Co-produced by The Resolve LRA Crisis Initiative and Invisible Children, the January – March 2013 Quarterly Security Brief analyzes patterns in LRA activity in the first three months of this year. The data is derived from the LRA Crisis Tracker, which is a crisis-mapping social web platform that broadcasts in real-time the attacks perpetrated by the LRA. It’s the first of its kind when it comes to LRA data visualization, and we’re dang proud of it.

Here are some notables, compliments of the Executive Summary:

The full report, available here, includes maps of LRA attacks and additional analysis on people who escaped or were released from the LRA.

You can get daily, hourly, minute-by-minute updates on LRA activity by visiting LRAcrisistracker.com or by following them on Twitter @CrisisTracker.

There is no greater moment than listening to the radio and discovering an incredible song by an artist you’ve never heard of. As much as I obviously embrace the technology of this era (I’m writing this while e-mailing from my phone), I’ve always longed for the Almost Famous days of music discovery. Sadly, the current landscape of radio in the United States doesn’t allow for this to occur. Thankfully, though, these moments of discovery are still possible with the UK’s Radio 1 and Australia’s triple j.

I was listening to triple j’s morning show this afternoon (timezones are honestly the weirdest), when they played this gem, and I immediately had to know everything about it. “The Breach” is a track from Dustin Tebbutt, a songwriter who spent two years in the depths of Stockholm creating his album. Like another famous musical hibernator, Dustin’s sound is spacious, layered, and hella folky. The video is perfectly lo-fi, as well.

His album, the same name as this track, is on the horizon and promises similarly atmospher-folk (a genre I just created as genre names are usually dreadfully presumptuous.)

Watch the video for “The Breach” here:

Yes, you read that right. An actual Emmy. Meet Cameron Woodward (handsome fellow on the right) and Brandon Tauszik (handsome fellow on the left), two Invisible Children alumni. Like anyone else, we at Invisible Children love name-dropping and bragging about our friends, so we especially love it when we get to simultaneously name drop and brag in a single blog post.

Cameron started out as a Deep South Roadie in 2007, and later joined our staff to lead the recurring donations program with the Mission Department. He then went on to become the project lead in Digital Media Marketing where our online properties including Twitter, Facebook and this very blog were built. And just in case that wasn’t enough, he worked on a number of operational and business development projects with Chris Sarette, our current VP of Business Operations.

Brandon was a 2009 Europe Roadie, and then took a position as a staff editor/director working on tour media for the Rescue, Legacy, and Face to Face tours, as well as dozens of campaign podcasts. In 2010 he was sent to Uganda to capture our programs on the ground. Since then, he’s assisted Magnum photographer Jim Goldberg, and directed a number of commercials for some of the largest companies in the world.

To cap it off, both worked with our Music Department to set the editorial tone of the SXSW Silver series.

After their time at Invisible Children, the duo started a commercial video firm called Sprinkle Lab. “We started Sprinkle Lab in 2011 to discover and support the most talented designers, directors, and producers to create commercials, films, music videos and objects for audiences, clients and ourselves. We’ve worked on projects with Microsoft, Twitter, Razorfish, Partizan, IBM, GOOD, charity: water, Robyn, Magnum Photos, and on occasion, we even get to work with our parent company, Invisible Children.” (#ThatsUs)

(So in case you didn’t follow, they did all of that before winning an Emmy award… It’s ok if you’re feeling inadequate. I know I am.)

So on to the Emmy award. Cameron and Brandon were the producers (via Sprinkle Lab) and won in the “Community/Public Service (PSAs)” category,  for which there was one spot. (You can click that link if you don’t believe us). They beat out Bank of America (#bigbucks), Alaska State Troopers (who had two project nominations), and two other nominees in their category. It goes without saying that these guys are amazing at what they do.

Here’s Cameron casually hanging out at the Emmy Awards show, holding the Emmy he casually won.

