$2 million

Today in our staff meeting we were able to hear all about the exciting news about what is happening on the ground right now. From the 30 women and Children who have come out of the bush, the expansion of our Radio Towers, to the Rehab center being up and running. This is what I am fundraising for. If you are reading this right now then you have heard me ramble on and on about Invisible Children, my time in Uganda, and what this truly means to me. But what I have learned while being here is that if I take what raising $2 million means to me and triple it, it won't even come close to what it means for the people who are on the receiving end of it. For me it's this sense of accomplishment but for them it truly is changing better yet saving their lives. As cliche as it sounds.

I believe in the Human Connection. I believe that one story can change a persons life. I believe that through the power of the people justice can be served. I believe that $2 million can completely affect an entire region in a positive way.

I have seen proof that the programs this money is funding is working and all I am asking is that you give up that cup of coffee, or sushi dinner and donate. Not because you feel guilty for not doing but because you have faith in the power of the youth and believe that peace is reachable.

God gave me these ears so I could hear

Instead of trying to explain the past three weeks of my life how about some quotes that define it:

"There was a time when those who danced were thought crazy by those who couldn't hear the music." - teacher at Incline High School

"Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I will understand." Confucius (as seen on the wall at a youth correction camp)

"Look at that parrot" - Andrew

" I mean I don't understand how I am not fat." - Kim

" We all are looking weird today" - Roy

"We are so consistently dumb." - Andrew

"It's a hard life to wear the wolf shirt and flannel." - Kim

These quotes may not make sense but they are the best explanation for my life on the road. I have been blessed with a team that keeps me smiling and a opportunity to share a story that is life changing. My dream has become a reality and my life is changing.

Plus I getting really good at driving a huge van packed full of boxes up and down mountains.

Launch Week!

Launch Week in Photos

Today we made our first stop on tour ... Malibu my friends. Absolutely beautiful.

We are staying with our friend Kevin who worked at IC as an intern this summer. He goes to Pepperdine so we get to be in a phenomenal looking area.

So far the tour has started off interesting and exciting. This morning coming out of the parking garage Andrew scrape a corner and basically took down the wall. So we spent our first hour at a repair shop. Though the van looked bad you should've seen the wall.

Then we had a lovely drive up to Malibu in which both Roy and I spent most of it asleep. Andrew is quite the talker once he is put behind the wheel, pointing out random things on the side of the road. As he claims he is like the guy from Psych and can see anything and know!

It is going to be a great trip. Tomorrow we have our first screening at 10:30 to a high school so lets keep our fingers crossed!

"When you love someone you cannot fear them." - Roy

Ugandans Arrive!

Here is a video my friend Jacob made about the Ugandans arriving on Friday. ENJOY!

"Just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call"

I have never been happier.

Who would've thought that stress could also be translated as happiness. I'll be honest it's hard. Sitting in the office at my computer sometimes 12 hours a day, coming in on Saturdays, having people hanging up on me, sleeping maybe 6 hours each night, living off of Ramen and coffee, knowing that some people have no desire to listen to you talk about the conflict in Central Africa. But then moments happen like Friday Morning and you are reminded:

Last Saturday we came into work and were all pretty bummed but then they told us we were going to find out who our Ugandan teammate is. Well that quickly perked us up. Little did our bosses know, my teammate had already facebooked us haha. His name is Roy and he is 22 years old. His mother gave birth to him at the age of 13 and he was raised by his grandmother. As a child he was a night commuter which meant every day he walked for miles to the nearest city and slept at the bus station with thousands of other children to keep safe from being abducted. That afternoon after everyone had found out their teammates and we had been told they would be here less than a week, my teammate Kim turned to me and simply asked "Can you believe it?" which I quickly responded with "THIS IS SO OVERWHELMING!" bursting into a laugh/cry. My emotions exploded out of me.

So then we reach Friday morning. If anyone was at the San Diego airport two days ago they would have thought that SD was filled with crazy people. The scene was ridiculous. There were 80 of us waiting there with signs by the baggage claim waiting.

Then we see them....and a roar louder than fans at a Justin Bieber concert let out. I promptly started to cry with happiness. You would've thought we were being united with family members who we haven't seen in years. We were that happy. Our Ugandan teammates were probably scared out of their mind. But we didn't care, we ran at them and attacked them with hugs and smiles and questions.

