Here’s the link for Thursday night, special event with the LA Ladies Choir, Nigel Godrich, Ana Calderon, Bryan Ling and more…http://www.facebook.com/voiceproject#!/event.php?eid=112474032143070&ref=mf
Special Night This Thursday in LA…
September 6th, 2010Voices Carry: The Voice Project Spreads a Message Of Peace
August 23rd, 2010Source: Tonic.com
BY LAUREN LE VINE
What began with songs, words and music has turned into a multi-dimensional nonprofit dedicated to helping the women of Northern Uganda gain traction in the midst of Africa’s longest-running war.
It all started with Joe Purdy’s song “Suitcase.” That was the song Hunter Heaney filmed a group of Ugandan women singing in the midst of the longest war in Africa’s history.
A few months later, Heaney ran into Joe Purdy at a wedding, and his friend Chris Holmes told Purdy the story of Hunter teaching the aforementioned song to the women in Uganda, then grabbed his computer to show the video. The singer was so moved by what the two had shown him, he looked up and said, “Whatever I can do to help, whatever you guys need, the answer is forever yes.”
From there, the chain began. Just like the women in Africa had done a cover of his song, Joe Purdy then recorded a cover of a song from an artist he greatly admired — REM — for The Voice Project. Mike Mills of REM then passed the torch to Billy Bragg, who in turn recorded a song for Joanna Newsom. Other artists who have recorded songs for the project include Tom Waits, Peter Gabriel (below left), Julian Casablancas and Cat Power.
Chris, Hunter and two of their friends use these songs to power The Voice Project, an organization that helps victims of the war in Northern Uganda. The project has two main goals: “To AMPLIFY the message in their songs in order to support the peace movement, and to assist the women in their efforts to EMPOWER themselves economically in order to better their lives, create real social change, and to sustain peace.”
A Peace Movement in a Time of Strife
For almost 25 years, Northern Uganda — and now parts of Southern Sudan and Eastern Congo — has been ravaged by Africa’s longest-running conflict. The LRA, or “Lord’s Resistance Army,” has committed horrible human rights atrocities as their main method of warfare. Abducting children is their main recruitment tool; the boys are forced to join the army, while girls become wives for LRA commanders or movement leader Joseph Kony himself. The children are told that their entire village has been destroyed and no one from their family remains alive, and they are often forced to murder their own friends and family members.
In response to this horrifying situation, a movement of peace, hope and the truest embodiment of the human ability to forgive has formed among the women of Northern Uganda. Hunter Heaney first encountered a group of these women in an IDP (Internally Displaced Person) camp in Agoro, a tiny village on the border of Northern Uganda and Southern Sudan. Heaney had traveled to Uganda to put his managerial skills to work setting up a job training center at a refugee camp.
During one of his trips into town, Heaney was asked to meet with a local women’s group, which consisted of widows and women whose husbands had abandoned them because they had been raped. The women were also taking care of orphaned children who had lost their parents to the fighting or disease in the camps. They had a small bead-making operation and were thinking about buying a grinding mill. The women pooled their money together to purchase bead-making supplies, or if a member of the group needed medical care, the money went towards that. They were basically running their own microfinance program within their community.
“I was so blown away by the strength, by the resourcefulness of these women, and by the end of the meeting I said that there were two things I wanted to tell them: one was that I wanted to carry their story back with me because I really feel that people where I’m from, we could learn a lot from them, how they are really taking care of each other, and secondly that, somehow my friends and I are going to figure out a way to help,” Heaney tells Tonic.
To thank Heaney for his words, the women broke into the song that they sing to let former child soldiers abducted by the LRA know that it was okay to come home. “These women who had every reason in the world to hate or give up, they were singing these songs to forgive and to welcome home not just their sons and husbands, but even the very people who had perpetrated the atrocities against them … it just seemed like the greatest act of forgiveness and also the greatest use of music I’d ever heard,” Heaney says.
After the women sang for Hunter, they insisted that he teach them some songs of his own. He taught the women Joe Purdy’s “Suitcase” and a Dead Moon cover called “It’s OK” that Pearl Jam used to sing; these two songs were the first that came to mind as he listened to the women sing.
