Invisible Children: The REAL story

Waking up to see my facebook news feed bombarded with videos that my wonderful friends have been watching on The Guardian or some other website is something that I have become much accustomed to over the past few months. However, this morning, I could tell that something about this video was different. Something...serious (unlike the usual nonsense that many of my friends watch). 

I clicked on the link and watched a half an hour video about a man, Joseph Kony, whose organisation the LRA abduct children - making boys become child soldiers who are forced to murder their own parents, disfigure the faces of other children and murder many others, whilst the girls are forced into sex slavery. Honestly, I was moved. I watched the video in awe, making sure I was concentrating on it (like the voice over told me to), and was automatically drawn in by the the story of a young Ugandan man called Jacob. As soon as it ended, being the inquisitive person that I am, I went onto google and typed in Kony.

All the expected information came up:

KONY NEEDS TO BE STOPPED. ABDUCTING INNOCENT CHILDREN.

AWARENESS IS KEY TO BRINGING DOWN KONY.

EMPOWER YOURSELF - YOU CAN HELP END THIS WAR IN UGANDA. SAVE THE CHILDREN.

I kept looking, and I kept typing, and eventually I found some anti-invisible children campaign websites (I have to add they are not anti-Kony but anti the campaign), and I was completely in shock as to what I read next.


NB. These are not my views - these are the facts that I have discovered and therefore it is unbiased.


the facts.


1. In 2011, the 'STOP KONY' campaign raised $8.9 million. However, out of this money, only $2.8 million (31%) actually made it to the charity program. 

*Where did the rest of the money go?!*

Well...

- $1.7 million in US employee salaries

- $357,000 in film costs

- $850,000 in production costs

- $751,000 in computer equipment

- $244,000 in 'professional services'

- $1.07 million in travel expenses

- $400,000 in yearly office rent

- $16,000 in entertainment etc.

I know what are you are thinking... and trust me, I was not expecting that either.

2. Invisible Children SUPPORTS direct military intervention, and also supports the Ugandan Governments army and other military forces that have also been accused of rape and looting. 

Enough said there I think.

3. The USA have sent over multiple missions to kill or capture Joseph Kony, and not one of these has been successful - probably because his bodyguards are children and therefore trying to assassinate him will undoubtably put them in even more danger than they are already in (if physically possible). 

It cannot be denied that Joseph Kony is a seriously dangerous and evil man that needs to be stopped. Awareness for a situation as severe as this is extremely important, but changing your facebook profile picture or postering the town with things like the one above is not going to solve a thing. I don't think it's a bad thing as it's great for people to feel so strongly about a cause - however when it comes to giving money to the charity, that's when I'd draw the line. Supporting a company (yes, a company)that only 31% of their profits go to the targeted situation is not something that I or many other people can condone. 

Regardless of whether you guys think I'm being too heartless about the campaign, I really do hope that for the sake of those poor Ugandan children we stop for a moment and think about how grateful we should be for the lives that we lead in a country where acts like these are not present.

Anyway, I'd love to hear any comments about how you all feel about the Kony 2012 Innocent Children campaign - and that my friends don't hate me too much for writing this blog!

I hope this gives you all something to think about. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and this is mine!

Love, Kisses (and prayers!!) xoxx

Woah! That Nearly Killed Me!

So tonight, as I walked home in the bitter Canterbury supposed 'spring' air, my friend and I somehow got onto the topic of near death experiences. As someone who leads a pretty standard, boring and generally risk-free life, I quickly assumed that I didn't have anything that even slightly resembled a near death experience...but the more and more I thought about it, I sort of realised that I do!


Firstly, in my life I have fainted about 3 times. The first time was when I was about 2 or 3 years old, and I was jumping on my bed with my next door neighbour who is 3 years older than me. Now this is where it gets slightly hazy for my mum and us both - I either 'fell off' or was pushed off of the bed, hit my head on the way down and fainted. Apparently, my mum panicked (as all mothers of 2 year olds do when their normally particularly talkative child suddenly appears lifeless), and almost phoned an ambulance when little old me woke up and acted as if I'd received a tiny bump on the head and moved along! 


The next time was pretty simple. I was about 5 years old and in a moment of hysteria (okay, I was crying probably about my mum refusing to let me watch Sooty, Barney or Tots TV for the hundredth time that day), when I slipped off of a chair, hit the back of my head and fainted. All I needed this time was to be taken outside for a bit of fresh air and I was right as rain! Oh, and the third time? Yeah I don't remember that one....!


And the final time - and hopefully the LAST time, I was walking my dog with my mum and sister a few years ago. As we were crossing the road, a woman got out of her car to post a letter, left the keys in the ignition and a guy jumped in, drove off, mounted the pavement and almost hit my family and I. Scary times, huh?!


Ok... so I suppose that most of these situations probably don't seem very major or 'near life death experiencey' compared to things that has happened in other peoples' lives... but I tend to over exaggerate things a tiiiiiny bit...so I hope no one gets offended by my sort of 'near death experiences'.


Anyway, a slightly morbid post I suppose - but I did watch a film last night to feed my obsession with Meryl Streep: 'The Hours', which kind of explains why I had death on my mind - cheerful I KNOW!

Honestly, I wasn't all that impressed with the film. I read a short synopsis on imbd before watching it, and all I could gather was:

1. Nicole Kidman wears a ridiculously realistic prosthetic nose which makes it almost impossible for the first half an hour of the film to even realise that it actually is Nicole Kidman portraying Virginia Woolf.
2. All three of the protagonists experience suicide in some way in the film - happy happy HAPPY film.
3. All three of the protagonists also have certain lesbian encounters (which seeing as my favourite film is 'Rent' I didn't think I'd have a problem with.
4. Nicole Kidman won an Oscar for her role in it.

From reading this information, I really thought I'd find this film (as a film student, of course) interesting. Unfortunately not.

I'm not going to ruin the film for anyone who wants to watch it, but sadly I only give it 2/5 stars and don't really recommend it to anyone! *Sorry Stephen Daldry!*

Hope you've all had a wonderful day - and sorry for the long blog! Post again soon! :) xoxx

Joining the blogging world!

Hi! I'm new to the blogging world, so I better start off by introducing myself!

My name is Danielle Victoria Trainis. I'm 19 years young and studying Early Childhood Studies with Film, Radio and Television Studies at Canterbury Christ Church University. Originally from North West London (hence the blog name!), but loving Canterbury with all my heart!

Anyway, thought I'd get the ball rolling! My intention is blogging about interesting things that happen in my life - but I'm sure I'll come to find that my life really isn't all that interesting and nobody wants to know about me. SO I'll probably end up blogging about irrelevant nonsense that you people may laugh at. 

Who knows. Anyway, ENJOY! Love and Kisses! xoxx