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!!!!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

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.

Bobby's Video Journal Entry 1

To learn more about this particular post, please read the post below it.


Description: Video Diary Journal 1 March 06, 2007 For the month of March, Bobby Bailey will be traveling with a small group to the remotest part of Northern Uganda to live among the hundreds of thousands that are internally displaced. They will be staying for two weeks in a camp and living as they live, eating what they eat, and trying to survive for a short time with people who have been enduring an emergency crisis for ten years now. Here is his first entry...

Displace Me: Bobby Journal Entry #1

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Invisible Children

Well, the screening that I helped set up was last night. And it was a small turnout, but it still was great. There were lots of questions afterwards and everyone who went stayed until the end, was very interested and longed to get involved even more. So that was AWESOME!!!

I learned a bunch too. The film was made several years ago. Since that time, peace for the most part has come to Gulu. The LRA does still exist and child abductions still happen, but things are much better.

Invisible Children has helped to put up a school in the region. And they currently have around 500 or so students. It is a high school. They have an application process for both the students and the mentors. Each student has a mentor who is in charge of using the child's school funds for classes, helping the child through school, and working with the family members as well.

And future schools to be built in the area have been asked to model the program set in place by Invisible Children.

Right now, the biggest need in the area is with the displaced camps. Most everyone was placed into camps. And it wasn't like they had buildings set up or anything. It was basically empty space and they were in charge of making their own shelter. There are millions living within these camps in unsanitary conditions. They don't have clean water and they don't have enough food. The World Food Program, in charge right now of bringing them food, has recently cut the amount of food they bring in half. Everyone in the camps are dying at a rate of 2,000 per week. they should be allowed to go home!!!!!!!!

So, on April 28th, Invisible Children is putting together an event called, Displace Me. In 15 cities across the U.S., people will gather for 24 hours. Everyone will bring with them a sealed box of saltines, a sealed bottle of water and cardboard to make a shelter with. The food and water will be handed off to someone in charge upon entrance. And during the 24 hour period, crackers and water will be handed out. This event will give somewhat of an idea as to what it is like to live in a displaced camp.

And during the 24 hour period, there will be events and media where those involved write letters to governors, congress..and so forth explaining what they are doing and asking the US to help those in the displaced camps.

Last year, Invisible children spearheaded a Global Night Commute campaign that was a bit similar where all over the U.S., people commuted for the night to a park..slept outside in groups and got the word out to the White House that there was a problem with the child soldiers in Northern Uganda. Because of that event, those who formed Invisible Children got to talk to members of the White House and the word got out there in the media.

Invisible Children is hoping for even more incredible results with the Displace Me event. Their goal is to have 10,000 people in each city. That would mean a total of 150,000 people displacing themselves for the weekend. That would definitely get the word out within the media.

There is a holocaust happening in Northern Uganda, it's been going on now for 20 years, and today we can do something to help it and to change it.

Here is a video explaining more about Displace Me
World Tour 2007: Displace Me Cities V.2

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This is the site for Invisible Children

And here I am with the Invisible Children Mountain West Road Team who has been on tour since January showing the film.

think about taking part in Displace Me. You will have an opportunity to be a part of something sooo incredible and soooo important!!!

Invisible Children Screening

So as my faithful readers know, I have been working on trying to set up a screening out here to show the film, Invisible Children. I was also trying to do it in conjunction with the IC tour team that will be out in our state in April. That way they take charge of showing the film, answering questions and providing some fun goodies.

So, I had been emailing a gal at one of the event centers out here on using their conference room / theater that holds 200 people. NOrmally it would cost almost $400 to have it there, but I just received an email informing me that they will allow us use of their facility free of charge.

So, I am excited. Now, it's time to start working on promoting it. WOO HOO!

