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The Convention on the Ellimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) has finally come to the forefront after 31 long years of waiting. A Senate hearing chaired by Senator Durbin (D-IL) allowed for convincing testimony on why the US should ratify and join the ranks of 186 other countries that already have. The US is currently one of 7 that have not signed on along with other countries such as Sudan, Somalia and Iran. Read the post and see what you can do to change the lives of women around the world and allow them a “powerful tool” to access justice and insure equality.
Take part in celibrating the 100th International Women’s Day with CARE at their annual conference in DC March 8-10 2010. I will be forming a delegation of youth to attend from DC and the surrounding area to take part in advocating and stepping up as the next leaders of tomorrow. If you know of anyone that would like to… take part please send them my way. There is power in numbers so lets come together and do this!! See More
Running for Congo with Team Congo-DC. A great example of what you can do when you come together to make a difference. We raised $2,500 for the Women for Women Programs in Congo. Thanks for your participation Lisa Shannon founder of Run for Congo Women.
John Prendergast, co-founder of the Enough Project www.enoughmoment.org and co-author of The Enough Moment shares how he arrived at his enough moment in this clip. The moment when he could no longer stand on the sidelines and watch the ongoing human rights abuses committed against innocent civilians living in some of the most dangerous and poorest places in the world.
From that moment he committed to get in the race, stay in it, and to stand up and speak out against injustices that at the time few were taking on. Well not anymore, change is on the horizon. There is a growing movement of people just like John that have reached their enough moment and are standing in a NOW! moment. They want to do something right where they are to change what they can no longer stand by and watch. I am one of those people and this is my story.
It all started as a result of a trip abroad to Northern Uganda last September where I spent a couple of months working as a conflict prevention intern with Mercy Corps. The trip really left me fired up about taking the next step to work abroad in post-conflict zones attempting to create something…anything that resembles development. The goal was to make a real impact on extreme poverty and reverse that menacing trickle down effect that seemed to promote only making the rich richer and keeping the poor poor. I had high hopes that I could play some part in turning it around and into something that might be more quickly felt by those most marginalized and living on the edges of society.
I had thought I might achieve this working as a Foreign Service officer but a turn of events led me onto another path when I was invited to interview for a USAID position but neglected to be one of the choosen few to join the many working abroad in conflict zones. It was in that space of change and challenge that I decided to commit to make a difference even if I had to take the lead and start my own initiatives. I had gone abroad to intern, moved to Dc and relocated my family all on the pretense that I was going to make a difference and the fact is I still am.
The one thing I learned from my experience in Uganda that was invaluable and has become the cornerstone of my growth as well as my approach towards creating development, positive change and peace in Africa is the fact that Africa has a lot to offer beyond it’s resources. There are many bright eager people who have the initiative to create the positive change that they seek but lack the resources to make it happen. On the other hand we living as Americans in a society full of opportunities and resources that many can only dream seem to lack the initiative at times because we question whether we can make a real impact. Well I’m here to say you can.
It is here that I stand today. Working at the grassroots level, supporting campaigns working to solve the issues in the Congo and taking the initiative to make change happen however minuscule it may seem. I’m taking the initiative and the resources within reach to insure the voices of those who feel they may have no voice are heard. And on the days that I am challenged with wondering if my actions are really making a measurable difference in the lives of those who need it most I am reminded of something Lisa Shannon founder of Run for Congo Women said and I am immediately brought back to a space of clarity. “It is in “showing up” that we can achieve change for the Congo and the impact of that “showing up” is sure to be so great that it may not even be measured in one lifetime.
I am convinced that she is right and in fact it is a call to action to respond right where we are to do something…anything to change a response of inaction, into a now moment of Enough!
Rape of a Nation
Photojournalist Marcus Bleasdale presents an excellent solution to transcending the challenges of visual journalism in a tech savvy world full of Generation X’ers with this compelling documentary “Rape of a Nation” about the Conflict in the Congo.
This short yet powerful piece tells the story of what has transpired in the Congo over the last decade resulting in the worlds most deadly conflict since the Second World War. The root cause of the war is the control of its vast natural wealth. The result of the fighting from various armed groups is over 5 million dead due primarily from preventable diseases also known as lack of access to health care.
In the end, there remains fully intact a system of rape and pillage that has yet to be effectively challenged by the International Criminal Court (ICC), UN, local government or international community. Business as usual has been the response of global corporations as the attitude of impunity towards Congolese suffering only seems to encourage further abuse and atrocities to be committed by the Congolese Army, rebel groups and even in past offenses…UN soldiers. Exploitation of poor innocent civilians seems to have no consequence.
Though the Congo is positioned in one of the richest regions of the world, it remains one of the poorest countries in the world. It boast vast mineral wealth such as “gold, diamonds, coltan, copper, cobalt, uranium, tin and many other precious and strategic minerals such as rain forests and the Congo River estimated to be valued at over 24 trillion US Dollars” What part might you play in that?
As stated bya local Washington DC NGO Africa Action, when discussing the Congo in their new curriculum designed for educating middle and high school youth, “We are all connected to the conflict in the DRC. If you’ve ever used anything produced with any of the minerals from the Congo, then you have benefited, and continue to benefit.” Watch the doc and become aware.
Raise hope for the Congo! Raise Awareness! Stop the Violence! Become a part of the movement.
—-Sonya
We all on earth have a commission and a right to defend the weak against the strong, and to protest against brutality in any shape or form.
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| — | Sir Roger Casement, 1892 British consul activist, witness to the Congo |
When I watch videos like this on the Congo I wonder how the conflict has continued on for so long without some even being aware that it exist or worse yet that those who are aware are not affected by what they do know. I truly believe in the goodness of human beings and would have to side with the opinion that most Americans aren’t aware of what is going on. If they were they would do more to stop the violence and suffering that the Congolese people continue to experience on a day to day basis.
It is true that Africa has many conflicts raging and many people dieing but there is something about the situation in the Congo that demands action and action that is focused and expedient. Perhaps it is the horrific history of the Congo since the time of King Leopold, through the Mobutu years up to the current day that sounds the alarm by prefacing the region under such titles as the “African Holocaust.”
In the end, when one comes face to face with what has happened and continues to happen, the question that one has to raise is not only why the violence and killing is taking place but why are we letting it happen without protest.
