INVIZY KIDS

superiors: what are you going to do with your life?
us: i dont know. ill just change the world or something.

Day 3 (yester)

Yesterday was meant to be the most fun. So true.

We heard from the CEO of IJM (international justice mission), a collection of professionals, like lawyers, reliefs workers, and world studies experts.

We also heard from John Prendergast, a leader in the fight to end genocide.

Invisible children’s very own field manager, Adam Finke, spoke to us about the on-ground work IC has been developing, like radio towers and communication systems that will hit the LRA the hardest.

Over this weekend expedition, we set our fundraising goal for this semester: $7,400. This exact amount is enough to buy one HF radio that will work towards bringing child soldiers home and communicating to them the idea of surrender and safety.

It has been a ______ weekend. I’m not even sure what to put in the blank because too many words describe it and that would just bore a reader to death. Thank you to my parents who made this trip possible for me and too all of the people who gave money and time last year to no just reach but shoot off beyond our goal. Thank you thank you thank you.

Every single person here is extremely accepting, inviting, and inspired. And although this trip to the very cool and breeze state of Cali is all about IC, this experience has allowed me to see what can happen when people leave their egos on the plane and become an open book. I wish that this care free atmosphere could be experienced by every single person, bc I know that it would impact and change how we view the world, others, and ourselves. No one here has any reason to be upset bc:
1. The weather is at least 35 degrees less than what’s going on in Dallas
2. The people and mentors are about as hipster as it gets
3. We are changing the world and making a difference for children 1000s of miles away…but it just feels like on big party for “Invisi Kids”

Madison M.

Waiting in line to get into the auditorium.

Waiting in line to get into the auditorium.

This man standing in front of the projection screen is named Carl Wilkins. He is the only American who stayed in Rwanda while the genocide occurred and directly saved the lives of over 400 children. Some of what he revealed to us was shocking. It was not death or suffering. It was the stories of him being HELPED by the militia groups to bring food to orphans. And the story of female neighbors coming out of their house with clubs and standing between Carl’s family and the militia group that was about to attack. The women convinced these men to go away by saying “our children play with there children”, a statement that was completely true.

This man standing in front of the projection screen is named Carl Wilkins. He is the only American who stayed in Rwanda while the genocide occurred and directly saved the lives of over 400 children. Some of what he revealed to us was shocking. It was not death or suffering. It was the stories of him being HELPED by the militia groups to bring food to orphans. And the story of female neighbors coming out of their house with clubs and standing between Carl’s family and the militia group that was about to attack. The women convinced these men to go away by saying “our children play with there children”, a statement that was completely true.

A picture of two of the most charismatic men (jason and jedidiah) in the entire expanse of the universe, revving us up to hear from Jeremy Rifkin (if you have not heard of him this man has literally laid out the blueprints to save the EU’s economy and has predicted our future as a race. This future is pretty bleak unless action happens fast and this man had the audacity to tell us that we, the young people of the 4th Estate, are on the frontline of combatting the extinction of our human race. Not congress, not the president, not the leaders of Fortune 500 companies, but us, the kids in the skinny jeans with a passion for Harry Potter, who, as Jedidiah so eloquently put it, save people’s lives in our free time.

A picture of two of the most charismatic men (jason and jedidiah) in the entire expanse of the universe, revving us up to hear from Jeremy Rifkin (if you have not heard of him this man has literally laid out the blueprints to save the EU’s economy and has predicted our future as a race. This future is pretty bleak unless action happens fast and this man had the audacity to tell us that we, the young people of the 4th Estate, are on the frontline of combatting the extinction of our human race. Not congress, not the president, not the leaders of Fortune 500 companies, but us, the kids in the skinny jeans with a passion for Harry Potter, who, as Jedidiah so eloquently put it, save people’s lives in our free time.

There’s an ax murderer on the loose!

There’s an ax murderer on the loose!

