The defining moment in my life that shifted the way I was thinking...and brought me to ubuntu.
Great question. Tough to answer.
In the sense of living and breathing and working and playing.
I wanted to post about the entire Kony matter, but I'll say it right now: in no way am I pretending to be an expert, nor do any of these statements have anything to do with anything other than my opinion. I'm just extremely interested in the entire matter and thoroughly surprised as to how this has all played out.
My thoughts, my simple, simple thoughts:
One thing that gives me so much faith in humanity? This entire movement was an example of how powerful and connected our generation is now. It gives me goosebumps. Within a few moments, I had a friend text me to watch the Kony video. I did. I became downright passionate about it. Within another second and refresh of my news feed, I noticed an article on "Visible Children." Once I read that article, I realized there was two very distinct sides to this story. Beyond those thirty minutes in which that all happened, it exploded.
A) Weren't we all thoroughly affected by seeing that video? I know I sure was. It tugged on heartstrings (and mine seem to be somewhat connected directly to that continent)? It presented powerful facts and had George Clooney in it! If he believes it is the best course of action, I do too!
B) Then the backlash. Woah. Read an article on visiblechildren. Second thoughts. Woah. I watched bloggers from Uganda talk about how they were VISIBLE (read 'em here). Rosebell Kagumire wrote, "This is me talking about the danger of portraying people with one single story and using old footage to cause hysteria when it could have been possible to get to DRC and other affected countries get a fresh perspective and also include other actors." Good point. But then another blogger states, "Let’s call Joseph Kony what he is: a narcissist, a pedophile and a terrorist," (writes Ghanaian-American blogger Malaka Gyekye Grant in a post titled Joseph Kony Is Still At Large and It’s all My Fault.) "Why are we not speaking out until our voices are impossible to ignore? Here’s a better question: Why did an AFRICAN not start the Kony2012 campaign?"
It's all pretty overwhelming...but the one element that sticks out to me is that there is room for all kinds of NGOs in this world. Honestly, the more out there with good intentions, the better...if we can learn to work together. There will be the ones that raise a lot of money and use it to promote awareness and advocacy, as Invisible Children is doing. And that's okay - as long as the people who are funding that understand where the money is going. Then there are aid organizations, where almost 100% of their funding goes directly to food, water, health and education projects. And that is really important too, so long as they have the funding and a plan to sustainably back it up.
It really all comes down to transparency. We have to learn what is the organization doing, what are their values, and how are they doing it? Then let's support them!
I'm just SO excited that social, peer-to-peer media (not THE media) held us accountable and transparent this time. Our peers - those we do and don't know - shed light on the real facts. We choose what we read, what we watch, who we donate too and what conversations we have. If nothing else, this enriches my soul that so many people are talking about policy makers and Africa and advocacy and aid. This is our time as a generation.
If you're overwhelmed (like I am) challenge your limitations.
Stop.
Educate yourself.
Learn.
Give (when and where you can).
and most of all?
LOVE.
My thoughts, my simple, simple thoughts:
One thing that gives me so much faith in humanity? This entire movement was an example of how powerful and connected our generation is now. It gives me goosebumps. Within a few moments, I had a friend text me to watch the Kony video. I did. I became downright passionate about it. Within another second and refresh of my news feed, I noticed an article on "Visible Children." Once I read that article, I realized there was two very distinct sides to this story. Beyond those thirty minutes in which that all happened, it exploded.
A) Weren't we all thoroughly affected by seeing that video? I know I sure was. It tugged on heartstrings (and mine seem to be somewhat connected directly to that continent)? It presented powerful facts and had George Clooney in it! If he believes it is the best course of action, I do too!
B) Then the backlash. Woah. Read an article on visiblechildren. Second thoughts. Woah. I watched bloggers from Uganda talk about how they were VISIBLE (read 'em here). Rosebell Kagumire wrote, "This is me talking about the danger of portraying people with one single story and using old footage to cause hysteria when it could have been possible to get to DRC and other affected countries get a fresh perspective and also include other actors." Good point. But then another blogger states, "Let’s call Joseph Kony what he is: a narcissist, a pedophile and a terrorist," (writes Ghanaian-American blogger Malaka Gyekye Grant in a post titled Joseph Kony Is Still At Large and It’s all My Fault.) "Why are we not speaking out until our voices are impossible to ignore? Here’s a better question: Why did an AFRICAN not start the Kony2012 campaign?"
It's all pretty overwhelming...but the one element that sticks out to me is that there is room for all kinds of NGOs in this world. Honestly, the more out there with good intentions, the better...if we can learn to work together. There will be the ones that raise a lot of money and use it to promote awareness and advocacy, as Invisible Children is doing. And that's okay - as long as the people who are funding that understand where the money is going. Then there are aid organizations, where almost 100% of their funding goes directly to food, water, health and education projects. And that is really important too, so long as they have the funding and a plan to sustainably back it up.
It really all comes down to transparency. We have to learn what is the organization doing, what are their values, and how are they doing it? Then let's support them!
I'm just SO excited that social, peer-to-peer media (not THE media) held us accountable and transparent this time. Our peers - those we do and don't know - shed light on the real facts. We choose what we read, what we watch, who we donate too and what conversations we have. If nothing else, this enriches my soul that so many people are talking about policy makers and Africa and advocacy and aid. This is our time as a generation.
If you're overwhelmed (like I am) challenge your limitations.
Stop.
Educate yourself.
Learn.
Give (when and where you can).
and most of all?
LOVE.
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