Welcome to San Diego. Now get to work.

I arrived on Monday this week, embarassed to hear a guy with balloons yelling my name at baggage claim.  If I hadn't needed a ride, I would have turned and walked the other direction.  But as it turns out, it was the IC crew who had arranged to pick me up.  Johannes was the screamer with the poster and balloons and Kelly was with him, a former intern and Spring '09 roadie.  I met Brandon, one of my teammates and Ashley, who is on the SoCal team.

I guess I should mention that I got the "Middle America" region.  It is the largest of them all.  Of the 4 of us in the van, only Brandon and I are eligible to drive.  That means February 12th we leave San Diego and drive to Oklahoma.  From Oklahoma we then hit Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, and Canada.  Coffee is about to be my new bestie.  And as a born and raised Texan, the weather is about to be a shocker, too.  I will basically be wearing 7 layers every day we are on the road.  Picture the little boy from The Christmas Story.  You know...the movie that is on for a 24 hour marathon every Christmas Eve?  That's my new style.

Right away, Monday evening, the roadies had a special surprise.  We hopped in one of our 15-passenger vans and headed down to the beach.  Everyone hit it off so well.  Not to mention my other female teammate Kayla almost tackled me when I stepped foot in the house.  I might have been concussed.  If I wasn't concussed then, then perhaps it was after I slipped and flipped over on an algae-covered rock on the shore.  EPIC FALL.  Anyway, the surprise was having Jason Russell and Bobby Bailey, two of the IC founders and filmmakers come speak to us at a theatre.  They showed us the film "Man on Wire" which is one of my new favorite movies.  It is the most inspiring true story/documentary I have ever seen or heard of.  SEE IT.  After that, we had a special guest speak to us.  Who could it be?  It was Acii Nancy.  There are 690 total IC scholarship recipients going to secondary school and universities in Uganda.  Acii Nancy is the first to pilot the international scholarship and this is her first year to attend Boise State in the US!  She spoke about what IC has done for her life--it was her only hope.  It was so surreal for her to be standing on stage thanking us for our sacrifice.  We haven't done anything yet!

Bobby and Jason also sprung it on us that we will be touring with a NEW movie...that isn't done yet.  But it will have to be within the next 3 weeks because...we have already started booking our tour.  Oops.  Basically, this was our first taste of IC value #5: Jump first. Fear later.  And the event we are having at the end of April will be no less than "impossible" according to them.  That isn't finalized yet either.  But it will happen :)  It was this first night in San Diego that the weight of this tour really settled.  We are really writing history.  I cannot wait to look back and know that we were a part of this revolution.

I am so inspired by everyone in the office.  They are all incredible at their jobs.  They all have a niche.  Looking forward to finding out what my special "thing" is that I contribute. :) 

Love Love

H

A Crash Course

Hey Guys.  So this is my first entry and my head is spinning with all of the happenings from this week.  Here's how I will begin...If you don't know, my name is Heather and I have been selected to represent Invisible Children by touring the country on their behalf.  IC is a media-based company, so our work will be to raise awareness and advocacy through our documentaries and other media.  We will be stopping at high schools, middle schools, churches, coffee shops, etc...with a special emphasis on colleges. There have been 3 tours before us, all different in nature, so it is truly a privilege to be a part of this movement. ESPECIALLY as it is still in its infancy.  Here's our mission statement:

"Invisible Children is a social, political, and global movement using the transformative power of story to change lives.  By inspiring youth culture to value creativity, sacrifice and idealism, the movement fuels the most effective, adaptable and innovative programs in the world.

IC's unique strength lies in its ability to connect to the millennial generation in a person way through the power of media and storytelling.  IC is impacting youth that have not preciously connected with any other non-profits or human rights work and is on the forefront of a growing cultural change as we seek to influence youth towards the values of creativity, service, and sacrifice.  By focusing on the story of the children in northern Uganda, we have been able to engage this generation in a new way with the challenge of protecting universal human rights and seeking global equality."

Provided that we do our jobs right, (and we WILL do our jobs right) life change should be occurring within each one of us as roadies, as well as youth all over America, and the Ugandans we have partnered with through IC programs.  (I'll get the the programs later.)  We are here because we believe that we have the power to end the civil war in Uganda, and we are asking that the international community take notice of what is no longer just a civil war--it is an international conflict.  The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has moved across Ugandan borders into Congo and other border countries.  Up to this point, about 30,000 children have been abducted.  This number does not include senseless deaths or the 2 million people who have been internally displaced for "safety" from the LRA.  These numbers are growing every day.  There are daily articles in the news reporting that Joseph Kony, the leader, continues to kill, abduct children, and violently indoctrinate those children into his army.  This war has been going on for 23 years, which makes it the longest standing war in Africa.  It is time for it to end.  The unique and sad characteristic of this war is that there is no opposition to what we stand for.  I think you would all agree that there is a universal acceptance that child soldiers are not okay. EVER.  The problem is awareness.  The war in Uganda will not be a high priority for the international community unless there are millions of voices demanding an explanation.

A few statistics about the Spring Tour 2009: 

-40 domestic roadies (USA tours) & 13 international roadies (Mexico, Australia, New Zealand, Europe)...it's the first international tour!

-4 roadies living in a van in each region, 10 domestic regions

-10 weeks of touring x 10 screenings a week = 100 screenings per region

-100 screenings per region x 10 regions= 1,000 screenings total for this tour!

-It will end on April 25 or 26th with a global event. You should participate.  They aren't giving anything away at the moment, but believe me...you'll know about it.  This event will be the climax of our tour, and hopefully the push that ends the war and arrests Joseph Kony.

We are not being paid.  All of the roadies are volunteers between the ages of 17 and 30.  We all have significant opportunity costs for being here.  Each and every one of us are here because this is where our hearts are.  Some of us were even skeptics of IC as a "non-profit" but we have been converted to believe in what we are doing SO much, that we have raised $1,500-2,000 to live off of for 5 months in order to be here!

Blog posts to follow will be more personal in nature...I just felt like I should catch everyone up on what we're doing here so everything else makes more sense.  All the roadies are living in 2 houses during this month of training in San Diego.  In my house, there are 40-50 of us. Yes, that was FIVE-ZERO.  Obviously, a head count is all but impossible.  Since I've arrived on Monday, I have already experienced the meaning of life change.  This chapter of my life will be different from anything else I have ever been a part of.  I have already met people I know I will be friends with for life.  I know that sounds dramatic to some of you.  But many of you know that "emo" is not really my style so take that statement very seriously.  I hope you are all living well, and you know that you are truly ALIVE. And PLEASE feel free to post comments and questions on this blog.  About IC, about my job, if you just wanna get involved...I would love that :)

Love Love,

Heather