President Obama referenced the mission to stop the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast yesterday. This is a big sign that things are going well.

“And when I decide to stand up for foreign aid, or prevent atrocities in places like Uganda, or take on issues like human trafficking, it’s not just about strengthening alliances, or promoting democratic values, or projecting American leadership around the world, although it does all those things and it will make us safer and more secure. It’s also about the biblical call to care for the least of these — for the poor; for those at the margins of our society.”

Read the full transcript of President Obama’s speech here via The Washington Post.

Very soon the incredible Roadies joining us from Uganda will be arriving in America. We want to keep them warm and well-prepared for their upcoming adventures across North America. Their appreciation for any possible assistance in providing these items would be huge. They are needed by February 20th at the latest.

What they need: (For young adults in their 20’s – Men & Women)

• Sleeping bags (New or gently used)
• Coats & jackets (New or gently used)
• Hats, scarves & gloves
• Body lotion for dry skin
• Toothbrushes & toothpaste
• Deodorant

Where to send them:

Attn: Ugandan Roadies
Invisible Children, Inc.
1620 5th Avenue, Suite 400
San Diego, CA 92101

Brittany Keesling
Office of Development
Bkeesling@invisiblechildren.com
619-562-2799 Ext 229

Washington Post published this article by writer Michael Gerson about Joseph Kony and the international effort to bring him to justice. The article discusses the status of military personnel, the myths that surround Kony, and the commitment to put a stop to this man, this war. Our upcoming campaign, KONY 2012, is centered around the mandatory need for Joseph Kony to be captured and held accountable for his decades of torture as the leader of the LRA. Michael Getson hits the nail on the head with this brilliant and heartbreakingly written article, and it goes hand-in-hand with everything that we are determined to see happen this year. Read the article [excerpted below] and may you get as pumped up as we are to launch KONY 2012 and bring the world’s worst war criminal to justice.

From The Washington Post:

The net tightens around Joseph Kony

By Michael Gerson, Published: January 26

DUNGU, Congo

Francoise, age 16, talks quietly, revealing a shy smile only after praise for her tight cornrows. While walking to school four years ago, she and some classmates were captured by the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The girls were distributed to soldiers as “wives.” In the mornings, Francoise cooked. In the afternoons, she carried packs on the march. When she tried to escape, the soldiers melted a water container and poured the plastic on her shoulders. Once, when the fighters saw two infants along the path, they crushed them with a pestle. “I witnessed that,” she says.

She recalls seeing Joseph Kony “maybe once a year.” Kony is the leader of the LRA and perhaps the most hated and hunted man on earth. His followers, she explains, think that “he is a supernatural being. He has a power over them.”

Francoise describes a six-week walk to an LRA camp in a remote part of the neighboring Central African Republic (CAR). Then the sounds of an attacking plane and helicopter. In the chaos, she escaped, arriving home just before Christmas.

Her story is eyewitness confirmation of an important event. During the summer, Kony recalled his commanders to the CAR for his first major leadership meeting in two years. On Sept. 12, forces of Uganda’s military (known as the UPDF) scattered the LRA fighters. Kony survived and fled. But the net around him tightens.

The pursuit of the LRA ranges over 240,000 square miles of jungle terrain in three countries. According to officers at the Joint Intelligence and Operations Center in Dungu, there were more than 300 LRA attacks last year. Units operate in small bands both east and west of Dungu. But Kony is still thought to be in the CAR. Experts on the conflict speculate his current location to be somewhere west of the Chinko River, a few hours by helicopter from his pursuers’ nearest military outpost.

Read the full article here and see the shout-out Invisible Children gets for their strides with the LRA Crisis Tracker. And yes, that’s Ben Affleck in the photo.

-Krista

(Photo Credit: The Washington Post)

And now, a word from the IC Book Drive Team:

Hello Invisible Children supporters, book lovers, and book haters alike (after all, if you don’t want your books – we’ll gladly accept them!) This is just a friendly book drive check-in from your friendly book drive team. Things are pumping along steadily down here in the book drive department as our Book Drive Competition nears its close on Tuesday, February 7. As you book drivers move toward the close of the competition, here’s a little nugget of wisdom to feed your minds from our man Henry David Thoreau:

“Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations.”

So keep on collecting that treasured wealth of nations, make sure your UPS pick-up is scheduled for on or before February 7th, and one of you will win a trip to Uganda!

Remember, you can always call or email us if you have any questions or if you need encouragement (I am a certified hoarder of book-themed inspirational quotes). You guys are crushing it and we can’t wait to see the final numbers – this is the home stretch!