It has been uphill since. Friday we had dinner with our teammates and today we all came together to play at the park. Roy is fantastic. He is apparently the jokester of the group with is perfect for our team. I warned him that I am a crier and that I cry when I am happy, sad, tired, hungry, stressed, laughing, etc. He said that because of that if I am crying he is just going to stare at me and not know what to do. It is going to be great.

I will say though it's weird knowing that all of my friends back home are coming together for school and I am not there. It is now hitting me that I am not going to be at Loyola this year. I will be missing out on Halloween on Frenchmen, Fall Awakening, Freshmen retreat, Sneux at Loyola, and so much more. Know my Loyola family that I miss you dearly and will be there in spirit. Despite that I wanted want to be anywhere else right now. I know that I am where I belong.

As I read in Ephesians 4 "Just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your one call."

Invisible Children is my hope for the one call of my heart - Peace in Central Africa, the Rescue of Joseph Kony's child soldiers, and the restoration of the broken families.

During my one on one with my Regional Manager Jess, she asked me what it is that is keeping me going. What is my encouragement? For everyone here it is something different. For some it is the fact that women are being used as sex slaves. For others it's the political corruption. For some its just the fact that children are being used as weapons. And for me its what its doing to the families of Central Africa. In Central Africa family is everything. Even if your parents die you are not taken to an orphanage. Your aunt or cousin or grandparents take care of you. You will have one woman who may have 7 dependents but only 4 of them are their actually children. With that being said when a child is being abducted is devastating. There was a video we watched of two brothers talking about how they escaped from the LRA but their sister could not get away. They have no idea where she is or whether or not she is alive.

I would do anything for my brothers and sister. And I know they would do the same for me. We would protect each other till the end. I don't know what I would do if I didn't know if they were safe. You could see in these brothers' eyes the sadness and distress for their sister. Knowing that families are being torn apart and Invisible Children along with others have helped reunite these families but there are millions more, that is what keeps me going.

"As activist we are supporters, not saviours."

Today was definitely the toughest. The lack of sleep has caught up with me and I woke up this morning with a sore throat. BUT despite that my mind was once again blown. Today we got to have a training session with Adam Finch who is in charge of the development on ground in Congo, CAR, and Uganda.

We had an interesting discussion on the "Single Story of Africa". We were really challenged to check ourselves referring to Africa as a country and not recognizing the individuality of each country. Each training session has forced me to be more conscious of my actions as an "activist". Are my efforts creating positive change or am I bringing a ignorant Western view into everything I do?

Thursday Fourth Estate starts! I encourage everyone to look it up on the Invisible Children website. It is going to be amazing. over 600 passionate young people are gathering in San Diego. I have 9 of the participants who I am a mentor to. Let me just tell you that these girls blow my mind.

One of them has created a program for teachers to initiate in their classrooms social justice actions. She has different activities for students as young as elementary age. Then another one is a part of a group who started a clothing line called IAMPILGRIM, where the women who make the shirts live in Cambodia and have been rescued from sex trafficking. IAMPILGRIM allows them to have a salary and get back on their feet.

Anyways this internship has proven to constantly be mind blowing.

After Fourth Estate we are going to start booking screenings and I am a little nervous. There is tons more that is going own but honestly it is so hard to put into words the experience I am having.

This is unreal.

(This is my teammate Kim with her friend Norm outside our house)

Today was the first day in the office. We basically got introduced to the full Invisible Children team and got a tour of the office. Then tonight we got to 1.watch the film we are screening on tour 2. watch the first film for Fourth Estate and 3.played a game similar to capture the flag.

Even though I saw the film last semester it was even more powerful watching it as a roadie and amongst all those who have put time into making the video possible. That is what is the most overwhelming, being around those who have worked so hard to end this war.

Today in our training we learned the IC values:

1. Respect for Each Individual

2. Genuine Compassion

3. We must stay humble!!!

4. The Best Idea Wins

5. Jump First, Fear Later

The confidence Ben Keasey, Laren Poole, and Jason Russel have in us is phenomenal. They really believe they - with roadies and interns help - can stop this war. EVEN MORE SO they believe that ANYONE with a desire to end it, can.

