned about the Lord’s Resistance Army, they made a documentary titled “Invisible Children Uncut” to raise awareness of the crisis.

The theme for this fall’s event is “Movement,” and will update those in attendance on what has happened since last year’s campaign and show how people can continue to make a difference.

In addition to the screening, the campaign will include a speaker from Uganda and may also include some workshop opportunities. Although these workshops are not yet guaranteed to be part of the event, they would provide other chances to learn more about Invisible Children and to address the concern surrounding funding are currently under consideration. A follow-up event is also being considered.

Invisible Children has come to Winona State University twice in the past. Most recently, InterVarsity took part in a campaign for Invisible Children last spring for a showing of the documentary “Kony 2012.” The goal for this documentary was to make Kony’s name known so that he could be found and stopped.

Last year’s campaign received mixed reviews. Many people thought that sharing a video was not an effective way to raise awareness and create change.

“A lot of people shot it down, thought it was low effort,” said Thornton. The purpose of last year’s campaign was to raise awareness about the issue so that people could make a difference in the issue.

Another concern among skeptics of Invisible Children has been that of where the funding goes. Many people believe that because the organization raises awareness about the specific issue in Africa, most of the money donated to the organization will be sent to Africa. According to Thornton, the money does go where Invisible Children says it will go. Much of it goes to fund the creation of the organization’s documentary films.

“Most people that I’ve talked to are just curious,” Thornton said. He hopes that students will take the time to come and learn more about Invisible Children’s cause. He considers it a great opportunity to learn about a charity organization directly.

Contact Rebecca at [email protected]