For the rest of his time in Uganda, Heaney spent time traveling from village to village, meeting with different groups and exchanging songs. “The protocol was always the same, I’d ask them to teach me theirs, and I had to teach some in return,” he explains.
The Program
Heaney refers to what The Voice Project does in Uganda as an “exchange of value,” explaining it as follows: “It really is a message for the world, one that we all can benefit from — we can learn so much from their strength, their beauty, their songs and art. We want to get their message out there — what they’re doing and how they’re doing it — to the world so as many people can see it and maybe even in the smallest way, perhaps be affected by it.”
The Voice Project founders go into communities and ask how they can support them, what they are doing that has been successful and where do they see the greatest needs in the community. In the first community they visited, the women said that the support they needed most on the ground was help in starting their own business.
With that, the Livelihood program was born. This program includes vocational and education training for the women, as well as rehabilitation for the former child soldiers. Self-sustaining programs like this one will prove essential in supporting these communities of women, as “economic empowerment leads to social empowerment,” Hunter explained. Economic development will also improve the hopeless conditions that allow terror organizations like the LRA to thrive.
The Voices
The Voice Project relies on music and word of mouth to spread the story of the brave Ugandan women who have started a peace movement amidst their country’s longest running war. Their cause is so meaningful and important that the founders have been able to get some of the biggest names in the music business today to help spread the message and raise money for the women in Uganda.
The artists have all been enthusiastic and extremely moved by the story of the women. “[Artists like] Dawes were incredible because they jumped in to the project not knowing who we were but just knowing the mission of The Voice Project. They were the first shoot that we did and still one of the best because of the enthusiasm and talent in their performance,” Anna Gabriel tells Tonic.
“One of the interesting things is how we all are connected to each other, and folks in music are no different. They tour together, talk, share managers and see each other at shows, collaborate on albums, and they talk, so it’s been amazing to see how quickly the story is circulating and how many people are reaching out to us wanting to get involved,” Anna says.
The Voice Project is now focused on expanding the efforts of an organization called A River Blue, which runs rehabilitation programs and vocational training. “With just a little money,” Heaney says, “We could help double the size of their facilities.”
To lend your voice to the cause, click here.
LRA on mass abduction spree in CAR on DR Congo
August 12th, 2010Source: BBC News
This 10-year-old boy was abducted in DR Congo in May and managed to escape a few weeks later
Uganda’s rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has been accused of going on a massive forced recruitment campaign in remote areas of central Africa.
Human Rights Watch said the group had brutally abducted at least 697 adults and children over the past 18 months.
Civilians were said to have been taken in remote regions of the Central African Republic (CAR) and the north of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The LRA, led by Joseph Kony, has fought the Ugandan government since 1986.
Its fighters, who are being hunted by Ugandan special forces, are now spread across northern DR Congo, Southern Sudan and the east of the CAR.
“They’ve been carrying out mass-scale abductions in order to replenish their ranks,” Anneke Van Woudenberg, a senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch, told the BBC’s World Today programme.
Some of those abducted managed to escape, bringing with them tales of children forced to kill other children and trained to treat other human beings as animals.
“The LRA tied the hands of the victims behind their back, a cord around their legs, and placed the victims face down on the ground,” a 12-year-old Congolese girl told Human Rights Watch.
“Then the LRA would give us children a heavy wooden stick and force us to beat them on the head till they died.”
International actionThe Human Rights Watch report says girls are being used for sex or as servants. Refusing sexual relations is often punished by death.
“We’ve conducted interviews with hundreds of people over the course of the past month. And the evidence is overwhelming that this is indeed being ordered by the LRA’s leader Joseph Kony and being carried out by his top commanders,” Ms Van Woudenberg said.
To escape these activities, 54,000 villagers have fled from their homes in the Bas Uele region of northern DR Congo.
Mr Kony began his rebellion 20 years ago, claiming to want to install a Bible-based theocracy in Uganda.
He is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), and now lives an itinerant life, crossing between Sudan and the CAR.
