Service Learning Proposal for Darfur Awareness
By: Jennifer R.
September 27, 2011
Meredith Tweed
WST 3015-0001
Community Partner Profile:
Community Partner: Darfur Awareness
As the group is currently in the process of changing their name to Invisible Children, they will still be known, and referred to, as Darfur Awareness until the name change has been finalized by UCF.
Contact: Vanessa T.
Community Partner Mission Statement:
Darfur Awareness group is aligning themselves with Invisible Children’s purpose stating, “Invisible Children, Inc. is nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that is committed to exposing atrocities around the world and developing the necessary solutions to ending conflicts that plague the lives of disadvantaged people. As world leaders are failing to make the necessary commitment to end the crisis in northern Uganda, Invisible Children is dedicated to revealing the truth to a generation of young people, who can, in turn, advocate for changed policies and action from their government. Invisible Children believes that changing perceptions in the western world is equally important to changing the lives of people in underprivileged regions” (Invisible Children - FAQ).
In order to accomplish this mission, the Darfur Awareness group is promoting the Invisible Children’s Frontline Tour, with a female guest speaker from Uganda in efforts to raise awareness of the genocide, human trafficking, and sexual violence in northern Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The Proposal:
Memorandum
TO: Meredith L. Tweed
FROM: Jennifer R.
DATE: September 27, 2011
RE: Proposal to Write a Feasibility Report for a Service Learning Project
The following proposal for my service learning project is an overview of the importance of working with my community partner as an effective way of integrating my WST 3015 classroom experience. Contained in this proposal are the needs of my community partner to continue their efforts, an outline of my planned work to contribute to their cause, including a timeline, and the reasons for choosing this specific community partner as ideal for my application of knowledge acquired in WST 3015.
Plan Proposal:
Darfur Awareness is promoting the Invisible Children’s Frontline Tour with a Ugandan guest speaker event on November 1, 2011 at Brooklyn Pizza on UCF’s main campus. The money raised at the event will go directly to Invisible Children to finance their efforts to for their Protection Plan. The Protection Plan has five goals: 1) Protection of Communities, 2) Encouraging LRA Defection, 3) Providing Rehabiliation and Family Reunification, 4) Post-Conflict Recovery, and 5) Promoting the Arrest of Joseph Kony and Top LRA Leadership (Invisible Children – Protection Plan).
Joseph Kony is the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Uganda, yet his power stretched into south Sudan and northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo. “Joseph Kony claims to want to make Uganda into a state based on the Ten Commandments” as he is former altar boy, yet “Kony’s army recruits its soldiers from the villages and schools of northern Uganda through abductions” (Uganda’s Child Soldiers (Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army)). Beginning at the young age of ten, the abducted children are “taught to kill often beginning with their own families” as the threat of killing or being killed are the abductee’s options (Uganda’s Child Soldiers (Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army)).
The Protection Plan’s goals need funding; therefore, Darfur Awareness is concentrating their financial efforts on Invisible Children’s first goal of community protection. “By extending the Early Warning Radio Network, launching Mobile Response Teams, and creating the LRA Crisis Tracker, Invisible Children is giving the most vulnerable communities the ability to receive warnings of LRA activity and alert local security forces to LRA violence. This network will also give humanitarians the information necessary to best deploy services” (Invisible Children – Protection Plan). Through the funds raised on their Frontline Tour, Invisible Children hopes to expand the Early Warning Radio Network for Bas-Uele and Haut-Mbomou, fund mobile response teams and create mobile platforms, maintenance, and expansion of the LRA Crisis Tracker, totaling $600,000 (Invisible Children – Protection Plan), of which, UCF’s Darfur Awareness group has set a goal of $32,000 and currently met $1,604 (Orlando (O-Town)).
Rationale for Women’s Studies:
While the atrocities created by Joseph Kony affect males also, the impact on females is unimaginable. Not only are girls being abducted by the LRA, they are at their disposal; “violence against women should be seen as part of a general pattern of violence between the powerful and the powerless stemming from the ‘notion of hierarchical rule and coercive authority that is the root cause of violence against women” (Kirk and Okazawa-Rey 267). Speaking up for those without a voice is one of the most effective ways to politicize ones’ life. As Seely states “social change begins on a small level with a small group of people who envision a new way” (17) and “the steps we take to change the world connect us with others” (15); therefore, this small Darfur Awareness group’s effort to raise awareness of child abductions and sexual violence towards women by the LRA embodies that very spirit of change towards a better future for women in Africa and the world by hopefully inspiring other places where women and children are in danger to speak out.
Action:
I have contacted Vanessa T., President of UCF’s Darfur Awareness group, to discuss my involvement in promoting the November 1 event. I will be attending all Darfur Awareness meetings, beginning on September 26, to discuss in further details the events planned as well as get promotion materials to distribute.
Timeline:
My completed project is due on November 22, 2011 with my final reflection paper due December 1, 2011. As meetings are added as needed, I will be in attendance.
1. Contact Vanessa September
2. First meeting of DA September 26
3. Disburse promotion material September 28-November 1
4. Write at least 3 Weekly Blogs October 20-November 17
5. Attend meeting of DA October 10
6. Table outside Student Union October 12
7. Table outside Student Union October 19
8. Attend meeting of DA October 24
9. Table outside Student Union October 26
10. Attend Event November 1 at 8pm
11. Write Draft November 18
12. Finalize Draft November 22
13. Deliver Draft December 1
Works Cited
“Invisible Children - FAQ." Invisible Children - Home. Invisible Children, 2003. Web. 26 Sept. 2011. <http://www.invisiblechildren.com/faq>.
“Invisible Children - Protection Plan." Invisible Children - Home. Invisible Children, 2003. Web. 26 Sept. 2011. <http://www.invisiblechildren.com/protectionplan>.
Kirk, Gwyn, and Margo Okazawa-Rey. "Political Systems That Marginalize Women's Concerns." Women's Lives: Multicultural Perspectives. 5th ed. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 267. Print.
"Orlando (O-town)." StayClassy | Online Social Fundraising for Nonprofits. Invisible Children, 2011. Web. 26 Sept. 2011. <http://www.stayclassy.org/fundraise/ic-team?ftid=781>.
Seely, Megan. Fight like a Girl: How to Be a Fearless Feminist. New York [u.a.: New York UP, 2007. 15+. Print.
"Uganda's Child Soldiers (Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army)." Out of Africa - Too. Kabiza Wilderness Safaris, 1996. Web. 26 Sept. 2011. <http://kabiza.com/Lira-Children-Kony-Rebels.htm>.
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