Showing posts with label Advocacy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Advocacy. Show all posts
24 April 2012
What can I do?
What can I do? What can you do? The comment I received from my last post was really, really good. So basically, I took from her comment a few things. Often as Americans we are told to just throw money at a problem in order to solve it. That the church in the United States tells us that we must share God's love to the world through our actions, which then means donating money to the church. Invisible Children is giving the general population a different option than just giving money.
The Kony2012 videos give an easy way for the average person to feel part of doing something. Calling up our congressmen and telling them to solve this problem, the problem of the LRA in central Africa. Just so that I am clear, I think Kony and the LRA are people who have committed evil atrocities against humanity and they should be punished for their actions. I have simply been asking, if it is always the job of Americans to fight the bad guy when there are thousands of people in the countries the LRA operate that know the situation better than we do. (You can read my first post here and my second post here)
So the question is, what can we do? What can the average outsider, American, Brit, etc. do when we hear about these terrible things going on in the world? What can one person do to make a difference? My response is based upon how involved you want to be.
1. Donate Money. I know, I know- you want other ideas. But this is the first layer of involvement. You hear about a need, you want to be minimally involved (unless you are Bill Gates) and you donate money to a reputable organization. Donating money to an organization is helpful- even the $20 a month donation. My friend Rachel who has worked in the Horn of Africa just blogged about this: which you can find here. You will eventually become bombarded with needs and organizations requesting donations. Which leads me to point two.
2. Find a problem, issue, country, people group, topic and stick with it. Learn everything you can about the topic. Be a walking advocate about the issue. Know the facts, know the problems, know the complexities of the issues. You can be more effective in solving a problem, if you become focused. Essentially, it becomes your "hobby" so to speak. When you get together with friends, they ask you how you are doing, what you are doing, etc. This is the avenue to start sharing about the issue you care most about. There is a fine line between being obnoxious with friends and family, and simply sharing with what you are most passionate about. In this research, you know which organizations are work hands-on to adress the problems. Then you can be an informed donor and confident that your money is going to a good place.
3. Do what Invisible Children does. Flood the mail box of your congressmen about your issue. If you know what is happening on the issue you are passionate about, then you know what is happening in politics and how it links. Why do you think we have American troops in Uganda? It is because enough people of the general public wanted them there and congress listened.
4. Find other people who are passionate about the same topic. Form a working group to share information, access resources, and creatively come up with ways to be part of solving a problem. Bring in guest speakers and experts.
5. Find a local problem and volunteer. The US has some major problems and sometimes it is easier to become involved in solving a local problem.
If we choose one topic we are passionate about and do everything we can to change the current situation (donations, volunteerism, government advocacy), then when we hear the million pleas for help we can confidently decline and focus our energy on the topic we are passionate about and know that change can come about as a result of it. We can not solve every single problem or we will be pulled in so many directions, but we can focus on one thing and hopefully see change. Invisible Children chose the LRA. What will you choose?
12 April 2012
Leave Africa
I've been reading a bit about the Kony2012 2.0 follow up and even more blog posts and news articles since the initial Kony 2012 movie.
The conversation about Americans and our savior complex is interesting. The article by Teju Cole, which you can find here gives an interesting perspective. I could not help but think that in his critique he was also falling into the same savor complex. However, he has some valid points.
It actually reminded me of a heated debate in one of my grad school courses. The class was a communication and advocacy course: how to put together an advocacy campaign, etc. We were told to choose a topic that we would use throughout the course, at the end culminated by a speech that appealed to our audience to action. I was young and new to the development world. Most of my work experience was US-based but I wanted to branch out into the international realm. So I chose a controversial topic based on three months work experience in a slum outside of Nairobi. Land rights. To make it even better, there were four or five Kenyans in my class. I spoke with all of them before I decided to commit to the topic. I wanted their opinion, I wanted to know if they would be offended if I chose a controversial topic from their country. Most were okay with me learning more about their country, land rights, and tribal differences. One man, was a bit more hesitant to give me his blessing. However in the end, he said okay.
