RKYV #8 - Creation In Our World: Not All Creation Means Artwork

The idea of sharing photos will be put on hold until the May or June issue – probably the May issue. Unfortunately one of my classes is a bit tougher than the other four and requires full dedication if I want to keep my GPA from sinking, so I don’t have the time to log into a slow photo account to upload a photo. I had to pencil in time to write this on my spring break between visiting my family, and then a time to edit the final touches.
So. Back to the column.
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This has been an incredible month of reawakening for me, so I hope no one minds this slight diversion from my typical topic. It certainly relates to creation and culture – just from a new perspective.

This column has traditionally focused on artwork as the main form of creation. Yet there is a good deal of creation occurring every day that many people overlook. Or, they and their culture find this creation a source of hassling annoyance.

I, for example, volunteer for the Invisible Children, Inc. group – nonprofit and founded by three young men when they were eighteen and nineteen years old in 2003, the organization has strived to collect donations and raise awareness to end a twenty-three year long war in Africa. In other words, it has strived to create peace and stability.

By the way – do not let this country dissuade you from reading. Africa is a gorgeous place as well as a troubled one. Its individual states have their own governments, and the continent has made stupendous progress since it was able to break free from colonialism one at a time in the late 1900s.

There are always the few bad apples to spoil the barrel; in the case of Uganda, one rebel named Joseph Kony who has refused to end his war against the government, resulting in his kidnapping and brainwashing of children ages 5 to 14. He is a wanted criminal for crimes against humanities – for encouraging a genocide that has spread from Uganda into three neighboring countries (the Congo, Sudan, and the Central African Republic). He has taken 30,000 children total since he began abductions in the 1990s.

Some have escaped; many have not.

So, where does the creation come into play, other than the apparently impossible creation of peace in this turmoil?

It comes in the form of three young men. Three young men who created a group and had the courage to do so when no one knew about their cause and the plight of central Africa’s youth.

They created a revolution; they breathed life into teenage activism; and since they began in 2003, they have created jobs for the suffering living in displacement camps under government orders. They have raised millions to begin to rebuild schools, to hire tutors and teachers alike, and to pay for tuition so the excited can attend school.

Don’t believe me? For two years this group has held my heart. I have donated hundreds, irritated plenty of thoughtless people, and recruited just as many caring ones. I have slept in the middle of a muddy field with over 2,000 strangers in my city, not to mention 68,000 total across our nation in the movement called Displace Me.

We got our message across; we bought peace talks. The only reason these peace talks failed? One man, one rebel leader, decided not to appear. And on this past Christmas he massacred over 600 and kidnapped over 200 children in retaliation against central Africa.

Yet Invisible Children, colleges and high schools alike, have held strong and have continued to fight for the end of the war. Because we cannot back out now; and when one approach fails, you try another. Because to back out now is to say what we created means nothing.

And we have created the greatest creation possible: HOPE.

Hope for the war torn adults; and hope for the children who have more motivation than the average American and who strive to become doctors and lawyers to prevent war from ever happening again. Hope.

Those humanitarian groups that I’m sure people here have cursed out because we’re silly, naïve, foolish for even trying to raise money to change another continent? We wouldn’t still be doing it and occasionally having our asses handed to us by a few punks if it wasn’t worth it, if the people who did stop to listen and learn and open up hadn’t contributed, and if a couple teenagers hadn’t dedicated themselves – even the ones not to the extreme as Invisible Children’s founders.

If anyone ever wants to participate in creating something as glorious as change, as hope, then now is the perfect time to do so. Help the organizations at schools and churches. Take part in the big fundraisers.

And for more information on Invisible Children, and the global movement that will be taking place to spread the word that 90% of a rebel army is composed of kidnapped and brainwashed children, visit:

www.invisiblechildren.com
http://therescue.invisiblechildren.com/