I asked Cameron to share a bit about the project and this is what he had to say:

We could not have done it without the incredible education and mentorship we both received from the Invisible Children community. Specifically, Jason, Chris S. & Chris C. As for the project, it was a Public Service Announcement in conjunction with Frause and Seattle Hip-Hop legends, Blue Scholars. The video is part of a larger campaign called “Be Smart. Be Safe.” launched by Sound Transit in connection with new Sounder commuter train service from Lakewood to Tacoma. “People don’t realize how quiet the Sounder train is, and how fast it travels,” said Carol Doering, community outreach specialist for Sound Transit. “We want everyone who lives and works in the Lakewood area, where our new service just started, to pay attention and obey all the signs and signals around train tracks. We’re very excited to have a group as popular as the Blue Scholars helping us deliver these messages.

We couldn’t be more excited and proud of these guys, and we’ll keep bragging about our Emmy award-winning producer friends, because it’ll never get old. (#NotSorry)

(Photo credit: 1, 2)

Adna is the most recent artist that has sparked my intense attention. She’s a young singer-songwriter out of Sweden who is falling into the “brilliant folk” scene like other national treasures First Aid Kit (which she covered in this amazing video right [HERE.])

Her newest video for “The Prettiest” is the first track taken off her upcoming debut album Night. It’s the first in a three-part video series shot in Poland that explores the use of double-exposure. As someone with a more natural inclination to chilly weather, it’s a perfect video and I want to casually live in it.

Watch Adna’s video for “The Prettiest” here:

It’s happened yet again. I’ve watched a TedxTalk that has made the “Official List of Maryam’s Favorite TedxTalks Of All Time”…

Margaret Heffernan, former CEO of five different businesses, delivers a talk called Dare to disagree. In it, she argues that good disagreement is essential to progress. She starts her talk by exploring the story of Alice Stewart, a physician and epidemiologist who pioneered research in the 1950′s that linked x-ray radiation on pregnant women to the onset of childhood cancer. The data clearly indicated that the x-rays were a leading cause of those children developing cancer.

There were two main purposes I found to using Alice Stewart’s story as the narrative accompanying the talk:

First, to share that it took 25 years for the world to catch on and do something about x-rays on pregnant women.

Second, to highlight the fact that Dr. Stewart intentionally worked with a partner who was the complete opposite of her. Her partner’s job was to find ways to prove her wrong, because “it was only by not being able to prove that she was wrong that George could give Alice the confidence she needed to know that she was right.”

It should come as no surprise that I found this talk particularly relevant to Invisible Children.

The first note, and perhaps more profound, is how long it took for the world to respond to Alice Stewart’s findings. As Margaret Heffernan puts it, “It was fully 25 years before the British and American medical establishments abandoned the practice of x-raying pregnant women. The data was out there, it was open, it was freely available, but nobody wanted to know. A child a week was dying, but nothing changed.” Joseph Kony and the LRA have been operating for over 25 years (27 to be exact) and the parallels are uncanny. The information is out there, it’s freely available, and the data speaks for itself. And while I don’t agree that it’s as far as “nobody want[ing] to know”, the conflict is still not over. The world knows, politicians know, and it still hasn’t been solved. However, similar to Alice Stewart, we’re not stopping because we know we’re right. And that leads into the second part about Alice working with a partner who was the complete opposite.

The model of collaborative thinking that Alice and George used is one that is utilized at Invisible Children. While there isn’t an in-house disagreer by the name of George, the motto here has always been, “The best idea wins”. It’s an invitation that demands everyone to think and voice their thoughts when they think they have a really good idea, whether it be from an intern like myself or our CEO Ben Keesey. By being open about voicing concerns and sharing ideas, an environment that fosters creativity and best thought is generated.

So what are your thoughts? Is it necessary to disagree in order for an organization to progress and ultimately succeed? Watch the talk and let us know what you think about Margaret Heffernan’s theory.

