Hey Folks,

I hopped on the freeway this morning on my way to work, I drove without hesitation. Sitting in traffic with a thousand other single-passenger vehicles I wondered what the world would look like 20 years from now. Will there be wider freeways, two story - double decker highways? How will we accommodate the growing population?

5 guys have spent their summer riding across the country. Though they chose to do it on bikes. Just two wheels, the road and a story that they needed to share. Now they have arrived in Venice, the end of their journey, two months after setting out and life feels different. A bicycle might not end a war, but your connection to the road, to the earth, to the strangers you meet along the way bring hopeful ideals within reach, and that’s a start.

“When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.”  ~H.G. Wells

Read on my friends!

Brittany

DR Congo to Repatriate More Than 27 Rwandan Rebels

The Action Program for Peace and Reconstruction (PAREC) has been working to return former FDLR soldiers to their homes in Rwanda for some time now, but it’s difficult to do when there isn’t always a home to return to. “There’s no problem of co-existence with the natives. The issue is that the concerned men have refused to go back to the camp where they were staying,” PAREC coordinator said when he tried to justify the decision by the national authority. READ MORE (People’s Daily).

With Education Comes Hope, But Where is the Money?

Dusaba Mbomoya, like many teachers in North Kivu and throughout Congo, waits for the day when his students will have a roof without holes, adequate desks and actual walls. A condition far too common these days.  “The dire conditions at Mashango are mirrored at schools around the DRC. They are the result of war but also chronic underfunding of a system where just 8 percent of the country’s annual budget is allocated to education, according to the World Bank. Mashango has no water or electricity and few books. Most classrooms are dark and crumbling with limited teaching materials.” READ MORE (All Africa).

Today’s the big day…

the bikers have arrived and I feel almost as if I’m back at my first day of school, getting thrown into the mix with a new teacher, a new person to learn from and grow with.  I guess that’s what it really is, when you think about it - new teachers riding from the inland, racing to feel the touch of the ocean with fresh minds ready to learn.

Remembering the day the bikers started and looking back on the excitement that we felt and the envy for the journey they were about to embark on seems so surreal. Day after day we watched as the little hand-drawn bicycle on crinkled paper moved across a makeshift map, trying to comprehend the distance covered, the relationships formed, the inspiration left behind.

and now they’ve reached their destination.

2 months, 60 cities and 2,300 miles later.

I haven’t felt the office so alive with excitement since the day my intern class arrived. I can feel that same exhilaration flowing from each of us as we sit here imagining the five of them pedaling through the streets of Los Angeles, the ocean breeze beginning to fill their lungs.

I cannot begin to fathom the amount of lives that these guys have changed.  After all of the conversations had, stories told, and love shared… I know that their mark has been permanently left in 55 communities across America. They are the ones shifting the trajectory of history, filling us all with hope for a brighter future and the strength to make it happen.

Will, David, Andrew, Connor, Justin… these are the true whistlebowers, the brave ones, the reasons that we believe peace in Congo is within our reach.

Join us in our celebration of their journey tonight at Dockweiler State Beach.  These amazing, self-sacrificing, idealistic college kids have changed the lives of thousands across America.  It’s their love, their hope, their passion that will keep this movement going forward.

From our hearts to yours, thank you.

Nick, Brittany, and the Falling Whistles Team

this week’s recipients of the Bold & Ballsy award!

“At its birth, violence acts openly and even takes pride in itself.
But as soon as it is reinforced and its position is strengthened,
it begins to sense the rarefied atmosphere around it,
and it can go further only when fogged about with lies,
cloaked in honeyed hypocritical words.

It does not always nor invariably choke its victims;
more often it demands of them only the oath of the lie,
only participation in the lie.

Simple is the ordinary courageous human being’s act
of not participating in the lie,
of not supporting false actions!
What his stand says is: So be it that this takes place in the world —
that it even reigns in the world —
but let it not be with my complicity.”

from Beauty Will Save the World: The Nobel Lecture on Literature
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, 1972

I’ve wanted to be a grown up for as long as I can remember.

I remember vividly the conversation my friends and I had during middle school.  We could hardly wait to be on our own and make grown up decisions; to finally be independent from the rules of our parents and teachers.  Never did we imagine that some kids would actually dream of just being kids.  But that’s what happens when the trauma of war brings early adulthood. 

Every day, young people in Congo are forced into adulthood at a very young age.  Many are forced to assume the position of their deceased or disabled parents, while managing to attend school—if they’re lucky enough—and caring for younger siblings simultaneously.  Despite these difficulties, many Congolese youth still view the glass as half full, still dreaming big dreams ... living with an optimistic view of the future. 

I’m consistently amazed by the ingenuity of Congolese kids!  If a Congolese boy cannot afford a soccer ball, he collects a number of plastic bags and rubber bands and figures out how to make a simulation of a soccer ball.  When a Congolese girl cannot afford a doll, she makes one.  I did!  For whatever reason, my mother could not afford to buy me the latest plastic doll, so we decided to sew one together.  With pieces of fabric from her old dress, cotton balls, a marker, and string for the hair, we created my favorite doll.  We would sew different outfits for the doll.  As far as I was concerned, it was better than any plastic doll she could have bought from the store. 

Franck Mweze, the coordinator of 3TAMIS in Bukavu (in South Kivu), shares my appreciation for the creative kids of Congo.  I had the honor of video chatting with him a few days ago.  (This is one of the perks of my internship with Falling Whistles ... reaching out to Congolese visionaries and chatting with them about their amazing work!)  From the moment he heard my family name, Franck knew exactly who I was and was eager to tell me about my uncle, who happens to be his neighbor and friend, reminding me of the giant on whose shoulders I stand.  After several minutes of poking fun at my “Swahili-American accent,” as he called it, Franck was eager to tell me about his work with 3TAMIS.

“Congolese kids have been through so much,” he said, “It’s time to give them a positive example.  They need role models.”

Franck explained that the youth of Bukavu place little hope in their government, but they are recognizing the power of their own voices.  With the help of 3TAMIS, they are learning about the power of journalism and media to bring change to their communities.  Franck hopes that, through his programs, Congolese youth will gain confidence and develop their own unique voices as they push for peace. 

Through 3TAMIS, Franck and a group of Kivu teens are working on an animated series about a Congolese child hero who overcomes various obstacles through persistence and courage.  Franck is nurturing the creativity of the young people he works with, giving them full creative license and allowing them to choose everything, from the topics covered in the series to the name of their animated hero.  The series will be produced in both French and Swahili, making the show accessible to a wide range of Congolese children.  And 3TAMIS will take this series on the road with them, showing it in mobile cinemas that attract thousands of viewers throughout eastern Congo’s rural areas. 

“The youth of Congo don’t have heroes who look like them,” Franck observed.  Instead, they learn in school about Western characters, historical figures, governments, and social movements.  “They can learn from each other’s experiences, as well.” 

Franck and his team of energetic young animators are dedicated to making this project a reality, but they lack critical resources.  They need the support of skilled editors, producers, and updated equipment.  “I can teach them how to take the footage,” he added, “but I don’t have the proper software to show them how to edit and cut.”

As we concluded our two-hour conversation, Franck and I agreed that the future of Congo lies in the hands of Congo’s youth.  He assured me that the young people in Kivu are vibrant, creative, and capable of exceeding expectations when given the right resources and opportunities. 

Stella
Falling Whistles Advocacy Intern
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