By chance, the topic of land rights in this particular slum had become popular news in Nairobi. Land reform was happening, construction of new buildings, moving people from their old homes to new ones, etc. By the time the course was over, things had dramatically changed within the country. Something I was not expecting. My final presentation had to be changed significantly because what I had started out advocating for was indeed happening while the class was taking place. However the way I came across started a heated conversation: should Americans be involved in development or should we allow for locals to address their problems?
My personal opinion which I spoke about in my original blog post about Kony2012 is that local people should be the ones to create change in their communities and should first ask for help from the outside, international community before anyone comes blazing in to help. This opinion was, in fact, strongly influenced by this advocacy class.
The last class of the course we had a three hour discussion about the involvement of westerners in international development. I was, as a white American woman, a minority in my academic program and also this class. Eighty percent of the class came from emerging countries and economies. In the end, many people in this class were personally hurt by the very blunt and forward comments by my classmates. What went down would have been a scene from a movie if the UN all of a sudden just said what they wanted to say without thinking about the repercussions. One of the very few comments I remember stuck with me. "Americans, you need to get out of Africa and let us Africans handle our own problems." I was blown away. The very Kenyan man who had told me to seek out this topic in this class just told me, as an American, to never enter his country again. I left hurt, confused, and wondering why I had quit my job, moved to Boston, and enrolled in an international development program when my classmates did not even want me involved.
I had the chance to speak with this Kenyan later, to follow up with his comment. Other Africans came up to me in the days following to say that they did not agree with this man's statement, that they wanted me to part of changing their countries, but not in a top-down, Americans know-all mentality. They wanted me to work with them instead of Americans controlling them. For the record, this Kenyan man actually became a good friend of mine in graduate school. And I thank him for making such a bold statement in an advocacy class because in the end, it changed my perspective. I will never understand the culture as well as a local. I will always have the option to use my blue passport and bail when things go wrong. I will always have the ability to change my career and find something new to do in the United States, find a man, get married, buy a house, and forget about the troubles of the world. My classmates, my friends, do not have that luxury.
So in our effort as Americans to try and save the world, we forget that we can not save the world. We can not tell an entire continent what to do. The Kony2012 2.0 video shows more Africans than Americans, which is good. It was also the first time that I have ever seen the organization demonstrate any depth in their understanding of the problem. It was the first time I have ever seen them acknowledge that they are not the only ones who are working on this issue. Yet I am still not ready to jump on this bandwagon. Namely because I still have no clue what they are in doing in Uganda (and now the Central African Countries) except put up a radio tower and follow Kony around the bush. Invisible Children is still an advocacy group to rally the US government to capture Kony. Someday a Harvard Business School Case Study will be written about them and their use of video to rally a world around a cause. I'm just wondering what the ending will be. American superheros capture the vilan? Or Ugandans step up and use the resources of the world to decide what they want to happen.
The conversation about Americans and our savior complex is interesting. The article by Teju Cole, which you can find here gives an interesting perspective. I could not help but think that in his critique he was also falling into the same savor complex. However, he has some valid points.
It actually reminded me of a heated debate in one of my grad school courses. The class was a communication and advocacy course: how to put together an advocacy campaign, etc. We were told to choose a topic that we would use throughout the course, at the end culminated by a speech that appealed to our audience to action. I was young and new to the development world. Most of my work experience was US-based but I wanted to branch out into the international realm. So I chose a controversial topic based on three months work experience in a slum outside of Nairobi. Land rights. To make it even better, there were four or five Kenyans in my class. I spoke with all of them before I decided to commit to the topic. I wanted their opinion, I wanted to know if they would be offended if I chose a controversial topic from their country. Most were okay with me learning more about their country, land rights, and tribal differences. One man, was a bit more hesitant to give me his blessing. However in the end, he said okay.
By chance, the topic of land rights in this particular slum had become popular news in Nairobi. Land reform was happening, construction of new buildings, moving people from their old homes to new ones, etc. By the time the course was over, things had dramatically changed within the country. Something I was not expecting. My final presentation had to be changed significantly because what I had started out advocating for was indeed happening while the class was taking place. However the way I came across started a heated conversation: should Americans be involved in development or should we allow for locals to address their problems?
