Last week, we announced some major changes we’re making next year. And in the past few days, we’ve been overwhelmed with positive responses, full of love, nostalgia and inspiration. All of you have been sharing your stories and expressing how much you’ve learned through your time with us. We absolutely LOVE that. Storytelling is an important part of our DNA, so please keep at it. Our lovely friend and Invisible Children alum Bethany Bylsma wrote an exceptionally beautiful piece about her time here, and we’re excited to share it with you:
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I read a familiar quote from Frederick Buechner the other day. His words are simple, and in the moment they struck me as particularly comforting while I thought about the ending of an era for the organization that taught me so much. “Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid.”
As a supporter of Invisible Children since 2005, a staff member from 2008 to 2012, and today, as a proud alumni and donor, there have been very few days over the last 10 years where these words were not entirely applicable. I can only assume that if you are reading this today, you are one of the many supporters, interns, staff, roadies, family members, event attendees, or well-wishers who have checked in with us at Invisible Children throughout the last 10 years.
We have, in fact, seen the terrible and the beautiful together. As supporters we braved frigid and rainy nights in Portland’s Pioneer Square, skipping proms and graduations to commute in solidarity with children we had never met. We struggled to get at least 150 people at our screenings, waited for our administrations to grant us just one more all-school assembly, and were heartbroken when they said no. We begged friends and family to buy homemade hats or stickers, or donate their spare change, at times to no avail.
As interns and staff, we weathered flat tires, lay-offs, missed screenings, and unmet financial goals. And for however terrible these moments were, these obstacles were still surmountable. However, then came moments of backlash, political unrest, and the apathy of millions had to be met daily. There were the senseless deaths of our friends who had become family to us. There were days when we were afraid. Now, we come to this large transition, letting the United States office of Invisible Children shift dramatically in order to prioritize lifesaving initiatives in DR Congo and Central African Republic. But to see this office and our friends that have offered us a gateway into an empowered and hopeful future in order make room for new growth, seems terrible at times.
However, for all of the pieces of the Invisible Children story that sit quietly with question marks beside them, the beauty of this organization has won and I have been grateful in the past few weeks to be reminded of my own story. It was in a tiny warehouse in Spring Valley, CA that I met a group of radically young, intimidating, confident, and deeply human people who I almost instantly loved. We spent hours folding T-shirts, counting rolls of quarters and planning for cross-country adventures. Over the course of 10 years, hundreds of thousands of you would hear the story of trauma and tragedy, resilience and hope from people like Jacob, Jolly, Nate, and Natalie.
I have seen your faces and hearts transform as you were told a story that would alter moments or years of your life. It became a part of you. I have watched you walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, changing New York City’s laws to sleep outside on behalf of those waiting to be rescued. I have heard your voices shake as you told your congressmen and women that there were lives outside of your neighborhood that mattered. And I have seen that the things you learned from this story have transformed your churches, your schools, and your families. The beauty of Invisible Children is what you have made it, and I have carried all of these things with me into the world.
So I believe, especially in this moment with announcements from Ben Keesey, and Jason Russel that Buechner is right to ask us to not be afraid. I am not afraid, because a group of believers who were strangers to me became acquaintances and we thought deeply together. We asked good questions and sought the answers. We changed directions, and laughed and learned and lived in a frenetic whirlwind of ideas.
I am not afraid because I have seen the beautiful and the terrible with you all, and we have weathered the storms together. I am not afraid because these living memories may now be times of the past, my hope for this world and the relationships that will create it are all sitting here in the present tense. We fought and fight still. We loved and keep loving. We tried, and nothing will keep us from continuing to put one foot in front of the other, no matter which doors close around us.
For that very reason, there is no need to say goodbye. We will keep going. In fact, many of you have digested this news and already rallied to raise funds one last time for this mission and cause. I wish only to stop and say thank you. Thank you, roadies, supporters, donors, managers, and dreamers, for walking me into a better world. Here it is; beautiful and terrible things will happen. Do not be afraid.
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