where I am and where I hope to go...

These past few days have been some of the most amazingly overwhelming days I have ever experienced. On the drive over here I had no idea what to expect, and in a way I still don't. But what I have come to realize over the past few days is that in order to understand where I want to go I need to embrace where I am. We have learned so many new things this week and have met some amazing people, which will continue to occur. I am learning how to breath in all this information and constructively place it towards the goals I have as a human being and with Falling Whistles. I have had so many courageous conversations in which we have all put aside our prior wants and needs to fulfill a dream of peace in the Congo. I have always believed that in order to solve the travesties that are occurring this very moment is to rebuild a nation that has for so long be pushed aside and been deprived of a chance at hope.

Roughly 6.9 million people have been killed in the Congo and that number is on the rise each day. Children are stolen from their childhood and force to fight in a war that has been carrying on for decades. There is chaos, rape, and murder on a regular basis over trivial entities. Congo is rich with minerals we find in the electronics we use everyday. Because there is no regulation rival rebel armies are killing over these minerals in order to financially succeed and gain power. With the ability to sell these minerals at such a low cost the supply chain begins to be clouded with shady business. We have been conditioned to want things right here and right now and this impatient need for material items has allowed a nation to be treated unjustly and given little opportunity to thrive. This is where Falling Whistles comes in.

While we do not have all the answers. far from it honestly. What we do know is that we are all connected as human beings and that if we work as a collective mind we can begin to show the world that the violence that is occurring in the Congo is not okay. I am continually amazed each day at the passion that this organization has. We know that this is not going to happen over night, but we believe that through rehabilitation and advocacy amongst many other things, we can rebuild a generation that has only seen disparity into a generation of leaders to fight for themselves.

I hope that as this summer progresses the interactions I have lead to opening the eyes of this world to the shit that is going on. Cause frankly, it is pretty fucked up.