Love,
The Book Drive Team
bookdrive@invisiblechildren.com
(619) 562-2799 x209

Invisible Children’s LRA Crisis Tracker ad has been eligible for consideration for TED’s annual Ads Worth Spreading challenge.  Learn more about the LRA tracker here.  In the meantime, help a non-profit out by watching, voting, and spreading: Push play

-Krista

Facebook is creating new ways to listen to music online. As a sharer… I know I’m going to love this. It’s only available on a trial basis.. so check your profile to see if you’re one of the lucky ones.

Music is one of the most powerful and fun ways to connect. Whether it’s at a concert with a bunch of people or on a long car ride with your best buddy, we love listening to music with our friends. But what if you could listen to music with your friends when you’re alone, like at work, at home or on the go?

Today, with music services on Facebook, there’s a new way to listen with friends. This feature lets you listen along with any of your friends who are currently listening to music. You can also listen together in a group while one of your friends plays DJ.

You can listen to the same song, at the exact same time—so when your favorite vocal part comes in you can experience it together, just like when you’re jamming out at a performance or dance club.

more…

Defections are happening. Frontline Fundraisers, be sure to watch this.

In the Protection Plan we set down our strategy to expand FM radio networks and encourage LRA combatants to come out of the bush. To launch our plan in the Central African Republic, Invisible Children partnered with an existing local radio station near Obo, called Radio Zereda (or Radio for Peace), and provided them with the resources to expand the broadcast range from a 1km-radius to a  more than 30km-radius. (This blog introduces Radio Zereda and the partnership beautifully.)

This video is proof that LRA combatants are actually receiving the broadcasts and listening to them. Arthur, the founder of Radio Zereda, tells the story of how one of their recent defection broadcasts prompted an LRA combatant to leave the bush and lay down his weapons.

This is real. This is happening. Take heart.

The LRA Crisis Tracker was the product of more than a year’s hard work and a collaboration between Invisible Children, Resolve, and Digitaria, launching in September 2011.

At this year’s Creative Media Awards the LRA Crisis Tracker won its category of “New/Emerging/Experimental Media.” The other two finalists in the category were campaigns for Yoplait and the CW Television Network.

The Creative Media Awards are sort of a big deal when you take into account that other award-winning campaigns were crafted for brands like Lexus, Audi, Zappos, etc.

But that’s not all. The LRA Crisis Tracker won the “Best in Show” award.

During his presentation of the award, Judge Mike Bloxham, Executive Director of Marketing for the Media Behavioral Institute, acknowledged that the judges agreed unanimously on the recipient, saying they had to strip each entry of its cause and budget to focus solely on the creativity of the campaign. “Every avenue, every channel that they chose to leverage, needs to be done consistently, coherently and to a very high standard and to reached the audiences they’ve stated in their target,” he pointed out.

Since its launch in September, the tool has been able to fill a vital information gap. Our Director of Programs in Central Africa, Adam Finck, presented the LRA Crisis Tracker at a conference for crisis mappers around the world. Watch the 5-minute video here to get a quick overview of the tool. And visit LRACrisisTracker.com to see it for yourself.

We are honored and humbled by the recognition the LRA Crisis Tracker is receiving, but ultimately we are just glad to know that it is being used effectively and to its purpose of filling the information gap–and hopefully hastening an end to LRA violence.

Invisible Children and Resolve were invited to present the LRA Crisis Tracker at the International Conference of Crisis Mappers (ICCM) in Geneva about a month ago.

This is a 5-minute video of Adam Finck, our Director of Programs in Central Africa, explaining the LRA Crisis Tracker to a room full of riveted crisis mappers (the best kind of nerd fest). He talks about the events that compelled us to create it and the inspiration that shaped it. He tells a story about how it works and he touches on our plans for Phase 2. All in 5 minutes. Maybe you should watch it.

2011’s over. To be specific, Fiscal Year 2011 is way over. But for those of you keeping us on task, get ready: Financial statement. 990 form. Annual Report. It’s all ready and downloadable for your winter break reading:  http://invisiblechildren.com/financials. Or, we can save you a step, and you can click on this link to go straight to the Annual Report (you’re welcome for making life so easy for you). Our graphic designers made this look beautiful, and our development team made sure the details were legit. You’ll get a full breakdown of how Invisible Children made its money this year and how we spent it*. Okay, stop reading this, and start reading that. Here’s the link again: http://invisiblechildren.com/financials.

*All Starbucks purchases came out of our own pockets.