While it’s been widely reported that this occurred in the central mining region of Bria, our sources on the ground say the attacks actually took place in Akosso and Pipidemotro, two villages which are located 15 kms outside of Ouadda and roughly 200 km north of Bria. LRA leader Joseph Kony has reportedly operated in this remote area of CAR this year, as well as just across the nearby border with Sudan. While we can say this is within the LRA area of operation and the attack exhibits trademarks of the LRA, other armed groups operate in that area and it has yet to be determined who is ultimately responsible for the most recent killings.

“B” is Bria and “A” is the rough location of the two towns that were attacked.

After the LRA killed more than 320 people over four days in December 2009 (in what is now known as the Makombo Massacre), Invisible Children partnered with local community organizations in DR Congo (DRC) and CAR to establish the Early Warning Radio Network. Composed of high-frequency, two-way, long-range radios, the network warns nearby communities with twice-daily security calls of LRA movement and also alerts security and humanitarian groups who can provide vital services. We have been steadily expanding the coverage of the HF network so that even the most remote of communities will be aware of impending attacks.

The coverage of the Early Warning Radio Network in relation to the attacks.

Due to the recent takeover by Seleka in March, counter-LRA operations led by the Ugandan military (UPDF) and supported by U.S. advisers are on hold and expansion of the HF network has stalled, leaving communities more vulnerable. Seleka announced they will be launching their own two-week counter-LRA mission in response to these recent attacks. While we encourage Seleka to be involved, we are also hoping they protect all of their citizens in Bangui or Obo.

See the scope of our Protection Programs and how we’re working with regional partners to do all we can to ensure the safety of innocent civilians [HERE].

Due to the lack of infrastructure in the region, communities throughout central Africa are completely isolated. Our Protection initiatives include building and expanding radio networks that warn remote communities of LRA attacks, and also encouraging the LRA to defect peacefully through broadcasting personalized radio messages and dispersing defection fliers.

Early Warning Radio Network

In December 2009, the LRA killed more than 320 people in four days, attacking ten villages over a 105-km distance in DR Congo in what became known as the Makombo Massacre. Due to the lack of communications systems, communities along this route received no advance warning and became victims of subsequent, multi-day attacks. In response to the gap in community-level information, Invisible Children partnered with local community organizations in DR Congo (DRC) and Central African Republic (CAR) to utilize local expertise in the expansion of a high frequency (HF) radio network.

The Early Warning Radio Network is composed of high-frequency, two-way, long-range radios that give communities in DRC and the CAR the ability to report LRA activity to one another. This network warns nearby communities with twice-daily security calls of LRA movement and also alerts security and humanitarian groups who can provide vital services. There are currently 38 communities within the radio network and 32,377 security calls have been made to date.

LRA Crisis Tracker

The LRA Crisis Tracker is a crisis-mapping social web platform that broadcasts in real-time the attacks perpetrated by the LRA. It plots where the LRA is, where they’ve been attacking, and where their victims are moving. It is the first website of its kind and makes the information publicly available through a digital map, a breaking newsfeed, regular data-analysis reports, media documenting LRA atrocities firsthand, and a mobile application. Reports of attacks come from IC’s Early Warning Radio Network in addition to data sourced from the UN, local NGOs, and firsthand research by IC, The Resolve LRA Crisis Initiative, and peer organizations. All data is extensively vetted by our data professionals on a daily basis.

Updates of LRA activity can be accessed 24 hours a day by visiting LRACrisisTracker.com, following them on Twitter @CrisisTracker, or downloading the app for iPhone or Android device.

Defection Fliers

Encouraging and facilitating the peaceful surrender of LRA combatants is one of the most effective ways to reduce threats to communities in central Africa and weaken the LRA’s ability to effectively operate. Invisible Children works with partner organizations and local leaders to send “come home” messages directly to LRA groups by planting them alongside known routes that the LRA travel and dropping them from the air across DRC and CAR. Many LRA, whether recently abducted or longtime combatants, have a strong desire to escape and return home.

