Jump First, Fear Later

"Jump first, fear later." That was the first thing that came to the mind of Hofstra University student Kirsten McKenna after "The Rescue."

On Saturday, McKenna, a sophomore at the University traveled to New York City with 25 other students to join thousands in a worldwide attempt to raise awareness for children afflicted by civil war in Uganda.

"There a lot of organizations that claim they are non-profit, but Invisible Children really is not profiting, they are doing this for the children, and for me that was cause enough to join," said McKenna.

"The Rescue" was introduced by the not-for-profit organization Invisible Children founded in 2003. The organization has since expanded to include an offshoot organization, Schools for Schools, which McKenna is the President of at Hofstra's chapter. McKenna and Schools for Schools has spent the last two years fundraising for their sister school in Uganda, Atanga Secondary School. However, over the past seven months the chapter extended its fundraising to encompass the Invisible Children campaign.

"It’s not fair that children 5 to 12 years of age are being stolen and threatened that they'll be killed if they don't join this rebel army. If that was happening in America, there would be an uproar," said McKenna.

Invisible Children's "rescue" took place in over 100 cities in 10 nations, participants "abducted" themselves and spent the night in a public place hoping to be "rescued" by political officials and the media.

“It's different when you get involved by fundraising and spreading awareness via mouth and throughout campus, but when you're in New York City and you're causing a stir for a good reason, it really feels good,” said McKenna.

Ultimately, the organization's goal was to use the attention to spread awareness and obtain support for the child soldiers abducted by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda.

"We were representative of the children. By abducting ourselves, we were saying this is what it is like for these children," said McKenna.

Roughly 3,000 marched across the Brooklyn Bridge to DUMBO's Empire Fulton Ferry State Park in Manhattan, accompanied by Invisible Children co-founder Larren Poole, actor Chris Lowel (Private Practice) and actress Yin Chang (Gossip Girl). The support of celebrities was seen as a "rescue" because of the media attention that they were able to bring to the Invisible Children campaign.

"Kids from seventh grade through the end of college, these are the children and young adults that are raising all of this money for Africa. We've put more foreign aid towards the building of schools than the American government," said McKenna.

Donations like the $500 McKenna and Hofstra's Schools for Schools have raised since September 2008 will go directly to providing aid for the children caught in the crossfires of this Uganda civil war.

"Before anything, Schools for Schools stands for human rights and these human rights of the invisible children in Africa," said McKenna.

Referring back to her first thought about "The Rescue", "Jump First. Fear Later," a statement shared by Poole, McKenna said, "He (Poole) went to Africa, he didn't have any money at his finger tips, he didn't have it all figured out, but so much was uncovered by just jumping first and worrying about it later."

Hofstra University Schools For Schools President Kirsten McKenna