I found this old blog about my exeperience at Displace Me (2007) and thought I would share it. This is the event that I skipped my Senior Prom for...and totally part of the inspiration for me to go to Africa.
A little about my experience!
I have been called "overbearing." I have been told that what I am passionate about does not matter. I have been shot-down, have had eyes rolled at me, and bascially been told my passions aren't important. They tell me nothing I do will change what is going on, so why should I try?
That all went out the door last night when I joined with over 7,000 people who feel the same passion I do. Seriously, seeing that many people stand for something I feel so storngly about made all the crap I had taken from people worth it. It was amazing, not only was it sweet to be able to hang with kids I have never met from Edison, but meeting people and just seeing how many people are down for the same things I am was incredibly inspiring. We had a blast, being a bunch of crazy Californians! I loved it.
We had some incredible guest speakers, Melissa, an actress who was on The West Wing, and she spoke about how she is starting this project in Uganda where teens from there will get to tell their story in a documentary. Its kind of like an acting camp type thing, but it sounded sweet. Then we had this woman whose son, Dan Elder, was Jason Russells inspiration for going to Africa. She had some amazing words of adivce and wisdom, excellent. The last speaker was this RAD guy named John Prendergrast. He does stuff like write books with Don Cheadle, and go to Africa with Ryan Gosling...not that big of a deal...(OMSH! So good) But he used to be the head of the Dept. for African Affairs for the Clinton Admin. He was incredible, he has such a passion for ending this war, he was so inspiring, and he wanted us to feel like we could do something, we could make a difference. (He also gave us the number for the White House...don't know if he was supposed to, but it was SWEET)
We hung out with Ross bascially the whole time while he was promoting KK (he talked to Pete from Fall Out Boy and Ashlee Simpson), and got to see how sweet their Non-profit was getting hooked up. I also got to talk to Jason Russell for a little bit--one on one just about my life and my passion about this cause and how I am going to act on that. He was a really sweet guy, and totally into telling me about his goals and dreams, and how Invisible Children is really striving to do bigger and better things. It was chill to get to chat with someone who I admire SO much!
These speakers along with some AWESOME video from people in the Displacement Camps, along with starvation, along with 21 minutes of pure silence, along with promoting Krochet Kids (so many compliments on my beanie!), along with being crazy ("Hey, when you have a lesbian with her arm around your shoulder whispering sweet nothings in your ear--then come talk to me!" ROSS...so funny that night), along with seeing how many people love what I love...made this an amazing night. I am STOKED to share more with anyone who wants to know, it was a fantastic eye-opener, and seriously, it changed my life.
I don't care if you think I'm too intense. I don't care if you roll your eyes when I am making an annoucement about The Africa Awareness Club, or fundrasing for Invisible Children...it doesn't matter to me what others think any more because I know that I know that I know that THOUSANDS of people share my passion, and WE WILL END THIS WAR IN NORTHERN UGANDA. WE WILL BRING PEACE TO THE DISPLACED. WE WILL BE THE HEROES OF THIS GENERATION.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So maybe my Africa experience took a little different shape than what I had expected, but even just re-reading this, I see how God was working in my heart and prepping me for something even I didn't see coming : )
LF
Posts