This Makes Me Excited

So, I happened to catch a few seconds of Nightline tonight and they were interviewing Ryan Gosling about his Oscar nod. But when I happened to pay attention to it, I caught a glimpse of the Lord's Resistance Army and listened to him speak about a young girl who had been attacked. The children of Northern Uganda are so pressing on my heart and by the time I realized what he was talking about, they were already discussing some other topic. But I did catch that he was working on a film about the LRA. I looked up information about it online and found this:

"Where’s Ryan Gosling? The Oscar-nominated "Half Nelson" star was a surprise entry on the Oscar slate. But he's been pretty much MIA from the campaign circuit. He wasn't even at the prestigious and essential campaign stop -- the Oscar Nominees Luncheon -- this week. Even Peter O'Toole showed up for that. Doesn't Ryan want to win?

According to Bonnie Abaunza of Amnesty International, Ryan is in Uganda scouting locations for "The Lord's Resistance Army," a film about child soldiers in East Africa. Gosling's producing the film, co-writing the script, will direct and star in it. With him in Uganda are child soldier expert Jimmy Briggs, author of "Innocents Lost," and John Prendergast, D.C-based senior advisor to the International Crisis Group. He’s the guy who took Angelina Jolie on her first trip to the eastern Congo in 2003 and helped George Clooney recently appear at the United Nations to seek help for Darfur's thousands of dead and millions of displaced civil war victims.

While there, they visited some hospitals and aid centers funded by Nic Cage's $2.5 million contribution to help rehabilitate child soldiers. Yesterday morning, Bonnie got a frantic call from Ryan, Jimmy and John asking for her help.

At one hospital, the trio met a 3-year-old girl whose village had been attacked and destroyed by the child soldiers in the Lord's Resistance Army.

"She had been thrown into a fire to burn to death. But she managed to wriggle out. The child soldiers grabbed her, wrapped her in a rug and threw her back in. But she managed to crawl out again, stay hidden in the brush and survive. She was just 18 months old. She’s still alive but is horribly burned. The carpet is embedded in her head. She has a cerebral infection and is in terrible pain with every movement and every breath,” says Abaunza.

"She cannot grow because her skin is so scarred. The brave little girl needs more help than the Doctors Without Borders can provide and her only hope now is to get to the U.S. and be given long-term treatment at a Burn Center."

Ryan, Jimmie and John are determined to get her out of Uganda and flown to the U.S. for specialized care and Bonnie is trying to arrange airfare and medical care as fast as she can. So if you wonder where the Oscar-nommed actor has been during the fabulous frenzied awards season, that’s what he's been up to. Freaking inspiring, isn't it?"

I am thrilled to read this....THRILLED. I am so glad to see a Hollywood star working hard to bring this issue to the mainstream. GOOD FOR HIM!

Quick Invisible Children Update

As I talked about earlier, I am trying to do a screening out here of the film, Invisible Children. Their Mountain West tour team will be out in my area in April. Tiffany and I are going to see if our pastor will show the film one night. I am also working on trying to secure a larger location where I can try to get some of the public to attend.

There is an event center with a theater out here, I emailed them to see if we could use their center. Of course we can, but they do charge $150 per hour with a 2 hour minimum. Invisible Children asks that we do our own fundraising for the venue, if it is one that charges. I have emailed the gal at the center back to see if we can get some sort of a discount since we will be fundraising to use their venue for the screening. So I'll see what she says.I am prepared to hear a big fat NO however.

I just talked to a gal from Invisible Children who works in their San Diego offices and was able to get some information from her on setting up the screening.

I am very excited to be putting this together and I hope that it can all work out.

If you guys have any fundraising suggestions, I am all ears!!!! I don't know many people out here and am not involved with any groups out here. So, it'll be just little old me....and Tiff!

Prayer Request

I just emailed an event coordinator out here in regards to seeing if I can have a screening of the film, Invisible Children, at their event center/ theater. It can hold up to 1,000 people. So if they are moved by the story of the children and allow me use of their space, I would have such an opportunity to share the story with so many. Of course, I'd have to find a way to get 1,000 people there and only in a month's time. The Invisible Children Mountain West tour team will be out here in my city in March. They work along with those who are hosting screenings to provide resources and to be there to explain more about it and answer questions. So, I just emailed a gal from there as well to find out if I do secure the location, how do I go about getting 1,000 people there.

