Speaking for the Invisible

Georgia College graduate and student work in San Diego for Invisible Children

For the past two decades a civil war has plagued northern Uganda. Meagan Shorey, a recent Georgia College graduate, and junior art major Morgan Harbin have put their lives on hold this semester to volunteer as roadies for Invisible Children and spread awareness about this ongoing conflict.

The two will go through six weeks of extensive training in San Diego, where Invisible Children’s main office is located. After their training is complete they will set out on a 10-week tour along with one other student and a citizen of Uganda. Team tri-state, the region team they were both placed in will visit high schools, universities and even places of worship in New Jersey, New York and Long Island, where they will show screenings of the Invisible Children documentary,

“Invisible Children: Rough Cut”, and share the story of the devastating realities of life for people in northern Uganda.

In the past, Shorey and Harbin have been involved with the Invisible Children. Through the unofficial Invisible Children club that Shorey started here at Georgia College, the two scheduled a screening in the fall of 2009. Harbin said through getting to know the roadies, who came and spoke at the screening, he realized he wanted to apply for an internship with the non-profit organization in the future.

“When the roadies came this past fall for the screening I set up, I spent a lot of time with them,” Harbin said. “I got to know them and really got to see what kind of work they were doing. I loved all of it and I have always wanted to apply to be a roadie, but with school I thought it wouldn’t be the best idea. However, I knew about the new Spring 2011 tour that was coming up and how Invisible Children needed more roadies. I just thought it was a great opportunity and thought I would give it a try.”

Shorey much like Harbin was also influenced to apply for the internship after meeting with the people from Invisible Children. After graduating from Georgia College in May, with a major in psychology, Shorey applied for an intern position at Invisible Children and started volunteering in August 2010. For three months she spent time working with a mentor from the scholarship program at Invisibile Children and a student who had received a scholarship from that program at Invisible Children. After her three months were over she decided to stay on board and intern for another semester as a roadie and will be returning home in June.

“This semester I’ll spend the same amount of time with a Ugandan woman who has lived through the war and has used the pain in her life to tell a story of hope,” Shorey said. “That’s the beauty of my job. The personal connection to the people you’ve been advocating for is real & now they are my friends. There’s nothing more amazing than that.”

Harbin started his internship with Invisible Children on Jan.11 and will be working for them until May 14. Already, in the short time that he has been, Harbin says that he could not be happier with his decision to work as a roadie this semester.

“Invisible Children alone is an incredible and smart organization. They are super humble and transparent with everything they do. I am happy to work for an organization that is true to themselves as well as the people they ask to join them,” Harbin said. “…Also, the people here are epic. I couldn’t be happier about the new friends I am making so I can continue to share this with them for the rest of our lives.”

According to Movement offices at Invisible children the roadie internship was officially started in Spring 2006. Shorey says that this semesters tour will reach over 500,000 people and 1700 presentations have already been set up. She expressed that everyone should consider being a part of this wonderful organization.

“ You’ll never know you’re capabilities until you try to put yourself out there. IC wants people who are open to new ideas, creativity, flexibility & strong dedication to hard work. The people who work here want to give all of their time to ending this war & they want people to join them. I’ve never seen such an inclusive organization. Apply. Your life will be changed,” Shorey said.

Posted by Lauren Davidson on Jan 27 2011. Filed under Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.