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by Alyssa Albertson
This fall’s semiannual Awareness Week held by the Invisible Children Texas State turns out to be their biggest success to date.
Awareness Week is a weeklong event that takes place at the end of both the spring and fall semesters each year. This falls Awareness Week took place Nov. 7 through Nov. 10 at different venues on or around campus.
“Our main goal is to spread awareness during Awareness Week” Historian of Invisible Children Texas State, Tiffany Otto said. The organization’s mission is to provide awareness to students to promote immediate and national involvement in the Uganda, Africa.
Uganda suffers from a civil war crisis, and by holding information sessions, support opportunities and fundraisers this organization helps the children in Uganda affected by the war.
Throughout the week different events take place that promote awareness about the Invisible Children organization, as well as raise money to donate to the children in Uganda that are suffering from the war. The events that took place throughout the week consisted of an art auction, a poetry night and a film screening.
The biggest and most successful event of the week was the screening. “We had just under 300 people attend,” said President of Invisible Children Texas State, Brenna Murphy.
During the screening event, a film called Tony produced by Invisible Children was shown. The film documents the life of a young Ugandan, Tony, and follows the past eight years of his life, which have been marked by violence from rebel groups like the LRA.
The Invisible Children holds a screening at the end of every Awareness Week as a conclusion to the weeklong event. “It’s so awesome because you get to see so many people so affected by it,” said junior member of Invisible Children Texas State, Shannon Stryker.
Roadies from Invisible Children Headquarters in San Diego, Calif. traveled all the way to Texas State to attend the screening. Northern Ugnadan native, Angwech Collines, also attended the screening and spoke to the audience about her struggles and the war in Uganda.
Collines was born in Northern Uganda during the height of the war, and now travels throughout the world with Invisible Children sharing her story. She explained to students the hardships she was face with and that the war was all she knew growing up.
The organization was honored to have Collines and the roadies attend their fall 2011 Awareness Week. “It gave me a whole new appreciation having met them,” Murphy said.
“One of the best moments, was sitting next to Brenna at the screening, and I told her to look behind us because the centennial teaching theater was full,” Vice President of Invisible Children Texas State, Hannah Mercer said.
The Awareness Week of fall 2011 turned out to be a great success. “I feel like it might be the best one,” Murphy said, comparing it to past awareness weeks.
The Invisible Children Texas State felt that they were very successful in spreading awareness of their organization to a large number of people, and hopes that the next Awareness Week in April of 2012 will be just as successful.
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Sunday, November 20, 2011
Awareness Week turns out to be a big success