Anyway, I ask right now for you to pray for the heart of the wonderful event coordinator who will be reading my email. Pray that their heart will be touched by the story and that they will be more than willing to allow me use of their space free of charge.

Thank you!

TRI

TRI

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Invisible Children

As some of you may know, I have been yapping a lot about the Invisible Children. It is a documentary filmed by three young guys who discovered the atrocities taking place against the children in Northern Uganda. The story of the Invisible Children put the children of Uganda on my heart in a major way. I am going to go on a mission trip in June to Uganda to work with some orphans. I won't however be in Northern Uganda. But now that a cease fire has been issued, I may consider going to Northern Uganda a couple of years from now if the opportunity presents itself.

Anyway, I found a link that had the entire Invisible Children film on it. It is 55 minutes long. I have it posted here for you. It may take a few to load. Please don't be turned off by the first fifteen minutes or so of it. WATCH THE WHOLE THING!!!!
I feel that the last twenty minutes or so of it is the most moving. And everything before helps explain it all.



Again, there was a cease fire signed after 20 years of violence, death and atrocities toward the children in Northern Uganda. The U.N. as well as the Government of Uganda are working to find homes for all of the children as well as education and therapy. The children who were abducted and forced to join the LRA, were trained and brainwashed at a young age to kill. They were desensitized to it all by witnessing the brutal deaths of other abducted children. So, as you can imagine, these thousands upon thousands of children have a lot of emotional issues to deal with.

If you are interested in sponsoring a child from Northern Uganda, you can contact Far Reaching Ministries. 951-677-4474. Steve and I have sponsored a little Kenyan boy through them since 2001. I just received a letter today though that recently a young boy in the orphanage that Far Reaching Minsitries had worked at, had been abusing many of the young girls at the orphanage. The director was refusing FRM's help in finding him a new home and were going to continue keeping him there. FRM decided that the situation wasn't right for them and are now focusing on helping two orphanages in Northern Uganda. So, our sponsorship is going to switch over to a child in Northern Uganda. So, anyway, if you are interested, contact them.

Videos I urge you to watch

INVISIBLE CHILDREN

THE CAUSE:





THE COMMERCIAL





THE OUTCOME





A WAY YOU CAN HELP
-Please note some may be turned off from this video by how it starts, but please watch.




MORE WAYS TO HELP
MAKE MORE NOISE!

The power of your voice at the Global Night Commute was like nothing we've seen or heard before. After meeting with senators to discuss the effects of the Global Night Commute we realized one thing - we've only just begun. With thousands dying everyday in Uganda, we want you to let your senators know that change needs to happen NOW.

Be a part of the 2006 Northern Uganda Lobby Day and Symposium and make noise to end a war. Sharpie-art your calendar and save the date, because on October 9th-10th, you will be in Washington, D.C. with Invisible Children.

If you live in the area or can catch a ride to the Hill, come join Invisible Children and more than 15 other organizations to make more noise to help the people of Northern Uganda. You will hear from the world's leading experts, including Betty Bigombe and John Prendergast, the filmmakers of Invisible Children, and then meet with your elected representative's staff to urge more effective U.S. involvement in the crisis. You'll go home with the knowledge and tools to keep advocating for the invisible children. It's a field trip worth 20 gold stars.

For more information and to register online, go to: www.ugandalobbyday.com

If you can't play hooky or your car won't make it around the D.C. Beltway, don't fret. Call your senators and representatives on the lobby days to be a voice to the voiceless. Imagine what would happen if all of the phones rang off the hook for the invisible children.

Click here for phone numbers to contact both of your state's senators in Washington, DC: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Click here to connect to your Representative in the House: http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.shtml


Official Invisible Children Website Find out here how to order a dvd to host a party. Ask your pastor to show it at your church. Buy the video or a bracelet

Donate

They have a myspace page too

THIS HAS ALL MOVED ME TO TAKE ACTION....what's on your agenda for the evening? laughter over dinner with the family, TV shows to watch and then children to safely and soundly tuck into bed? While you put those covers over your precious children, think about Africa and how you can help. PLEASE!!!!