Sometimes a written piece can stop me in my tracks. This one did: "All Together New" by Sean Carasso.
The author's own website is Falling Whistles. Sean is a young American, who, in the company of a few others has made it his business to raise awareness of the dreadful situation in Africa's Congo region. Not content with simply raising awareness though, Sean and his companions are actually in situ, travelling around the area trying to make a difference.
I noticed, from a remark he made in the entry for 3 March, that it was Sean's birhday, he was 27 years old. Naturally my curiosity overcame me. I quickly checked my software to find that Sean's Pisces Sun is accompanied by Venus and Mercury in Aquarius - a Pisces and Aquarius combination is classic for social conscience and social reformers. Sean also has a stellium (3 planets close together) in Libra - the sign of balance and diplomacy. The Libra planets are in trine with Venus and Mercury in Aquarius, so blending and harmonising crucial characteristics needed for the difficult task Sean has set for himself. Jupiter in Scorpio trines his Sun, hopefully bestowing a benign influence on his very admirable aims and efforts.
The Congo is a world away from our current economic concerns. Who among us would swap those for what the people of The Congo are experiencing?
Sean Carasso's main concern is to make a difference, especially to the plight of young boys there, pressed into military service:
From the story of Falling Whistles here:
It puts our petty concerns into the shade and into perspective, doesn't it?
Sean's website offers tee shirts and whistles for sale, something we can wear to raise awareness, and remind ourselves that even though things are bad for some here in the USA, they are never going to get anywhere near the conditions faced by the people of the Congo.
Click on image to go to site:
The author's own website is Falling Whistles. Sean is a young American, who, in the company of a few others has made it his business to raise awareness of the dreadful situation in Africa's Congo region. Not content with simply raising awareness though, Sean and his companions are actually in situ, travelling around the area trying to make a difference.
I noticed, from a remark he made in the entry for 3 March, that it was Sean's birhday, he was 27 years old. Naturally my curiosity overcame me. I quickly checked my software to find that Sean's Pisces Sun is accompanied by Venus and Mercury in Aquarius - a Pisces and Aquarius combination is classic for social conscience and social reformers. Sean also has a stellium (3 planets close together) in Libra - the sign of balance and diplomacy. The Libra planets are in trine with Venus and Mercury in Aquarius, so blending and harmonising crucial characteristics needed for the difficult task Sean has set for himself. Jupiter in Scorpio trines his Sun, hopefully bestowing a benign influence on his very admirable aims and efforts.
From CBS News: "Right now there's a war taking place in the heart of Africa, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and more people have died there than in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Darfur combined. You probably haven't heard much about it, but as CNN's Anderson Cooper first reported last January, it's the deadliest conflict since World War II. Within the last ten years, more than five million people have died and the numbers keep rising.
As Cooper and a 60 Minutes team found when they went there a few months ago, the most frequent targets of this hidden war are women. It is, in fact, a war against women, and the weapon used to destroy them, their families and whole communities, is rape." (Here)
The Congo is a world away from our current economic concerns. Who among us would swap those for what the people of The Congo are experiencing?
Sean Carasso's main concern is to make a difference, especially to the plight of young boys there, pressed into military service:
From the story of Falling Whistles here:“While we waited for the UN, who had promised to rescue them, we spoke with the boys individually. Each had been abducted. Plucked from their homes, schools or farms. Each had been tied up and beaten. Each had been forced to kill. Sadiki had been dropped in a hole, deep in the ground. Nearly 300 boys were forced into the ditch for 20 hours of the day. They sat and slept in their own excrement. Slowly, they awaited the other 4 hours of the day when they found themselves tortured and trained to fi re a gun. Only to be dropped again into their own filth…
... when these boys told me of the whistle blowers, the horror grew feet and walked within me. Captured by Nkunda’s rebel army, the boys not big enough to hold a gun are given merely a whistle and put on the front lines of battle. THEIR SOLE DUTY IS TO MAKE ENOUGH NOISE TO SCARE THE ENEMY AND THEN TO RECEIVE – WITH THEIR BODIES – THE FIRST ROUND OF BULLETS.
Lines of boys fall as nothing more than a temporary barricade. Those who try to fl ee are shot at from behind. The soldiers call it “encouragement” to be brave. Without a gun to protect themselves, the smallest boys are placed between the crossfi re of two armies – forces fighting for reasons far beyond their ability to understand. WITH FALLING WHISTLES, THEIR ONLY CHOICE IS TO FEIGN DEATH OR FACE IT."
It puts our petty concerns into the shade and into perspective, doesn't it?
Sean's website offers tee shirts and whistles for sale, something we can wear to raise awareness, and remind ourselves that even though things are bad for some here in the USA, they are never going to get anywhere near the conditions faced by the people of the Congo.
"Wear the whistle and become a whistleblower by sharing the story as a window into our world's largest war. Buy the whistle and 100% of the proceeds go to support war-affected kids."
Click on image to go to site:
He's doing a great job. We get news from Congo occasionally in the UK, but not enough for what is, essentially, a Pan-African war that has cost the lives of millions.
ReplyDeleteI know they arrested one of the main rebel leaders recently - not that it will cause a lull.
I guess there's no money to be made here, hence the indifference by the rest of the world.
ReplyDeleteAnd women and children are always disposable.
thanks for floodlighting this, T.
XO
WWW
AN and WWW ~~~
ReplyDeleteIt's so unimaginably dreadful! I do admire these young people for having the courage and enterprise to take the bull by the horns and try to do something.