Actions Speak Louder

St. Jude Children's Home has been on my mind heavily lately. I am feeling a need to fulfill my promise to the people I met to help them. My concern is not enough, my effort is what I need to contribute. Not tomorrow but today.

Kony 2012 Video

http://www.good.is/post/can-kony-2012-change-the-world-the-answer-depends-on-which-generation-you-ask/

Most members of the Millennial generation (those born between 1982 and 2003) believe viral videos can make a measurable difference in the world. And despite its creator's recent tribulations, the most viral video in Internet history, Kony 2012, is giving them a chance to prove they're right.

Within five days of its release, the video—created by the California-based nonprofit Invisible Children about Lord's Resistance Army head and indicted war criminal Joseph Kony—had been seen by 80 million people, a major step toward creating global awareness of Kony’s crimes.

The video's tagline stated mission is to "make Joseph Kony famous," but the larger goal is to help capture Kony by the end of this year. Until then, the video’s producers want everyone interested in the cause to join the publicity effort by putting up posters and stickers about Kony on April 20. While it remains to see whether the efforts will pay off in this case, all of these tactics to translate virtual interest into physical action are hallmarks of earlier successful organizing efforts that demonstrated the emerging power of the Millennial generation.

The most well known example of this strategy was the 2008 Obama campaign’s use of a Facebook-like website, MyBarackObama.com, to enable millions of supporters to organize in their communities by providing them with tools and information about other like-minded voters in their neighborhood. Crucially, the campaign also made sure that everyone involved understood what they needed to do offline. Registering to vote and turnout activities were emphasized almost as much as making a donation. The result was an outpouring of support among Millennials, two-thirds of whom voted for Obama. Their votes turned what would have been a narrow victory into a large mandate for change.

There have been other examples of linking online and offline organizing, though the English language currently has no word for the concept. (One suggestion, “onff line,” has failed to catch on.) In 2004, the Howard Dean campaign popularized the concept of a “money bomb” posting a graphic of the progress it was making toward its fundraising goal that "blew up" when the goal was reached. The idea was wildly successful and has led to many variations that capture its essential elements—a clear goal and a deadline for taking action.

Most recently, Wikipedia’s one-day site blackout to protest the SOPA and PIPA bills, demonstrated just how powerful such a dramatic technique can be in altering the behavior of an entrenched establishment. The effort drove Millennials, more than any other generation, to flood Congress with tweets and emails, causing dozens of Senators and representatives to withdraw their support for the legislation.

In the case of the Kony2012 video, the awareness campaign was carefully planned to take advantage of Millennials’ fondness for social media and their desire to change the world together. The video campaign initially targeted 20 “culture makers,” including George Clooney, Angelina Jolie, and Ryan Seacrest. The video drew about 66,000 viewers on the first day of its release, but exploded after Oprah Winfrey, another of the culture makers, tweeted it to her 10 million followers. That day, the video had about a million views.

As a result of the coordinated campaign, 40 percent of all Millennials said they had heard “a lot” about the video one week after its release, according to a Pew Research survey, twice the percentage of any other generation. Of that group, half learned about it from social media, and almost two-thirds from some online information source. Of the millions of tweets the awareness campaign generated, more than two-thirds said something positive about the video.

But not everyone was impressed. As the campaign gained notoriety, others—mostly baby boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964—began to weigh in about the need to listen to true experts on the topic before signing on to a cause based on one video. Members of often-cynical Generation X, those born between 1965 and 1981, expressed skepticism about the nonprofit’s motives; questioned its leaders' salaries (which are quite modest by charity standards); and demanded a transparent audit of Invisible Children’s books. The reactions of older generations reflected the traditional ways entrenched interests have defended themselves from sudden disruptions to their world and challenges to their power. Millennials, who place their faith in the wisdom of the group and have little interest in being lectured at by experts who have not been able to resolve the world’s problems, are unlikely to be dissuaded by the pushback.

