"In the name of love… Oprah come and rescue us."
These words were delivered in unison by 500 people singing and dancing in a gymnasium in Chicago as part of a 100 city campaign for Invisible Children.
The next day, with those 500 people out in front of her studio holding up signs of peace, Oprah concluded that they deserved not only her attention, but the immediate attention of each and every one of her viewers.
On April 25, in 100 cities around the world, Invisible Children, an organization dedicated to ending Africa's longest-running civil war in northern Uganda, launched a large-scale event to promote awareness for their cause called The Rescue.
While promoting awareness of children who are abducted and forced to enlist into Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army, 100,000 people gathered to "abduct" themselves in demonstration until they could be "rescued" by a policymaker or media mogul.
Invisible Children is an organization that began after three filmmakers traveled to Africa and found themselves taken aback by the sight of children being used as pawns in the Ugandan civil war. From Australia to North America, England to South Africa, people came from everywhere to support.
The event required people to gather at a designated site and then march single-file while holding onto a rope until they reach their "abduction site."
They also had to bring portraits of themselves to the event to leave behind, along with enough supplies to last them through the time that it would take for their "rescuer" to arrive. Supplies also included pens and paper to write letters to their congressmen asking for more attention to be paid to this issue. Most cities were rescued successfully within the first 72 hours.
In Atlanta, congressman and legendary civil rights figure John Lewis delivered a powerful speech applauding the participants and urging others to give more attention to this issue.
In Orange County, Calif., the band Paramore answered numerous video requests on YouTube to attend.
In London, Lord Dartmouth, a member of European Parliament, professed, "There is virtually no better cause than Invisible Children."
Participants in Auckland, New Zealand, demanded media attention from news stations before agreeing to disband from their abduction site.
Soon, a group called the "Freedom Riders" formed, courageously traveling to afflicted cities after their own rescue. They helped to build the crowd of 500 that sat outside Oprah's studio.
Oprah embraced the demonstrators who had endured rainstorms, nights of sleeping outside and diets of pizza for days straight. On air, after answering their request to be rescued, she said, "You will be moved to take action to help rescue these children. It really is an atrocity, a holocaust, going on with these children… This is a special situation that I think the world needs to know about."
Other celebrities like Kristen Bell, Joel Madden, Kirsten Dunst, Pete Wentz and Jeff Foxworthy took part in the event to draw the attention of many local and national news stations. But no media outlet was more successful than the airtime given to the 500 people outside Oprah's studio on May 1.
In the end, over 100,000 people gathered themselves to share their voice about their stance concerning atrocities hundreds of miles away.
With all the exposure and the simplicity of the message - stopping the war in Uganda and the abduction of children -- many were touched by the acts of those participating in The Rescue.
Hats off to the Invisible Children organization and to those brave enough to participate who used their time toward promoting the protection of basic human rights.
Stacey Nelson is an All-American pitcher for the University of Florida softball team.
