Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Day 17 - A Moment That Changed The World!!!

This is a long post, but I truly hope that you make it all the way to the end and watch the video I placed at the very, VERY end. Today I saw the video for the first time and it brought tears to my eyes!

Today I am supposed to share my favorite moment. I find that extremely difficult. How does one pick their absolute favorite moment? I have lived for 30 years, I have had great family moments, I have birthed three children, I have been on several fabulous vacations. How do I select one moment that outshines all of the others? I believe it is impossible.

So, I am not going to do it. BUT I will share with you A moment. A moment in time...a movement that I was a part of that actually made a huge difference in thousands of lives.

It's a day in my life that I will always, always remember, that is a part of history and that I am proud that I was able to take part in.

In Denver, on Saturday, April, 25th, 2009, I took part in The Rescue event for Invisible Children.

Invisible Children is an organization determined to help the thousands and thousands of abducted children in Northern Uganda and The Congo, who are taken from their homes at young ages, desensitized to violence by witnessing horrendous beatings and killings, and then forced to fight as child soldiers for a terrorist, Joseph Kony.

Invisible Children decided that Joseph Kony needed to be captured and arrested, so that his child soldiers could be freed. They organized an event called The RESCUE. 80,000 people gathered in over 90 cities all over the world to abduct themselves to bring media, political and cultural attention to the longest running war in Africa and to the situation affecting the 30,000 abducted child soldiers.

Can you find me? I'll give you a hint...bottom right corner, front row, in off-white hoodie...There I am! :D

 
We gathered at the state capitol and then walked for a couple of miles in a single file line, holding a rope, just as the abducted children are forced to do. Finally arriving at a nearby park, we set up our sleeping bags and blankets, wrote letters to our senators asking them to rescue the child soldiers in Africa, and waited for a political or cultural figure to come out and rescue us by pledging their support to do something about the situation in Northern Uganda and The Congo.

Here is a little video montage I made of the event in Denver. 1500 people showed up in Denver, for the RESCUE! 1500!!!!



Other photos from the event in other cities:


RESCUE group in L.A. (5,000 showed up and were rescued by a host of celebrities including Kristen Bell, Ben McKenzie, Kirsten Dunst and Tom Arnold)


RESCUE group in D.C.


RESCUE in New York


THE MOST AMAZING PART OF THIS ENTIRE THING, IS THAT WHAT I DID, WHAT WE DID THAT DAY, ACTUALLY MADE A HUGE LIFE CHANGING DIFFERENCE!!!


WATCH THIS!!!

To be honest, for some reason, TODAY was the first day that I saw this video and it brought tears to my eyes. I am so very proud of every person who supported this cause. :D


Congress Passes LRA Bill: Highlights from INVISIBLE CHILDREN on Vimeo.



On May 24, 2010, President Obama signed the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act into law.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

Woohoo!!! That is so incredible. :-)