flashalert_blog

Progress Report

As Invisible Children supporters you have proven time and time again that you are willing to respond at a moment’s notice to help the victims of the LRA. This month’s ϟ  Flash Action Alert ϟ is a perfect example of this community rallying to see quick effective action. Here’s the quick recap of events. To everyone of you who responded, thank you.

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May 9, 2013

Flash Alert 

Near Djabir, DR Congo

A group of hunters ran into a group of LRA and immediately fled, though the LRA were not acting aggressive or violent. Later that day, a letter was found by the road from the LRA group stating that they wanted to surrender.

Ten days later

An LRA member (male) and an abducted 15-year-old girl stopped a civilian man as he was traveling along the Dungu-Faradje road in DR Congo. The man said he wished to surrender to security forces and he freed the girl as a sign of his sincerity. The man then fled.

Flash Action

More than 600 people responded to the alert that an LRA group wanted to surrender and donated $20,000, which funded the design and production of approximately 20,000 “come home” fliers. That same weekend, with the help of partners on the ground and our donors, we were able to print & air-drop 20,000 “come home” fliers over this LRA group’s known location.

Lacambel holding the "come home" flier that assures LRA that it is safe to surrender

original defection letter part 2

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79% of LRA who’ve surrendered in the past year cited “come home” fliers as influential in their escape.

May 13, 2013

“We got an early start this morning. We hopped in a plane chartered by dedicated partners, and with calm skies and good visibility successfully dropped 20,000 of these fliers over suspected LRA groups in Garamba National Park. Four locations were targeted with 5,000 fliers settling in each drop zone, giving the LRA clear instructions on how to surrender and assurances that they can come out peacefully.”

Adam Finck, International Programs Director, reporting from DR Congo

Adam Finck examines map of drop-zone

Airplane controls

Adam watches "come home" fliers scatter after he has pushed a bundle of them out of the plane

"come home" fliers being dropped from the air

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Impact

The flier drop was one part of an ongoing “come-home” mission to encourage this LRA group to surrender. Early indicators  have been positive, with one confirmed surrender in DR Congo and rumors of others. We will be posting updates as soon as we know more.

What Now

We will work with partners to produce and broadcast FM radio messages that reassure LRA members that they can safely surrender.

 89% of escapees said that FM radio messages played a part in their decision to leave the LRA

Help us reach our updated goal of $40K to make this happen.

come home broadcast

These messages are recorded by trusted community leaders from northern Uganda and played over radio stations that the LRA are known to listen to. In fact, this LRA group specifically requested reassurance from a man named Lacambel who encouraged LRA fighters to surrender back in the 1990s when the group was active in northern Uganda. Lacambel’s picture was on the defection fliers and he recorded the “come home” FM radio messages himself.

$32 funds the production and broadcast of 20 minutes of “come home” radio programming. If you would like to support this program, donate below.

Fund This Mission

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