The fliers are written in four different languages, have photos of former LRA members and instructions for surrendering safely, often with specific locations. They have proven successful, with 79% of LRA who have surrendered in the past year citing “come home” fliers as influential in their escape. To date there have been 790,000 fliers printed and dispersed.

FM Radios

Reaching the LRA directly through radio is an effective way to encourage them to surrender. Through unique messages recorded by former LRA members and respected leaders in the region, partner radios broadcast these targeted messages to LRA groups directly, encouraging them to escape and giving detailed instructions to do so safely. Invisible Children works with, constructs, and supports locally-run FM radio stations in DR Congo, CAR, and South Sudan that operate in areas of high LRA activity. There are currently seven partner FM stations that broadcast these “come home” messages over a 29,628 sq mile span. 89% of escapees have credited these messages with encouraging them to leave the bush.

To see an example of transcripts from recorded messages that are broadcast through shortwave radio via Kampala, Uganda, go HERE.

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Brand new Belgian band I will, I swear first caught our attention when they released their video for “Long Days,” a cinematic song laced with bittersweet sentiments.

We’ve only fallen more in love with Fien’s delicate vocals and the patient arrangements of these songs as we proudly premiere their sophomore release “Sleep,” a climactic piece that reminds us of one of our favorite films, Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind.

Watch the exclusive video premiere of “Sleep” below, then read our interview with band member Jonathan underneath.

Hello, I will, I swear. Your music and videos are quite sad. Genius and sad. Would you say you’re generally driven more towards the melancholy aspects of life or is it just when you put pen to paper that the more sad elements come out?
I wrote “Long Days” and “Sleep” when I was going through a rather difficult time in my life. I think writing those songs really helped me cope with all that stuff. I’ve been making music since a few years now, but this was the first time that I put all of my heart in writing the lyrics. And I happen to like minor chords as well.

Another music blog described us as being “young, depressed musicians,” but I can guarantee that’s not true at all!

We’re all people who love life. We even know how to smile, really!

I don’t sit down and think, “I  have to make a sad song now.” We might even do some more happy and uptempo stuff in the future, who knows. It’s our goal to make good music that people can relate to.

The video for your first song “Long Days” is taken from a short film by Shanah Noynaert. How did that collaboration come about?

We had been planning to do a video for “Long Days” since we signed at Unday Records. In my search for inspiration, I started browsing videos on YouTube and Vimeo. One day I stumbled upon Shanah’s video. It was exactly what I wanted. I watched it a few times, muted the sound and played “Long Days” instead. I  immediately knew that making a video from scratch would be ridiculous, it would never have been as good as Shanah’s footage and story.

I just messaged her through Facebook, and just a few days later we were sitting together to do the edit. Trying to keep a 7 minute story intact in a 3 and a half minute video was a bit of a challenge, but it worked out perfectly.

We still keep in touch, we really want to work with her again for future videos. She’s so talented, it’s ridiculous!

Tell us three interesting facts about the creation of this new video for “Sleep?”

1: The video was made by Sofie Lang, a close friend of Shanah. Shanah was filming her graduation project in Sofie’s lovely house, so we met there to do the editing for the “Long Days” video. Sofie fell in love with “Sleep” the first time she heard it. When she asked me if she could use the song for her graduation project I didn’t even have to think about it. She could relate to the lyrics so well that I just knew she would do a great job translating the song to a meaningful video.

2: The boy in the video is actually Shanah’s boyfriend. Eef, the girl in the video, was no stranger to us either. Tineke, the girl from the “Long Days” video, is also a photographer, and had done a few shoots with Eef and her twin sister. What a small world!

3: The video for “Sleep” was shot in one day. I didn’t attend the shooting itself, but I did help writing down the lyrics for “Sleep” about a million times at 8 in the morning. Just when we finished, Sofie realized that writing down the lyrics once was actually enough, since she has a scanner/printer in the same room we sat in writing on these pieces of paper.. oh snap!