Hi everyone it’s Hannah speaking to y’all from San Diego. It’s beautiful here and I feel bad for all of you back home in the big D…I think the high today was 80….. There are so many things happening here it’s unbelievable. All the people here are so welcoming and so genuinely nice it’s very refreshing unlike you people…lolz jk

Today we woke up and had breakfast with our mentors who I fortunately have the hottest one here. After breakfast we went to a general session where we heard from jason russel (co-founder) Emily (a dedicated individual to the schools for schools and invizy organizations) and laren (another co-founder)

After that we split into our different tracks (me and Madison-movement (Aka the people bringing the story to you)) and (carolyn and Victoria-business (learning the business side of the invizy organization) it got pretty cray cray

After we filmed for an upcoming video where me and carolyn learned some girl thought she was the only one who knew about the Beatles and we heard all about her p90X routine…. and finally had our last session. Our last session was with a man named jermey rifkin who is a genius.

That was our day in a nutshell

But the best moment of my life happened today when Jason Russel shook my hand and complimented carolyn on her sweater….such an attractive man. Never washing me right hand again

Victoria lost about everything she owns but she “found her future”

Madison and Victoria heard a really really interesting story about how two roadies met…ask If your curious.

I got really emotional after every video we watched.

We were told by one of the smartest people on earth we were the worlds only hope.

Me and vics roomate is normal and super sweet so that’s a plus.

The bunk beds are taped together so I’m sleeping on the floor.

And and and

Remember: We will still be here tomorrow to high-five you yesterday, my friends.

Hush she ain’t gonna burn it.

[Flash 10 is required to watch video]

Some people at the fourth estate are really better suited for an episode of iCarly. But it’s cool they are still here to change the world.

Hooray! We got to San Diego safe and sound. This picture captures one of the things I find most inspiring about the 4th Estate: our voices. Inside this vintage sealed brown package is our very own, slick, top of the line journal. We got swag bags with free funky-in-a-good-way tasting water. We met our smaller groups of ten and our mentors who are really just too cool for school. And of course there’s the weather that is colder than my living room with air conditioning. California. Oh. My. We went to a big group session to kick off a weekend of events. We heard talks from the founders, Jedidiah (a master of wits and very well spoken part of the IC crew. He also happens to be my celebrity crush because around here he is a celebrity), Jolly Okot, and the single most moving man man, Sean Stevenson. More on him later. We also played a little (try epically proportional) game called Bastille (over at IC HQ they are sticking with the 18th century French revolution theme). Bastille is like capture the flag, track, chess (there is strategy involved), and three legged races combined. You see, I am quite the expert which is maybe why Team Blue (Which included Madison and I) went 3 for 3, winning the entire game with a combined scores of over 1000. I will post the rules on the blog so you can fully understand it. Sorry this came so late but the internet here is iffy. -cr

Hooray! We got to San Diego safe and sound. This picture captures one of the things I find most inspiring about the 4th Estate: our voices. Inside this vintage sealed brown package is our very own, slick, top of the line journal. We got swag bags with free funky-in-a-good-way tasting water. We met our smaller groups of ten and our mentors who are really just too cool for school. And of course there’s the weather that is colder than my living room with air conditioning. California. Oh. My.

We went to a big group session to kick off a weekend of events. We heard talks from the founders, Jedidiah (a master of wits and very well spoken part of the IC crew. He also happens to be my celebrity crush because around here he is a celebrity), Jolly Okot, and the single most moving man man, Sean Stevenson. More on him later.

We also played a little (try epically proportional) game called Bastille (over at IC HQ they are sticking with the 18th century French revolution theme). Bastille is like capture the flag, track, chess (there is strategy involved), and three legged races combined. You see, I am quite the expert which is maybe why Team Blue (Which included Madison and I) went 3 for 3, winning the entire game with a combined scores of over 1000. I will post the rules on the blog so you can fully understand it.

Sorry this came so late but the internet here is iffy.

-cr