Kony 2012 - Heroes or Zeroes?

Kony 2012 - Is there a better way?

Group behind anti-Kony video rebuts criticism, urges public pressure

Well there certainly has been a fire-storm of attention given as of late to the Kony 2012 campaign.

Seemingly overnight this unknown person is known by everyone.

I've had plenty of people asking me if I’d seen "the video".

My wife was the one that finally nailed me down and forced me to invest the half hour to watch the video.

At the end, to say the least... I was motivated. I was ready to give money, buy a bracelet, hang a poster, etc. etc. The only little problem was something didn't really feel right.

I noticed all the Hollywood elites getting involved and I would be lying if I said that did not send up a red flag for me from the start. Then I noticed Barack Obama getting praise in the video for sending over 100 "advisers" into Uganda. Now I am not one to hold back credit where credit is due and although Obama has been one of the worst pro-choice, anti-church, big government leaders we have ever had, (at least from a conservative evangelical perspective) if he did something right, he deserves recognition.

So before I went out and got a bracelet, a poster and an Obama 2012 yard sign as shown in the video, I put on my highly tuned, "critical thinking skills cap".

I remember about 10-12 years ago there was a guy in our Redmond Free Methodist church that was actually traveling to Uganda in the heat of all this, helping families rebuild. He did a lot of good work there, he even worked directly with child soldiers and those that had been maimed or raped. But it was in thinking of this work that I realized--that was like 10-12 years ago, could this guy still be over there, reeking terror on Uganda?

That is what prompted a conversation between Angel and me. I told her, "Something does not feel right". She said, "you’re crazy, should we not help these people?”

Even though I agree we should do everything in our power to help the helpless and hurting--that is our mandate from God, I had doubts as to whether the mission of this group was the best place to spend our time, talents, energy and money?

I told my wife, this feels more like a symptom that we are treating and not the real disease. The disease in Africa has always been the same. There is a lack of morality that has eaten away at the country from the inside for many years and when you sit back and look at it you begin to realize the problem is so much deeper than just child soldiers and certainly bigger than Kony.

Let me give you 10 examples of what I am talking about:

1.      The Aids Epidemic

2.      Genocide

3.      Blood Diamonds

4.      Child Soldiers

5.      Lack of Educational Opportunities

6.      Poor Living Conditions

7.      Starvation

8.      Malaria

9.      Corrupt Government/Leadership

10. Lack of Clean Drinking Water

In light of the list of problems, most of which have been ongoing for decades, one has to wonder… Is making Kony famous, (the stated goal of the campaign) really going to change anything or is it highly irresponsible to take so many young people’s donations and put them to a cause that is simply a band-aid on a festering, gangrene limb?

This all reminds me of the women with the issue of blood in the New Testament, remember she had spent all of her money with doctors who just treated the symptoms, It wasn't until she had an encounter with Jesus that the root of her problem was addressed!

As I thought this over and looked more into this group, I was further disturbed by what I found:

Monday, the Better Business Bureau issued a press release indicating that it had sent 18 letters over the course of six years to Invisible Children in an attempt to get the non-profit to cooperate with an official charity review. Those letters have gone unanswered, the Bureau said.

“I don’t understand their reluctance to provide basic information,” CEO of the BBB Wise Giving Alliance H. Art Taylor said in a statement. “The whole point of the effort is to shine the light of truth on a terrible atrocity, and yet they seem to be reluctant to turn that light on themselves. It’s really unfortunate, because their campaign has the potential to inspire and galvanize millions of young activists and future philanthropists.”

The website of Invisible Children includes a statement about its lack of cooperation with BBB requests for information noting that “Participation in BBB’s program is voluntary - we [Invisible Children] are choosing to wait until we have expanded our Board of Directors, as some questions hinge on the size of our board….”

Despite Invisible Children’s statement on its website, the six-member board size would not be a problem with the BBB charity standards, says Taylor. He did express concern, however, that two of the six board members are paid staff. One of the BBB charity standards calls for no more than 10% of the voting membership of the board to be compensated.

In addition to the BBB problem, they have stated publicly that Charity Navigator gives them 3 0f 4 stars, however if you go to their own website you will see that there Accountability and Transparency score is a meager 2 of 4 star rating… not so good for a non-profit organization.

In my opinion with the plethora of wonderful organizations out there that are doing solid work to help Africa, I’m not sure why anyone would give this group a dime… for the little money I have to give to charity I want to make sure it is doing the most good possible.

So, rather than just complain about someone who is trying to help and leaving you frustrated, here are a list of organizations that are well known for using your donations to make a real difference, not just videos and bracelets.

1. Bishops’ Crisis Response Fund
2. International Justice Mission
3. Not For Sale
4. One Day Without Shoes
5. International Childcare Ministries
6. Seed
7. The Eden Projects

Now that you have some ideas... go out and change the world!

Pastor Willy