PROFILE STORY: Watch Dogs for Mineral Trace
JUSTICE: Human Rights Defenders put Behind Bars
RESOURCES: HP Retracing Mineral Production
POWER: Violence Prevents Aid for Internally Displaced

How is life out there?  These new interns are starting to crank out some pretty slick arts and crafts.  This weekly roundup is definitely the best yet. Our interns would love feedback, so please dig in and then send some this way

Things have been buzzing here in the garage-office.  Our accountants were in from New York last week, and our lawyer was here from D.C. a couple weeks ago. We have a new installation coming up at ACTIVE in Santa Monica and hopefully one at STAG in Austin, just in time for SXSW. Just on the backburner we have some amazing new education just waiting to be designed. 

Our development consultant began his first official review of our programming in Congo.  As we grow so will our ability to do better, more transparent work on the ground.  We are all looking forward to the day when you can see the results of your support. 

As February closes as quickly as it came,we want to thank you for your continual support.  Please continue to pick apart these round-ups.  They are here for you so that you always know what’s going on in Congo.

“Violence is rarely irrational — it almost always has root causes that can be addressed. We’re often just too busy or lazy to learn enough about a situation to figure out how.”
-Michael Kavangh

DRC Relations and the Reining FDLR Threat
Women Suppressed as the War Persists
A Complicated Return for the Lawless
Multinational company maps the soil of Congo

Well friends-
Things are moving rapidly these days in our garage-office, even in the sub-arctic temperatures, but we can’t complain. There is a lot to be celebrating. The FW staff and interns have been hard at work refining the Congo Weekly Roundup which will soon be updated every Friday. We encourage you to share it with friends and send us your feedback as we continuously search for ways to improve.
And if you are passing through Portland this month, check out our beautiful new installation there at Lizard Lounge.  It was built by Nathanael Balon to tell the Falling Whistles story, and then stocked with 30 books from the public library that have informed our understanding about Congo - perfect reading material for a rainy day in the lounge.
Read on my friends!
With peace and love.
Falling Whistles

Taken in Bukavu

“There is nothing to be gained from passive observance, the simple documenting of conditions, because, at its core, it sets a bad example.  Every time something is observed and not fixed, or when one has a chance to give in some way and does not, there is a lie being told, the same lie we all know by heart, but which needn’t be reiterated.”
-Dave Eggers, “You Shall Know Our Velocity”