Thursday IC is having a big conference called the fourth estate. It is 600 individuals from ages 15-25 coming to train and learn about advocacy and world changing. Each roadie is given 10 "kids" to mentor and encourage. I will guiding them throughout the entire conference. As they put it "we are going to be their anchor". As apart of the IC team we will become their heroes.

Me a hero? Not to long ago I saw everyone who worked here as a celebrity in a sense. They were doing such cool things and now here I am. I don't feel nearly as cool as I thought they were. But the thing is, this is cool. But not like I am cool but just the fact that there is a company that gives young people an opportunity to do something.

I can't wait to inspire my 10 people to believe in all the hard work they are doing and know that you can in fact do something.

Last night I decided to start reading Ephesians 4 and I just love the first three verses:

"I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."

And just to end my blog here is an epic song <--- click here

Sitting in the airport, I have already been able to get a glimpse at the amazingness that these five months are going to have. I was blessed to have a girl named Gabby who is also going to be an Invisible Children intern have the same flight as me. We even had seats by each other on the way to Houston! The whole flight we got to know each other and she is beyond awesome! This whole time I was worried I was going to find someone I connected with and before even arriving to San Diego I found one!

Talking with Gabby has help my nerves go away and instead my excitement and anticipation are growing. I can't wait to hit the ground running! I know that these five months are going to be the most physically and emotionally exhausting time of my life so far and I pray that God gives me strength through all of it.

Invisible Children

In 6 days I will be heading to San Diego to start my five month internship with Invisible Children.

This is crazy. Where did I get the guts to do this? To allow everyone into what I am feeling right now let me tell you a story......

This blog started two years ago as I left to embark on an adventure to Uganda with my lovely friend Anna Yearwood. It was impossible for me to put into words the experience I had there - that is why there are only three blogs from the trip sawy. The people I met were phenomenal, and it was nice to go on a trip where the agenda wasn't to "fix something". The agenda was to get to know the people, to build relationships, and to really understand them. One of my favorite quotes from the trip came from a girl named Cherish. She said to me "To many times people try to fix us Ugandans, or tell us what is wrong, but what they fail to do is to see and experience our beautiful culture. More people need to just take the time to get to us and let us show them how amazing we are." To say the least Cherish is very proud of where she is from.

The second weekend Cherish, Anna, the Archbishop Henry Orombi, myself, and some others went to take a trip up to Nebbi village where the Archbishop is from. On the way there I overheard Cherish and our driver talking about the LRA and Museveni. I quickly stepped into the conversation. Apparently Museveni - the president had just announced on the radio that he was going to extend his time in office. This led to a political debate and eventually Joseph Kony. They told me how no more than two years ago you couldn't drive this drive up this road without some form of security. While driving you would see the LRA in the bushes lining the road. Well talk about a change of perspective. Now when I looked out the window, I saw much more than beautiful scenery, I saw a country with wounds that were still being healed.

In Nebbi we got to stay at the Archbishop's house which was on top of a beautiful "mountain" overlooking the valley. Archbishop had told us on the way up that we were basically on the border of the DRC. I remember one particular night, I was sitting by myself on the mountain watching the sun go down and family fire's lighting up for dinner time. That's when it hit me. I am sitting here in this beautiful village where these family are able to gather each evening together but not too long ago they had to fear each evening of a rebel attack and abduction. Now their neighbors in DRC are experiencing the same feeling. I can tell you that there is never a more helpless and sad feeling than knowing and recognizing a problem and having no ability to fix it at that time. Everything in me wanted to yell, run into DRC, try to be Rambo and find Joseph Kony. Obviously this was not possible for I am not nearly as skilled as Rambo.

Though I was involved with Invisible Children two years prior to this trip, the experience I had in Uganda definitely increased my drive to participate in all that IC does.

So as you can see this internship is much more than some crazy adventure I wanted to embark on, it's an opportunity to follow my heart and help the people I have learned so much about and have to come to love.

XOXO

Rambo

P.S. This internship is in fact unpaid. And for the next 5 months for my financial support I will be depending on the generous donations of friends and family. If you would like to help please go to the link below.

Cardinal's Donation page