Behind Invisible Children’s official Facebook page are real people, and I am one of them. And as I sift through the comments on our timeline, this is what I see the most: “Is this still a thing?”
The KONY 2012 campaign began and ended in 2012. But Invisible Children has been a company since 2004, and will continue to be a company until we end the longest running war in Africa. Here we are, towards the end of 2013, and people are sick of Joseph Kony’s name, and they are even more sick of hearing it out of Invisible Children’s mouth.
But here’s the thing: we are sick of it too.
Joseph Kony and the LRA conflict is old news – over 27 years old, to be precise. This conflict has dragged on for nearly three decades, dragging with it thousands of abducted children. The wake of destruction the LRA have left in their path is staggering: rape, massacres, mutilations, displaced communities, raids and lootings, pervasive terror. Fortunately, the statistics are looking up: killings have decreased by 93% over the past three years, 7 times as many fighters escaped in 2012 than 2011, 58 LRA members have surrendered in 2013 so far, and the LRA army is an estimated 250 fighters – the weakest it’s been in years. But – and the “but” is important here – hundreds of women and children are still being held captive. Human lives are still directly affected by the conflict.
So it is with heaviness that we acknowledge – yes, this is still a thing. We hear your frustration, and we share it.
We are no more pleased by the name of Joseph Kony in the halls of our office than you are on the channels of your newsfeed.
So let’s do something about it. We already have a plan: fill up the densest jungles with thousands of “come home” fliers, bombard the most remote areas with verbal escape instructions from helicopter speakers, and broadcast “come home” messages throughout radio networks all over East and central Africa. Already, these tactics are working: 81% of LRA escapees in 2012 cited “come home” messages as influential in their escape. But these life-saving programs aren’t free, which is why people all over the world are fundraising for #zeroLRA. Zero LRA fighters, zero women and children being held hostage, and zero people living in fear of LRA violence.
Zero is a small number that is going to require large numbers of people, funds, and resources. We hope we can count you among them. Because we, like you, can’t wait for the day when this is no longer a thing.
Think people should hear about this?