seekersofpeace: The Rescue

Lindsay's handwritten letter to Barack Obama.

Ok, so this is a little late, but better late than never. I thought a few of you who had not seen the pictures on Facebook or who hadn't spoken to me in the last week might enjoy a little summary of what happened, or what exactly the Rescue was.

The point of the event was to march and camp in solidarity with those 3000+ still abducted child soldiers and wait until we were rescued, just as they are waiting to be rescued. Our "rescuers" had to come in two forms: the media, and a mogul. The mogul could be anyone of culture or political influence-such as a politician or celebrity-who would be capable of lending their voice and pledging to help bring an end to the war in Uganda. The media had it a little easier--they just had to cover the story.(Unfortunately, aside from Need Magazine, the Minnesota Daily, and the Star Tribune, the media GREATLY disappointed us. Let's just say, one of the primary reasons no one knows about this war is that the media does not cover it. In fact, the local news stations ditched our story in favor of covering the riots that U of M students threw in Dinkytown that same night, and then complained that the youth of America are entitled and not contributing to society. Needless to say, the fact that there were over 700 of those same youth a few miles over, sitting peacefully and taking some action against injustice in this world apparently does not matter in the eyes of the media. But that is another topic altogether.)

Everyone was instructed to meet at Rice Park in St. Paul, where we marched in single file to the capitol building, and set up camp. We had prayed all week that the weather would clear up, and it was PERFECT. While we waited to be rescued, every person wrote a letter to President Obama and Senator Amy Klobuchar, asking them for their attention to this clear-cut issue. Around 9 pm, a representative from Amy Klobuchar's office, Siad Ali, came and read a statement aloud to the crowd. The fact that she would send her director of African Affairs, who is himself from East Africa, spoke very loudly of her commitment to the issue. Later, as State Congress adjourned, six different representatives came out and spoke, encouraging us and affirming that our voices WERE being heard. I was very proud of Minnesota policy makers that night, especially since so many other cities in this country were having trouble getting acknowledged and "rescued."

After getting rescued, our Invisible Children roadies, and some other brave souls, took off for Chicago, not knowing that a six-day wait was in store for them, as well as a rescue by Oprah. The rest of us hunkered down for the night, and stayed until dawn. It rained a few times during the night, but we weren't really bothered by it--it was awesome to be a part of something so much bigger than ourselves, and knowing we were surrounded by others who were there for the same reason was more than enough to assuage any annoyance at a few drops of rain.

Here are a few pictures of the night. Like I said, it was a blast! If you want to see more pictures from other cities (such as Edinburgh, which was rescued by actor Billy Boyd-"Pippin" from Lord of the Rings-and has AMAZING photos), you can check them out at www.invisiblechildren.com.