My personal opinion which I spoke about in my original blog post about Kony2012 is that local people should be the ones to create change in their communities and should first ask for help from the outside, international community before anyone comes blazing in to help. This opinion was, in fact, strongly influenced by this advocacy class.
The last class of the course we had a three hour discussion about the involvement of westerners in international development. I was, as a white American woman, a minority in my academic program and also this class. Eighty percent of the class came from emerging countries and economies. In the end, many people in this class were personally hurt by the very blunt and forward comments by my classmates. What went down would have been a scene from a movie if the UN all of a sudden just said what they wanted to say without thinking about the repercussions. One of the very few comments I remember stuck with me. "Americans, you need to get out of Africa and let us Africans handle our own problems." I was blown away. The very Kenyan man who had told me to seek out this topic in this class just told me, as an American, to never enter his country again. I left hurt, confused, and wondering why I had quit my job, moved to Boston, and enrolled in an international development program when my classmates did not even want me involved.
I had the chance to speak with this Kenyan later, to follow up with his comment. Other Africans came up to me in the days following to say that they did not agree with this man's statement, that they wanted me to part of changing their countries, but not in a top-down, Americans know-all mentality. They wanted me to work with them instead of Americans controlling them. For the record, this Kenyan man actually became a good friend of mine in graduate school. And I thank him for making such a bold statement in an advocacy class because in the end, it changed my perspective. I will never understand the culture as well as a local. I will always have the option to use my blue passport and bail when things go wrong. I will always have the ability to change my career and find something new to do in the United States, find a man, get married, buy a house, and forget about the troubles of the world. My classmates, my friends, do not have that luxury.
So in our effort as Americans to try and save the world, we forget that we can not save the world. We can not tell an entire continent what to do. The Kony2012 2.0 video shows more Africans than Americans, which is good. It was also the first time that I have ever seen the organization demonstrate any depth in their understanding of the problem. It was the first time I have ever seen them acknowledge that they are not the only ones who are working on this issue. Yet I am still not ready to jump on this bandwagon. Namely because I still have no clue what they are in doing in Uganda (and now the Central African Countries) except put up a radio tower and follow Kony around the bush. Invisible Children is still an advocacy group to rally the US government to capture Kony. Someday a Harvard Business School Case Study will be written about them and their use of video to rally a world around a cause. I'm just wondering what the ending will be. American superheros capture the vilan? Or Ugandans step up and use the resources of the world to decide what they want to happen.
05 April 2012
Kony2012 Part Two
Invisible Children's follow up video was released today. I'm still formulating my opinions and will post a follow up. But in the mean time, below is the video to watch it.
Or you can find it here.
Or you can find it here.
23 March 2012
Vote for Fount!
Do you want to help a good organization win a $1000 grant?
Do you want an organization to help empower local community-based organizations to take ownership over their own development?
Do you want to help advance Ugandan women's understanding of reproductive health? So that Ugandan youth will know that washing with coke does not make someone a virgin again. How HIV/AIDS is spread. How a child is formed within a womb?
The organization in which I worked for in Uganda, www.fountofmercy.org, has been nominated to win a grant from Oxfam America.
Pretty cool, eh?
All you have to do is click this link right here and vote for Fount of Mercy.
So that the women that I was standing with a year ago in the picture above, will have a better understanding of their bodies in the future.
Do you want an organization to help empower local community-based organizations to take ownership over their own development?
Do you want to help advance Ugandan women's understanding of reproductive health? So that Ugandan youth will know that washing with coke does not make someone a virgin again. How HIV/AIDS is spread. How a child is formed within a womb?
The organization in which I worked for in Uganda, www.fountofmercy.org, has been nominated to win a grant from Oxfam America.
Pretty cool, eh?
All you have to do is click this link right here and vote for Fount of Mercy.
So that the women that I was standing with a year ago in the picture above, will have a better understanding of their bodies in the future.
10 March 2012
Kony 2012
This past week, Invisible Children's (IC) new video went viral. I watched it, followed a bit on twitter, and read a few blog posts and news articles. I originally did not want to post about the Kony2012 campaign. Mostly, because I have never been to Gulu so I feel inadequate to give you my assessment. That being said, it seems like everyone has an opinion on the topic and the lack of experience in Gulu doesn't hold anyone else back. Given that I have lived in Uganda and have been to northern Uganda (just not Gulu town), I feel like I should at least give you my opinion. So here it is.
