SAIL

You all have probably heard about the Kony 2012 term by the advocacy group Invisible Children. Now that the year 2012 has come to a close, many wonder what will happen next and if Invisible Children has even done anything really…However, 2012 was a successful year to fight off Kony and his army of innocent child soldiers that were abducted from their homes throughout several years. Advocacy and leadership go hand in hand. Conversely, there are many that criticize Invisible Children for creating advocacy and apparently “not doing anything”. In my opinion these people aren’t educated enough of what happens to the donated money and what Invisible Children really does. Those who complain about the organization often or actually never check out the official Invisible Children’s website, where all the statistics of the donated money are listed and all the progress of the past years are shown. The first step of judging something is to actually do research and then an individual should critique it.

One of the many accomplishments that were achieved in the year of 2012, was that on May 12th, 2012 Caesar Achellam, the LRA’s top commander, was captured by the regional forces through the aid of awareness that Invisible Children and its chapters have created throughout the world. Also, there are currently 44 radio operators from CAR and DR Congo that were trained to facilitate the Early Warning Radio Network to protect its citizens from the LRA and its abduction strategies of recruiting young children to become child soldiers. Also, there 6 FM radio towers that broadcast “come home” messages over 26,801 square miles in the region where the LRA travels currently. 89% of escapees credit “come home” messaging as the reason they decided to attempt an escape in the first place. 30 rural communities in central Africa are linked into Invisible Children’s Early Warning Radio Network, which uses HF long-range radios to give advance warning of security threats.

This shows only a few things that show CHANGE, which started with a documentary of three inspired young men that created advocacy and awareness through the web. This truly shows how far Invisible Children has come and that it WILL NOT STOP HERE. So go out and create AWARENESS because no matter how small or big a step towards change is, it will create a domino effect. With today’s youth, anything is possible. Many students throughout the United States have formed smaller chapters to support Invisible Children’s mission to create awareness and change. Without their help, there would have been no real movement to make a difference. One great example of a student organization that wants to make a difference is our own George Mason University Invisible Children group that many of you are probably familiar with. They have recently hosted a Benefit Concert, where Branches and the Great Canyon Band performed, to gather as much donations as they could (Check out this article by Cameron Shuler). If you want to make a difference and be part of this great organization on campus, stop by the bi weekly meetings (GMU IC).

What do you think?

Do you believe that awareness is vital to create real change or should leaders only act immediately to create change?

Any comments are appreciated (:

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I thought it was so permitting to use a red rose since Valentines Day is tomorrow, but I would like to reference my time here at George Mason to the opening of the rose. I have definitely had a hard time starting college, but within the first three weeks of this second semester I have been opening up and having the best time of my life. I really have enjoyed Mason so much more now that I have engaged with other people like me. I love how close I’ve become with my hall and they have been nothing but supportive as I slowly open up. As much as I keep my feeling hidden and act like I have it all together, there has been a lot of stress and depression that I have had to face. Usually I just stay in my room and try not to worry anyone else with my problems but actually coming out and making friends has been the best thing I’ve ever done. I feel just like that flower opening in the video. To my surprise it actually mades living on campus so much more enjoyable when you have people that care about you. So shout-out to the two best LLC’s Leadership/Community Engagement and Sustainability, I so happy to be apart of an amazing group of people and I look forward to the rest of this semester with you guys!

A lot of times we don’t give ourselves enough credit. We are young and trying to make a difference and sometimes our efforts get overlooked because of our age . Whenever college students ( or young people in general) start doing service people don’t expect much, what they expect is what Wendy mentioned in class the other day as the “drive by service”. This thinking has to change because sometimes our efforts, as small as they may be, do make a difference; even if it just means changing the way others think, that’s a start!

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Over the past few days I got the amazing opportunity to be part of the RA Retreat and some leadership classes. I thought I knew what leadership truly meant and was fully capable and ready to become an RA. However, there is so much to learn!!!! There are so many personalities and identities that we as individuals aren’t aware of. Whether we are part of a dominant and/or subordinate group within society. These factors aren’t probably important to us at this moment, but as leaders to make real progress between different identities within a group, one has to know how to successfully address the hurdles from any angle. Therefore, I ask you to take a minute and look around you and see from a third person’s view of how you fit in a group and what you contribute or how others’ identities affect the group tone and progress. According to Richard Grant, “The value of identity of course is that so often with it comes a purpose.” If we realize how different and dynamic true identities of the people within our group are, then we can use it through diversity to make real change and progress as leaders of today. If you want to read more about self and social identity, which is a similar and cool concept as well (Purdue University).

What do you think?

Is it important to embrace individual identities to make a group stronger or should we label a group as one to be strong? Which one is better?

Let me know what you think!!! (:

So today I was thinking… Could someone make up their own type of leadership style and could it be superior then other leadership styles. Then I was like no…. saying one style is better than another is basically wrong all leaders change something. Even the leader s that fail help teach their followers how to improve from their failure. This leads to what I personally believe which is that everyone is a leader in their own special way.  What makes you a great leader is that all of your actions are intending to be positive to help a situation then hurt a situation.  It’s always about the effort that you put into whatever you do.