Janessa Goldbeck, a Millennial who is the former field director for the Genocide Intervention Network and is currently pedaling her bike across America as part of her “Make US Strong” campaign to support international development, succinctly explains the critical role social media plays in organizing efforts by her generation. “We have to build political will, which means organizing both online and offline," she says. "Social media platforms lower the barrier to entry and provide people with mechanisms to connect and get involved—hopefully for the long haul.”

This online-offline approach strikes Boomers like Malcolm Gladwell and Thomas Friedman as weak imitations of the street demonstrations of their youth, but during the last five years it has elected a president and stopped the entertainment industry from working its usual will in Congress. By the end of this year we will know if it has also been successful in bringing a war criminal to justice.

Photo via (cc) Flickr user Micke Kazamowicz

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is the Acholi way

Food in Uganda

Marie is AWESOME!

Food for Food Storage Units

This is a photo of a food storage unit located at an IDP Camp. Which reminds me of when I met the man from the Karamonjong tribe, a journey I will never forget, and a journey I think of often.

One day Brother Elio, the director of St. Jude Childrens Home, took truck full of volunteers to visit several hospitals in the surrounding North Eastern Uganda region.

Even though I was in Uganda during a time of relative peace, (Lords Resistant Army fled to the Congo), our journey was still dangerous. We were heading to areas were rebels and feuding tribes are known to hijack vehicles and kill the passengers.

As Brother Elio pushed the peddel to the meddle our red smooth dirt road and lush green horizons faded into a faint dehydrated path and desert sprinkled with stubby bushes. And I couldn't help but notice the human skeletons left as road side warnings, kind of like the yellow signs that say watch for falling rocks - just a bit more terrifying. (I said a little prayer, and sang some hymns to relieve my fears so I could enjoy my adventure).

As we drove, ever so often I would see a spec of life in the distance. Tall ebony women wrapped in a colorful blankets, deep green, red, royal blue. It didn't matter what color they wore, everything looked majestic against their black skin. Their presence was exquisite against the harsh desert that seemed to engulf them in a never ending story. The closer we got to them I would try to make what type of load they carried. Usually it was a bundle of the heavy thorny wood on her head, longer than the length of her body. Or a bright yellow bucket full of well water. Almost always there was a child swaddled in a sheet hanging from her back. These women usually walked alone, or with one other women. In a slow melodic rhythm they made their way down a dusty path, in the middle of a dusty desert, with no sign of sustenance as far as the eye could see. Where they were going, I don't know. Home I assume. Where they came from, I don't know. But there they were, and here they are forever etched in my memory. Their eye's, the piercing looks we shared as our old four wheeler rumbled past - I can see the beautiful faces in my minds eye and almost smell the moment as if I were there now.

Then there was the time we stopped and got a tour of a Karamonjong village. Our volunteer group hopped out of the old Range Rover Ambulance and streched our legs while Brother Elio spoke with the leaders of the tribe and explained that we wanted to check out the village. All the children playfully surrounded us, and an elderly woman, and gentleman approached me and spoke to me in their language and made pleading faces and gestures. I thought they wanted money or food or help of some sort. But I didn't have anything to give them. The man led me to one of the food storage's and lifted the lid. There was nothing inside. My heart was pierced sharply by this sight, and I was unable to fight back the tears. These people were in the middle of nowhere with no food, they were begging me for help and I had nothing to give them. Then the strangest thing happened - the man pulled me aside and communicated to me that I must not cry. He - who had no food - comforted me and strengthened my spirit. He gave me hope that I could do something, perhaps at a later time to help these people.

It still baffles me. But I am still alive, and I as long as I am alive I will not forget the Karamonjong man and his kindness.

I hope to return there with a group of permacultural farmers, and some resources to help them create gardens that would be protected from their livestock, and that would produce food for them year round like the one in the video link. I would like to install rain water catchment systems and storage containers. I would like to build more wells in the area too. Lord willing.