First, if you have not seen the video, you can find it here: Invisible Children (IC). You should watch it. Now on to my opinion.
Joseph Kony is an evil man who has abducted children and used them for his benefit. He is the head of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). For lack of a better, more concise overview, I am going to refer you to wikipedia's article here. With the LRA, Kony has destroyed countless communities and lives in northern Uganda. He is currently wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity and war crimes. If you click on the link, you will notice he is not the only one from the LRA that is wanted.
Which leads me to my first question, why does Invisible Children only name him in their video? I really have no idea. Except that it is easier to have a Kony 2012 campaign than a Kony/Otti/Odhiambo/Ognwen 2012 Campaign. Right? Not to mention that some of those names are kinda hard to pronounce by English speakers. And I digress.
So we have this man and his army who have done terrible things to the country. I can personally attest to the atrocities since I have friends who have been effected by the LRA. However, the worst of the LRA's destruction pretty much ended in 2005. Northern Uganda is rebuilding, healing, and moving forward. Which leads me to my next question, why is Invisible Children focusing on a war that has mostly fizzled out? On something that, yes, has destroyed the country, but is not at all the worst of the country's problems at the moment.
Perhaps I should list some of those problems out for you:
1. Lack of good health care and also a plethora of diseases such as: the Mysterious Nodding Disease, malaria, and HIV/AIDS.
2.Economic inflation. Some of my friends who still live in Uganda have shared with me that inflation has increased by 25% in the last year. This article,which you can find here, outlines the inflation rate in the past year. Thankfully, it is slowly coming down.
3. Insufficient electricity. My dear friend helps fund a hospital in Uganda, and because of the lack of electricity, she reports that more than 100 people have died because they were unable to run the necessary equipment to help them stay alive. This is an extreme example of lack of electricity. It also inhibits businesses. Imagine if the electricity didn't work in your office for an entire week with absolutely nothing to be done about it.
4. The Karamojong people. Google it.
5. Finally, I am going to mention politics. It is my opinion that with sending US troops to Uganda to help eliminate Kony, you are also strengthening Museveni, his army, and his power within the country. For better or worse. President Museveni has been in power 26 years and will be for a total of 30 until the next election comes around. Museveni has advanced the country a great deal since the Idi Amin regime. However, there are also some things to question about him as well: Google "Museveni Crackdown" if you would like to learn more about him.
So why is the IC so determined to catch Kony when his capture, while surely significant, is not a huge development issue within the country currently? My list of five are only five, there are so many other things to be addressed as well! Perhaps it is because Jason Russell (founder of Invisible Children) and his co-founders made a promise to a boy in northern Uganda- to do everything they could to end the war. This is a noble promise and one that they have worked hard to achieve. However, is this the only reason why someone continues to promote this agenda? My other thoughts are negative. Again, I am hesitant to say them. Mostly because I have had friends who have worked for Invisible Children, of which none of them do now. Another reason why IC made the film was promotional for themselves. They will get a lot of money from this campaign. It will help drive their organization forward, rally a group of people in the US- and all over the world- to one single cause: capture the bad guy.
Some of you might question my thought about money. International Development is an industry. It finds causes, markets them, and gets money to help solve problems. However, these problems are so complex that is it very difficult to solve them by eliminating one person, or sending food to a group of people, or giving a box of toys to children who have very little. Humans are complex. Ugandan people are complex. The politics of Uganda and central Africa are complex. Eliminating one man from the mix of complexities will not solve everyone's problems. It will complete Invisible Children's mission, it will make American college students feel like they have done something, but it will not solve Uganda's problems. Only Ugandans can solve its problems. They can solicit the help of others, other aid organizations, churches, international politics, countries, and the UN for help- but it comes down to the fact that Ugandans must solve their own problems. They know the situation better than anyone else. They know the needs better than anyone else.
So are we, as US citizens, as global citizens, listening to their needs? Their desires to change their lives? Or are we following a bunch of wealthy southern California guys in fighting the big bad Kony? I would rather listen to Ugandans tell me what they need than listen to Invisible Children tell me what Ugandans need. What about you?
