One of the projects I would like to get started (just heard about the movement today...how sad) is the Kony 2012 project. I posted this in general and not off topic because I believe it affects everyone, to be frank with y'all. We do canned food drives. Why not do this?
Basically, there exists a warlord in Africa named Kony. He takes kids from their families and trains them to be killers. One way he does this is by making them kill their families so that they have nothing to go back to. He is raising an army of these kids for nothing short of protecting his power. He calls this army of over 30,000 Africans the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). If a kid manages to escape and is later found by one in the LRA, he is murdered in a most gruesome way.
After many years of nobody doing anything about this or even knowing about this, a group started called the Invisible Children and set out to make known what was happening to government officials here in the USA. When those officials did nothing because it wasn't an important enough issue, the Invisible Children network set out to let the citizens of the world know. After enough support from the American citizens was raised, the US finally sent some troops to help out. However, this is not necessarily profitable to the government and, if support is not maintained from citizen protests and petitions, the government will likely end the operation.
Now, in an effort to end Kony's rampage the Invisible Children has started the Kony 2012 movement. With this movement, they will "make Kony a household name." If he is made as famous as our superstars, then the American people (and the world for that matter) will step up and help to end this warlord's reign of terror.
I would like us to get involved with this somehow. If you would like to start some sort of Amtgard project to aid this endeavour let me know. Also, I have never set anything up like this before and would definitely like some help. Please, if anyone is interested and wants to help lead this thing step up and let us know. If anyone would like some more information, here is the site you need to go to: http://www.kony2012.com/
We do canned food drives all the time and little things here and there which are great and should be done. I just want to know why we cannot and/or should not get involved with something worldwide. Who cares that we are a small non-profit organization that is a fantasy/medieval recreation society?! Let's get up and do something about the bad in this world. You want to make an impact on someone's life? Take the gun out of a kid's hands and bring home a person's abducted child from a tyrannical warmonger...
Kony 2012
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Nevon
Ok, so one way to start this off, I think, is to do some fundraising. The site has these action kits you can buy that give you some bracelets, fliers, and other things to help support this cause but due to high demand they are sold out of these. I think we should do some tourneys (A&S and fighting) to raise money and simply donate to the cause. This is just a preliminary first step but could be done the entire year.
Also, since they ran out of the kits there is a downloadable .zip file that contains fliers, posters, and other things. I mention this because April 20th is a special event called Cover the Night. On this day, they will go out with posters and fliers on that night and place them just about everywhere they possibly can so that April 21st people will see Kony plastered everywhere. I realise this is short notice but I think it would be fun to do.
Next Saturday when I get back I will speak to EH personally and try to get things rolling down here. If we could coordinate the kingdom in this simple first step that would be awesome. We could either host an event around this or simply do some fundraising at already planned events.
Let me know whatcha think.
Also, since they ran out of the kits there is a downloadable .zip file that contains fliers, posters, and other things. I mention this because April 20th is a special event called Cover the Night. On this day, they will go out with posters and fliers on that night and place them just about everywhere they possibly can so that April 21st people will see Kony plastered everywhere. I realise this is short notice but I think it would be fun to do.
Next Saturday when I get back I will speak to EH personally and try to get things rolling down here. If we could coordinate the kingdom in this simple first step that would be awesome. We could either host an event around this or simply do some fundraising at already planned events.
Let me know whatcha think.
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ryuu8808
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Nevon
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Val
Sorry I'm getting to this thread a little late.
I first noticed the Kony movement on Reddit, and much like everything on the internet, interest sparked and grew intensely for about a week then died out. Unfortunately, several internet communities have a notoriously short memory when it comes to hot-button issues.
The story of warlords in Africa is not new news. Nigeria, Northern Uganda, and *several* other countries within Africa have been ravaged by war that has forced the populace into poverty.
That said, I love the idea of rallying as a community and contributing something to help make a difference. Some things we may wanna keep in mind:
- Be vary careful about which organizations we may fund raise for. We want to make sure that any cash donations are getting where they need to go.
- Let's not forget that taking care of something that seems like the barest of necessities makes a huge difference in the quality of life for the victims of tyranny. Perhaps we can give donations of clean water to doctors without borders, or insure that clothing from a clothing drive actually gets to who it needs to get to through appropriate channels.
- I do seem to recall that WTAMU (in Canyon, Tx.) may have some connections we could utilize via their previous work with the Darfur and Shoe charity. While this obviously pertains to Evermore Hollow, perhaps other fields may have some input about channels to go through in their own towns that many of us may be able to use.
I'll think and a do a bit of research on this and post here with any information I may find.
I first noticed the Kony movement on Reddit, and much like everything on the internet, interest sparked and grew intensely for about a week then died out. Unfortunately, several internet communities have a notoriously short memory when it comes to hot-button issues.
The story of warlords in Africa is not new news. Nigeria, Northern Uganda, and *several* other countries within Africa have been ravaged by war that has forced the populace into poverty.
That said, I love the idea of rallying as a community and contributing something to help make a difference. Some things we may wanna keep in mind:
- Be vary careful about which organizations we may fund raise for. We want to make sure that any cash donations are getting where they need to go.
- Let's not forget that taking care of something that seems like the barest of necessities makes a huge difference in the quality of life for the victims of tyranny. Perhaps we can give donations of clean water to doctors without borders, or insure that clothing from a clothing drive actually gets to who it needs to get to through appropriate channels.
- I do seem to recall that WTAMU (in Canyon, Tx.) may have some connections we could utilize via their previous work with the Darfur and Shoe charity. While this obviously pertains to Evermore Hollow, perhaps other fields may have some input about channels to go through in their own towns that many of us may be able to use.
I'll think and a do a bit of research on this and post here with any information I may find.