On April 25th Invisible Children organized a 100-city, 10-country rally called the RESCUE, to demand attention for the plight of children abducted and forced to fight as soldiers in the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

The RESCUE event was meant to simulate what life was like for the child soldiers abducted by Joseph Kony. Participants gathered at an “abduction” site where they marched together in groups of thirty to a LRA camp where they were held “hostage.” While held hostage at the LRA camp participants wrote letters to political leaders in an effort to petition our government to make this unseen war a visible priority. Participants also committed to remaining at the LRA camp until they were “saved.” In order to be saved a political figure or celebrity needed to come out and commit to using their influence to aid in freeing the remaining child soldiers.

Yesterday, at the San Diego RESCUE I acted as a volunteer event coordinator. It was a very exciting and exhausting day. The coordinators arrived hours before the participants to set-up camp and ensure the day ran as smooth as possible. I was on the abduction site team, which required that I sign in participants and guide them to the campsite.


Once all the “hostages” were taken to the LRA camp the participants began settling in for the night, waiting to be saved. Around 9:00 our very own Charger, Vincent Jackson, saved San Diego.

San Diego is a large city and we knew ahead of time that we would be saved but smaller cities throughout the United States are still currently waiting. In order to support the smaller cities, saved cities took busses of participants across the country to increase the number of participants. The concept stems from the freedom riders of the 1960s.

10-week countdown...

Shots, final payment, confirming itinerary, and meting colleagues

Today I received my vaccinations for Yellow Fever, Typhoid, Tetanus/Diphtheria/Polio, and meningitis. Shots have never really bothered me but they were expensive!!!!! I hadn't considered that my health insurance wouldn't cover the expense. But now I am pretty much invincible, I'm just like super woman minus the leotard and big hair.

I submit my final payment to Invisible Children on May 1st making my volunteer trip confirmed and official. I would like to thank everyone who helped offset the cost by making a donation to support my venture. If you wanted to make a donation but are a super procrastinator (like myself) you still can but please do so by April 30th. For more information regarding how to donate see previous posting below. Also read my posting from January 27th to find out what wonderful *things* you will be rewarded with for your donations.

For the most part, my itinerary has been confirmed. I arrive in New York June 24th and will be spending a few days exploring the city before heading to Uganda. I think that I am more afraid of navigating New York alone than going to Uganda. I leave JFK Saturday, June 27th at 10:30 PM and arrive in Uganda sometime on Monday. I leave Uganda August 10th and arrive back in JFK late in the evening on the same day. I am still fascinated with international travel and time change (I am easily amused). I still have no clue to how/when I will get back to San Diego. I'm hoping that I can get on a flight that night but I am afraid that I might have to wait until Tuesday morning.

While in Uganda Invisible Children has arranged for a couple mini weekend excursions, I will go on a rhino trip and weekend safari in July. At the end of the trip the entire Invisible Children group will raft down the Nile River. At first I was very excited about rafting but I learned that there are crocodiles in the river! I'm not afraid of much but I have never liked the idea of being submerged in creature filled water- I don't even like to go into the San Diego Bay because of sharks!

I also recently received an email packet with short biographies and photos of the other participants. There are fourteen participants in my group, eleven women and three men. One woman is even from San Diego. Many of the volunteers are returning for their second summer. The returning participants have been an invaluable resource answering all my asinine questions.

Between now and June 24th all I have left to do is figure out how I, an obscene over packer, can take all my massive amounts of "necessities" AKA crap :)