SMU student Rachel Brown speaks at the Invisible Children film screening (Tyler Williams)

Students for Justice and Amnesty International sponsored the screening of “The Rescue of Joseph Kony’s Child Soldiers.” The documentary was part of the Invisible Children movement, which was founded by three young filmmakers who were touched when they discovered that children were acting as soldiers in Uganda.

During one visit to Uganda, the filmmakers met a teenager named Jacob, who was a former child soldier. He told them about the horrific experience he had while fighting in the war.

He had to watch his own brother die when a soldier cut his head off with a machete. At one point, Jacob said it would be better to die than to keep on living. The three filmmakers wanted Jacob’s story to be heard, so they brought him to the United States to speak during a rally they organized.

People who supported the cause spent the night outside and wrote letters to the government. Since then, a delegate has been appointed to specifically handle the situation in Uganda. The filmmakers said they want to continue having rallies so that other children can be free like Jacob.

The war has been going on for over 20 years and has been lead by Joseph Kona and the Lord’s Resistance Army. Numerous attempts were made by the young filmmakers to get Kony to sign a peace treaty, but he declined to do so. One of the most recent mass killings was on Christmas Day 2008, in which 620 people were killed and 160 children were abducted to become soldiers.

Images were shown of children with part of their faces cut off and some even had missing limbs. One child soldier talked about how he dropped a mother’s baby in the river because she was not walking fast enough.

“I was shell-shocked to see this much terror and death to occur with so little publicity,” said SMU student and member of Students for Justice, Rachel Brown.

Invisible Children wants to end the war as soon as possible. By showing the film, people become more educated about the war going on in Uganda and surrounding areas, such as the Congo and Sudan.

“The film brought it to life and made me see what is going on. I strongly believe in the need to fix this,” SMU student Derek Hubbard said.

Students can become active in this cause by going to invisiblechildren.com, and donating $3 a week.

By doing so, one will be able to receive a free T-shirt and wear it on April 25, on which people are encouraged to “abduct themselves” and spend a night under the stars, writing letters to the government to make them become more active for this cause.