We’re always humbled and encouraged when we hear that Invisible Children’s message has made it outside of our own borders. How did you find the story in Belgium?

Same way as the rest of the world I guess, the KONY 2012 video had a huge impact online. Anyone who wasn’t living under a rock in 2012 must have seen the video. The film was a bit of a shocker, and a well needed eye-opener for a lot of us. But I’m glad IC is not all about shocking. Music and art can mean a lot and keeps it interesting for everybody to keep following what you do.

Your first live shows are coming up. Talk us through your emotions. Is it scary, exciting, a mixture?

I have always been more of a ‘studio man’.. I like crafting songs, spending hours finding the right piano sound. When I’m recording I can really forget about the world around me. I like the fact that I can take my time to have everything sounding exactly like I want it to.

I played in a band before, and even though I liked performing live, I could never really relax. We used backing tracks and click tracks. Our songs had string arrangements, but we didn’t have live strings. We used a lot of samples..

In the beginning, there were no intentions of performing live with I will, I swear.. But I found the right musicians, we get to play with actual string players, instead of relying on a Macbook Pro to do all the hard work. I always dreamed of playing with live strings, and I’m so glad we get the chance to do it now. I can’t wait to get on stage. I really want I will, I swear to be a unique experience when playing live.

Your vinyl for the single just came out. 1) Congrats! 2) What’s next for you all? Essentially: when can we schedule on our calendar to buy your album?

Thanks! We’ve been incredibly lucky with the people at Unday Records being crazy enough to invest in a young band nobody had heard of. Everyone knows the music business has been going through hard times the last few years. Finding a label is hard enough, and most of the indie labels don’t have any budget at all. Selling records is important, of course. A record label won’t just “give you money” because they like your music. Same thing at Unday Records, but it doesn’t feel that way at all. Sometimes I visit the Unday office, mostly to just talk about music and drink beers. Trixie Whitley, another artist signed at Unday, sold 10.000 copies of her album in the first week after the release. But Tim, our label manager, is just as enthusiastic about us getting 10.000 plays on YouTube or Soundcloud. Tim understands the importance of online promotion. You can stream every Unday release for free on Soundcloud. I don’t know a lot of labels who offer that kind of service to potential buyers..

We’re working hard on new stuff. Maybe an EP, maybe a full album, we don’t know yet. We’re aiming to release some new music by the end of the year, maybe the beginning of next year. It all depends on how the songwriting goes. We received some raving reviews for Long Days/Sleep, and we want to continue to live up to the expectations of our listeners. And of course, my own expectations. In 8 years of songwriting, I’ve never been as happy with the result as now, with Long Days/Sleep.

I have always been making music by myself because I like to be in control. But the last few months I learned that working together with other people shouldn’t be a bad thing. Fien, our singer, knows how to write great lyrics, and Pieter, our guitar player, has some really good ideas as well. And knowing that we can count on 5 experienced string players will make the writing even more fun of course!

No secret – big fans of Josh Weller here. Most recently, he shared five songs that mean something to him and gave us a little bit of insight into his current single – this here “I Forgot To Tell You You’re Beautiful.”

Here’s a lazy copy/paste of those words re: his song:

Seeing as Invisible Children didn’t tell me NOT to plug myself (not literally) I’m going to do just that. This is my new single. I wrote it in Stockholm when it was 26 below outside. Par Wiksten, who I wrote this song with was in The Wannadies in the 90′s, he wrote ‘You And Me Song’ (‘It’s was always Youuuuuu and Meeeeee always, AND FOREVER’, yeah you definitely know it) which was a song in Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo and Juliet, which I went to see on my first ever date. I held her hand, which was easily the greatest moment in my 9 years of being alive. Then when this song came on she threw her arms up and sang along and we never held hands again. Anyway, THIS song is something I’m really proud of. It’s out July 1st. You should buy it probably.

