Imagine looking up into the sky on a hot, humid day somewhere in the remote forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Suddenly thousands of neon pieces of paper are falling from the sky. As they cover the ground in and around your camp, you see one you can understand. It’s telling you to come home. It’s telling you it’s safe. Most importantly, it’s telling you how.
Defection fliers feature photos and messages from former LRA along with simple instructions for returning home safely. These fliers are distributed in the regions that the LRA is known to travel.
Two of the main reasons soldiers remain in the LRA are fear and lack of knowledge. They are scared to come home—scared to leave, scared that their community will not accept them, and scared of what a life outside the LRA could mean.
Invisible Children’s defection fliers not only tell the LRA fighters how to escape and where to go, but also give them messages of hope and acceptance: come home, we want you back. In total, Invisible Children has dropped over 1 million fliers in 4 languages and 13 variations over the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic, giving LRA soldiers throughout central Africa a reason and a calling to come home.
Believe it or not, hundreds of LRA combatants have escaped the clutches of Kony because of a piece of paper falling from the sky.
So next time you see a piece of paper on the ground, pick it up (no one likes a litterbug); but also consider how that piece of paper could save a life half a world away—proving that sometimes it is not the most complex idea, but the simplest idea that can have the greatest effect.
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