Anaamika, Claire, Rachel and I went to Nancy Pelosi's office in San Francisco to support Invisible Children's lobbying efforts for the Lord Resistance Army Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act of 2009, which would commit President Obama to develop strategies to stop Joseph Kony, the leader of the LRA, and to support recovery efforts in northern Uganda and other LRA-affected areas.
We unfortunately could not meet directly with Speaker Pelosi, but we did have a meeting with the Deputy Director. She was extremely nice, receptive, and engaged. The meeting was a success! I thought the lobby meeting was extremely effective, especially with firsthand account of how things are in Uganda. Specific examples of how the organization dealt with the issue at hand were extremely powerful and convincing.
A few points to keep in mind:
- When people saw our sign about stopping Joseph Kony and so forth, they were genuinely interested. A lot of people stopped by and talked to us.
- The Deputy Director was impressed that so many people came in support of the lobby meeting.
- Even though people seem apathetic, there are people who care.
To take action, write a letter to Senator Feinstein to co-sponsor this legislation. Here's a sample letter. If you want to get more involved with Invisible Children at Berkeley, contact Brittany at bdeyan@invisiblechildren.com.