Indeed, you should buy it. Before you hit “pre-order,” fix your eyes upon the newly-released video. It’s wickedly hilarious. We’re really pulling for him to get some quality dates off this clip. Hit him up on Twitter if you’re interested.

A few months back, Blindfold Magazine tasked me with the job of writing an article about what it’s like to work at Invisible Children. I’ve been here three years in about twenty different roles (this is hyperbole: I think I’ve had about six, though), and the idea of trying to encapsulate the experience into a concise piece was legit terrifying. Alas, I attempted and the final piece has just been published in the newest issue of Blindfold Magazine.

We love Blindfold because it’s a publication that’s dedicated to ethical business – which is an important thing to focus on when a lot of people want to try to separate the commercial world from the charitable one. They’ll be at this summer’s Common Good Exchange at 2013 Fourth Estate Summit, so be sure to chat with their crew if you’re coming to LA in August.

Here are the words I wrote. My only hope is that they truthfully depict the experience of the hundreds of people who have worked and are working at Invisible Children.

Words by me + photos by Chadwick Gantes.

++

Job descriptions, like commercialized medicine, should have side-effect warnings. Sleeplessness, caffeine addiction, globally dispersed friendships, pounds of stress physically manifesting on your shoulders, lack of appetite, over-eating. If working at Invisible Children was a drug, it would be very difficult to get the FDA to approve us.

Invisible Children (IC), the people behind that KONY 2012 business from last year that raised global consciousness and fundamentally changed the way the world reacts to international crises, has been my home for about two and a half years now. Since the founding of the organization in 2004, it has been home to over eight hundred earnestly odd yet lovable individuals.

It was in high school when I first heard about Invisible Children – and honestly, it was when I first heard about Invisible Children that I actually started caring about the world at large. Imagine a male version of Angela Chase without a Jordan Catalano to distract her, and you have my life in high school in Louisville, Kentucky. An angst-ridden, My So-Called Life-ish existence was quite shaken by my first encounter with the IC volunteers called Roadies who came to my school auditorium.

My English teacher Dr. Watson, also the adviser of our Social Justice Club, announced one day that an organization called Invisible Children was going to be coming to show a documentary about this conflict in central Africa and that we would be collecting books for schools in northern Uganda. Both of my parents taught at my high school, so I had to stay after classes for a while anyway waiting on a ride home (as I am entirely petrified of driving I have never had a license or my own ride – I carry my passport everywhere as my ID). Thankfully, I did stay that day to have my first interaction with people who work for IC.

Twice a year, upwards of eighty full-time volunteers, Roadies, take four months off from their “normal lives” to travel across the country giving free presentations of IC documentaries about the ongoing 27-year conflict in central Africa, led by the now famous Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). They travel with representatives from Uganda who can speak directly about the conflict, how it has affected their lives, and how it’s currently affecting the lives of those in areas where the LRA is active.

Two years later, I joined the crew of Roadies in the fall of 2010 and stayed on through the spring of 2011, traveling throughout New England and the southwest of the United States with my teams of Americans, Ugandans, and Canadians.

Before and after the tours, all of the Roadies live in an infamous/famous house in a suburb of San Diego – all of us. It’s the most quality  sensory overload I’ve ever experienced. It’s a strange utopia where you don’t know who to befriend first because everyone is as equally remarkable as the next person.

A girl named Hannah Jones from Plymouth, England, who found out about Invisible Children during its brief stint in London. A guy named Bryce Mittelstadt who was “the Invisible Children kid” at his high school in Casper, Wyoming. A woman named Natalie Semotiuk who was an aspiring comedienne from Edmonton. My roommates came from literally all across the map, and they were united by a cause and an idea that the youth have the power to effect long-lasting change. It’s unreal, and something I never thought could exist when I was a high schooler.

