Explanation of Hiatus.

Hey Everyone, I know I have a lot of explaining to do. I just up and disappeared for a month without a word. Well, that is because of a global event called The Rescue that took place in100 cities around the world including Los Angeles, London, Sydney, and… ATHENS, Greece (kind of). For the last month I organized a small, unofficial version of The Rescue in Athens.

For the event over 100,000 young people abducted themselves into public squares and waited to be rescued by politicians, A-List celebrities, or the media with the goal of drawing mass attention to the child soldiers serving in Joseph Kony’s LRA in Uganda.

Today is DAY 5 of The Rescue event, and one city still waits to be rescued by Oprah or Barack Obama — Chicago. Over 500 people are in Chicago today, saying no to the use of child soldiers and demanding that no one forget that peace treaties have still not been signed, and generations of children wait for peace.

The Rescue has been all over twitter, facebook, and even CNN covered the use of social media to start a global revolution.

So thats what I’ve been doing the past month. Organizing an event, and now following Chicago on twitter and across the net. I imported all of the blogposts from The Rescue in Athens Blog, so you can see what I’ve been up to.

When The Rescue is over, I’ll update you on my trip to Santorini and other cool things I’ve been doing in Greece.

LOVE.

Invisible Children is talking about ATHENS.

GREAT NEWS! I got a few e-mails from Invisible Children in London and  they are pretty excited about our event here in Athens. Check out their mention of us in the invisible children blog!

Now that the Rescue in Athens is all over the web on myspace, twitter, youtube, wordpress, facebook and g-mail — all we need to do is get REAL PEOPLE like YOU to sign up for the rescue in Athens.

For the past 22-years this conflict has been put on the back burner by those who have the power to change it. On April 25, we have a chance to tell the world’s moguls that 3,000 child soldiers and over one million displaced persons cannot wait any longer. We need to come to the rescue, now. So, sign up, show up, and speak up!

Photos and Today’s Update

I spent today working on fliers for the event, and information sheets in both Greek and English. I’m getting the Greek edited tomorrow, so I will post them then. Afterward, I will be delivering them to 5 NGOs in Athens, hoping to gain their participation.

I went to the art store and bought posterboard and permanent markers — it is never too early to start making signs for the day of!

Tomorrow’s tasks are to: deliver packets of information to NGOs, design posters, and FIND MORE PARTICIPANTS.

I still have not heard from Invisible Children about getting Athens on their website — I’ll keep trying.

I hope to find you well, please use the photos around the web — originally found on http://www.invisiblechildren.com and edited by me. — 17 days — Peace, Amber

Today’s Update

My first thought this morning was, “I hope someone returned my e-mails.” I did make an excellent contact in Devious Diva, a blogger here in Athens. She courageously stepped up to help me spread the word through Athens, and I am extremely grateful — little does she know that I can get pretty intense when I’m organizing.

Today, I contacted World Vision, Africa Action, as well as Gulu Walk and Resolve Uganda (organizations that I have worked with several times in the past) — I’m hoping to hear back with some contacts here in Greece. I also contacted someone I know from World Wide Fund – Greece, hoping that she has contacts in the non-profit world who may be interested in participating.

It has been encouraging to see how many people care about this issue — there are so many bloggers out there talking about the The Rescue and the children in Northern Uganda. I hope that I can find those passionate and active individuals here in Athens. Greeks know how to get out on the streets and demonstrate better than anyone in the world, I just need to find the ones who care about these kids as much as I do.

For now, I need to try to return to normalcy and do homework – It is always a shocking contrast for me between doing something that may have a global impact, and everyday business like cooking dinner or reading a Greek history textbook. I suppose, in the end, it all contributes to the greater good. For now, thank you for your support and I hope to see you on April 25th!

18 Days,

In Peace,

Amber