First, if you have not seen the video, you can find it here: Invisible Children (IC). You should watch it. Now on to my opinion.
Joseph Kony is an evil man who has abducted children and used them for his benefit. He is the head of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). For lack of a better, more concise overview, I am going to refer you to wikipedia's article here. With the LRA, Kony has destroyed countless communities and lives in northern Uganda. He is currently wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for crimes against humanity and war crimes. If you click on the link, you will notice he is not the only one from the LRA that is wanted.
Which leads me to my first question, why does Invisible Children only name him in their video? I really have no idea. Except that it is easier to have a Kony 2012 campaign than a Kony/Otti/Odhiambo/Ognwen 2012 Campaign. Right? Not to mention that some of those names are kinda hard to pronounce by English speakers. And I digress.
So we have this man and his army who have done terrible things to the country. I can personally attest to the atrocities since I have friends who have been effected by the LRA. However, the worst of the LRA's destruction pretty much ended in 2005. Northern Uganda is rebuilding, healing, and moving forward. Which leads me to my next question, why is Invisible Children focusing on a war that has mostly fizzled out? On something that, yes, has destroyed the country, but is not at all the worst of the country's problems at the moment.
Perhaps I should list some of those problems out for you:
1. Lack of good health care and also a plethora of diseases such as: the Mysterious Nodding Disease, malaria, and HIV/AIDS.
2.Economic inflation. Some of my friends who still live in Uganda have shared with me that inflation has increased by 25% in the last year. This article,which you can find here, outlines the inflation rate in the past year. Thankfully, it is slowly coming down.
3. Insufficient electricity. My dear friend helps fund a hospital in Uganda, and because of the lack of electricity, she reports that more than 100 people have died because they were unable to run the necessary equipment to help them stay alive. This is an extreme example of lack of electricity. It also inhibits businesses. Imagine if the electricity didn't work in your office for an entire week with absolutely nothing to be done about it.
4. The Karamojong people. Google it.
5. Finally, I am going to mention politics. It is my opinion that with sending US troops to Uganda to help eliminate Kony, you are also strengthening Museveni, his army, and his power within the country. For better or worse. President Museveni has been in power 26 years and will be for a total of 30 until the next election comes around. Museveni has advanced the country a great deal since the Idi Amin regime. However, there are also some things to question about him as well: Google "Museveni Crackdown" if you would like to learn more about him.
So why is the IC so determined to catch Kony when his capture, while surely significant, is not a huge development issue within the country currently? My list of five are only five, there are so many other things to be addressed as well! Perhaps it is because Jason Russell (founder of Invisible Children) and his co-founders made a promise to a boy in northern Uganda- to do everything they could to end the war. This is a noble promise and one that they have worked hard to achieve. However, is this the only reason why someone continues to promote this agenda? My other thoughts are negative. Again, I am hesitant to say them. Mostly because I have had friends who have worked for Invisible Children, of which none of them do now. Another reason why IC made the film was promotional for themselves. They will get a lot of money from this campaign. It will help drive their organization forward, rally a group of people in the US- and all over the world- to one single cause: capture the bad guy.
Some of you might question my thought about money. International Development is an industry. It finds causes, markets them, and gets money to help solve problems. However, these problems are so complex that is it very difficult to solve them by eliminating one person, or sending food to a group of people, or giving a box of toys to children who have very little. Humans are complex. Ugandan people are complex. The politics of Uganda and central Africa are complex. Eliminating one man from the mix of complexities will not solve everyone's problems. It will complete Invisible Children's mission, it will make American college students feel like they have done something, but it will not solve Uganda's problems. Only Ugandans can solve its problems. They can solicit the help of others, other aid organizations, churches, international politics, countries, and the UN for help- but it comes down to the fact that Ugandans must solve their own problems. They know the situation better than anyone else. They know the needs better than anyone else.
So are we, as US citizens, as global citizens, listening to their needs? Their desires to change their lives? Or are we following a bunch of wealthy southern California guys in fighting the big bad Kony? I would rather listen to Ugandans tell me what they need than listen to Invisible Children tell me what Ugandans need. What about you?
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