There was no facility we wouldn’t screen our films – we spoke in a cafetorium (it’s exactly what you suspect it is) of high school freshmen in the middle of Texas, a crowded room of intellectuals at NYU, a room of friends at an exotic game reserve attached to the Austin Disposal System compound, and many other places I never envisioned myself going.

It was one of these presentations that I attended that afternoon in Louisville as a senior in 2008, and let’s just say it was impactful. I had never heard about anything in Uganda, let alone this conflict. The Roadies spoke with such conviction and knowledge about what was happening, and they gave immediate, tangible ways that high school students could help – and that was to collect books for schools in northern Uganda that IC supports. The books are re-sold by a company to raise money for rehabilitation projects at the recovering schools.

So I did. We set, as a club, the goal of collecting 10,000 books. Jokes. I doubted we could even get to 5,000. People don’t truly care about things happening in central Africa; it was a passing fad that my peers and teachers would quickly replace in their memories. Alas, that was far from the case.

I watched my school community come together. Everyone began bringing books into their homerooms to support one of IC’s partner schools. First ten, then a hundred. We reached our goal of 5,000 books within three weeks. People I didn’t even know began approaching me about grade schools who wanted to start collecting books for the drive. We were gifted an entire library of a Xaverian Brother who passed away – 1,000 books we ended up being able to donate from his personal collection.

The fundraiser continued on for another month, and people brought the generosity out and then some. Somehow (a miracle?), we finished the drive with over 30,000 books. The baseball coach Mr. Jefferson let us use the batting cage to store them all.

I didn’t know what to do with my Claire-Danes-character-mind. To see a high school I thought was so apathetic and selfish challenge itself to reach a goal that wasn’t on a field or a Scantron blew my mind. While I would never admit it back then, I can say now that the way my classmates responded fundamentally changed my perspective on the ability people have to create change. A group of high school teens and some too-awesome teachers helped us collect a large amount of books to further literacy initiatives in a post-conflict part of a country of a continent that most of us would never even venture to.

I was unaware at the time, but while I was leading the charge in Louisville, Bryce was organizing his campaigns in Caspar, and Hannah was trying to explain to her peers why getting on Oprah was such a big deal in America, and Natalie was convincing her comedy troupe to hold a benefit night for IC. We were all united by these efforts, but we didn’t know it yet.

It’s a special quality about IC’s work in North America – it unlocks the potential that the youth holds. And when I became a Roadie in 2010, I saw that “unlocking” happen on tour as a Roadie countless times. I saw theaters full of students who woke up to the fact that when someone tells them they cannot accomplish something because of their age, it’s a lie spoken by someone too paralyzed by fear of failure to attempt to do so themselves.

That’s why Invisible Children works. It’s an invitational narrative.

And I definitely whole-heartedly accepted that invite as a senior in high school, in the form of a trip to Uganda. The book drive my school participated in was part of a competition that awarded the top ten schools the opportunity to send one of their students to northern Uganda with a crew from Invisible Children. After a selection process and some very kind words from my club-mates and teachers, I was chosen to accompany the other trip winners on a two-week trip that started in Washington, DC.

Meeting strangers at an airport is really odd, if you’ve never done it. Meeting 16 strangers you’re going to go to Uganda with at the airport is extremely odd, if you’ve never done that. We all convened in the capitol to participate in an IC lobbying event meant to propel the passing of the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act. (It passed.)

IC has hosted three lobbying events in Washington, DC, aimed at getting a commitment from our political leaders to make ending the atrocities of the LRA a priority. It’s a difficult thing to do, really, as there is no interest in the American agenda in getting involved with the Joseph Kony situation; as an organization, we argue, however, that getting involved in stopping heinous atrocities is a human interest. It’s been nice to see that idea catch on.

