Kony Baloney?

So I've had blogger's block again, but I've been productive in the meantime - look at my shiny new background! Many thanks to my best bud from Made You Look for the lovely header she made me which inspired this whole new look. Trees 4ever.

I've been thinking about writing something about the whole Kony uproar for a while, and I'm starting to think I've missed the boat cos it's almost seems to be out of fashion already. I'm going to assume you know what I mean when I say Kony 2012, if you don't, call up your friend Google. 

Now I'm not knowledgeable enough or have enough time to preach on this subject. All I know is the issue is a whole lot less simple than the video makes out. And the campaign is based on helping put the Ugandan army into action, who have been known in the past to be partial to looting and raping. Not ideal. 

I hope you get this reference...

At the same time, yes it's great that so many people are now aware of these issues and want to help. I've talked this over with quite a few people, some of them my hippy do-gooder peers (as a tree-hugger you tend to attract those types ;)). The reaction from some has seemed to be almost indignation that this issue is now so 'mainstream' and cared about by 'common' people, as if they want everyone to know "I cared about child soldiers before it was cool!!". Give me a break. I'm not trying to have a go at anyone who's got on board with this. Just be careful. Read around the subject a bit, you could start here.

In the meantime, I've stumbled across a few new charity ventures which have got me excited recently. The first one has got to be Sevenly. This site sells t-shirts for charity, in fact a new charity and new t-shirt designs every week! And the best thing is they're not the kind of t-shirts that you're like "well.. maybe it would be ok as a pyjama top, or to wear when I'm dying my hair so I don't ruin a nice one...". They're actually nice! Well.. I think so!

Another bandwagon I've been meaning to jump on is the Tearfund Rice and Beans Challenge. I had organised to do this with my friend Hannah, then realised I had an exam that week and was too scared to jeopardise it! Basically you eat only rice and beans (and some porridge) for 5 days, and give the money you would normally spend on food to charity. It also would really help you begin to understand the extent of hardship so many people have to go through. Well, Hannah went ahead with this and wrote some really great blogs about her experience, go check it out!

That's it for now.

Over and Out!