Quick acquaintances were made with my travel buddies as we all crammed into a hotel in a remote part of the District (historically and presently, IC likes to save money). Our chaperones for the journey were Movement Director Zach Barrows and Director of Idea Development Jedidiah Jenkins. Zach is a Boston version of Eric Taylor from Friday Night Lights, and Jedidiah is some strange Gandalf meets Ira Glass meets Carmen Sandiego (minus the thievery.) My experience with these two men was the first interaction I had with the staff of Invisible Children, and it was an intense experience.

Because of the huge conference they were hosting, Zach was constantly on his phone attempting to divert all crises and Jed was away doing whatever magical things he does with our supporters and staff and celebrity contingency. The meal schedule was erratic, a casualty of their focus – something I would come to learn later comes with working at IC. Their dedication and tireless work should have been some severe foreshadowing of my future life at IC, but I didn’t see it at the time.

That unwavering focus is not just present on event day. We stay at the office all night finalizing flyer designs, and to re-write a blog for the 37th time, and to drive five hours in the middle of the night so we can make it to that small middle school documentary screening in the morning.

To stay sane, we have to have a bit of whimsy. Human Resource Director Tiffany Keesey heads up numerous committees – Fun Committee, Health Committee, Professional Development Committee – to ensure we look up from our work at least once a week. We will occasionally cut off work at four for a Four O’Clock Friday and convene at a local bar (where we will proceed to sneakily still respond to e-mails under the tables). During the Olympics, inspired by the television show, we will hold an Office Olympics.

But when it’s time to work, we get it. It’s not about us, and that’s what makes this work okay. It’s not even really a sacrifice – it’s a choice to be a part of a story bigger than what can fit in our journals. It’s a choice that overrides anything personal – stress, sleep, malaria, carpal tunnel, hives, hair loss, ulcers, or dengue fever. The cause always comes first, and we honor that.

I saw why we honor that on the remainder of my trip with Zach and Jedidiah back after DC in the summer of 2009. The two weeks we spent in Gulu, Uganda, shifted my entire focus. It was an experience that I wish anyone `who doubts the legitimacy of our work could experience. We saw all of the programs IC has on the ground in Uganda and met just a fraction of people who benefit from those supporter-funded initiatives,

We visited the facility where women who were former sex slaves now earn a living as seamstresses. Our chaperones explained to us that these women now are able to provide for their children and send them to local schools.

It was the most real, eye-opening two-week chunk of my life, and I got to share it with fellow young global optimists – marking another IC-sparked life-revelation. I was beginning to notice a trend of earth-shattering moments of infinity that all stemmed from this nonprofit I collected books for.

I explored those feelings further as I went to college in Chicago to study music business. The sense of purpose I felt because of the trip to Uganda was so strong and so wasted on my time attempting to jumpstart a career in a field I didn’t know if I even believed in anymore. (I believe in it again.)

Two tours later, an internship in the Communication Department, and a brief position in New York City during the height of KONY 2012 all led me to my current job – a split between the Artist Relations Department and the Communications Department, mainly focusing on social content for musician relationships and assisting our staff writers with culture coverage.

It’s very odd to think back to who I was before I saw the Invisible Children film because my life has been defined not by the company I work for, but the cause behind it and the people I support it with. I wasn’t aware in 2009 that I would be close friends with Gandalf/Jedidiah or that I would be hitting up Zach Barrows every time a new Kanye West track dropped.

I, as everyone, was invited into the Invisible Children story, and eventually the walls of the company that have become too familiar. (For a week during a fundraising campaign, I literally slept at the office.) It’s become part of me. I will leave IC eventually, though – this work pace is not the most sustainable. I will have to enter the “real world” at some point. As I do, though, I will forever be changed by my time and relationships here.

And when the day comes that Joseph Kony is captured and brought to justice for his crimes, whether that be six months from now or before this is even published, we will have played a part in making that happen. It’s a pride that we don’t often speak about at work so as not to jinx anything, but it will be felt around the world by everyone who made the decision to choose to join a community of people pushing forward toward justice for the most vulnerable.

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You can purchase Blindfold on their website or at Whole Foods.