In 2008, he was about to sign a peace deal, negotiated by Southern Sudan, but at the last minute he refused to lay down his arms.
In May, the US passed legislation promising a comprehensive strategy to protect civilians from LRA attacks.
Human Rights Watch is calling for swift action by the US and African governments to bring the LRA leaders to justice, in order to end their campaign of violence.
Ms Van Woudenberg said the group no longer had a political objective.
“This is no longer a group with an ideology. This is a group that survives on sheer brutality,” she added.
“I really think that’s why the governments of the region, but also the international community, need to end this problem. The targeting of children on such a deliberate scale, on such a large scale, is something that is a crime against humanity.”
Sudan’s ‘Arrow Boys’ Challenge Militants
August 3rd, 2010Source: NPR, Morning Edition
by Trevor Snapp
Since being displaced from Uganda four years ago, a vicious group of militants — known as the Lord’s Resistance Army — has pillaged, murdered and raped its way through the remote forests of Central Africa and southern Sudan.
A new bill in Congress calls on the United States to come up with a comprehensive strategy for dealing with the cult-like group’s leader, Joseph Kony, and helping bring an end to the horrific violence. But civilians continue to suffer. Tired of waiting for help, many villagers in South Sudan are trying to fight back.
To protect themselves, residents of Western Equatoria state have formed self-defense forces in dozens of villages. The ad hoc commandos call themselves “Arrow Boys” after their most popular weapon — arrows dipped in poison.
The Conflict’s Toll
In Yambio, the small capital of Western Equatoria, the wailing starts when Land Cruisers appear at the end of a red dirt lane.
The first vehicle is full of soldiers bristling with AK-47s. The next car holds the bodies of a star education minister and his driver. The cars inch into a packed courtyard between low concrete houses, as a sobbing crowd presses up against the windows.
Enlarge Trevor Snapp for NPR
Displaced residents of Zangia, which the LRA recently attacked, gather in Tambura. A recent flurry of LRA attacks in South Sudan has forced thousands of families to flee from their homes to larger towns and roadsides.
Displaced residents of Zangia, which the LRA recently attacked, gather in Tambura. A recent flurry of LRA attacks in South Sudan has forced thousands of families to flee from their homes to larger towns and roadsides.
After decades of civil war, mourners like John Ngong are used to death. But for the many people gathered here, it is how the men died that disturbs them most: Ambushed while driving north to their home village of Tambura, the men were shot, hacked and burned to death by members of the Lord’s Resistance Army.
“Even if they kill somebody, they say they want to crush all the heads,” Ngong says. “Most of our people are being killed like dogs. … We are praying [to] God that the world can look into our problem and see what they can do for us.”
But it is unclear how closely the world is looking into this problem. The LRA, which was born in Uganda 20 years ago, has spent the past four years ravaging the forest communities of Central Africa. The United Nations says they have killed thousands and displaced nearly 100,000 in South Sudan alone.
Although pursued by the Ugandan army, LRA’s fighters continue to target civilians.
In a crowded hospital, Tereza Polino lies with her arm in a cast, cinder holes in her only dress. The wiry widow was wounded in an attack near Tambura, a one-street town north of Yambio, where the forest meets the savanna.
A few days earlier, Polino says, a large group of dreadlocked, bearded LRA fighters had come to her home.
“They were smelling like animals,” she says. “They entered into my room, and they started collecting my clothes. Then, that time I attacked the person … then he took off the stick from me and beat my hand with it. … I fell down. He burnt my house.”
Enlarge Trevor Snapp for NPR
A member of the Arrow Boys is seen in Tambura, Sudan, outside a hut that was burned and looted by the LRA.
A member of the Arrow Boys is seen in Tambura, Sudan, outside a hut that was burned and looted by the LRA.
Striking Back
Like Polino, Arrow Boys are also fighting back.
The commander of the Arrow Boys in Tambura is a mild-mannered trader. An unlikely warrior, Michael Baiku sits in front of his brother’s trading posts, selling packets of crackers, Chinese underwear, soap and soft drinks.
It’s Sunday afternoon and everyone has had a couple of beers. It’s doesn’t feel like the town is under siege. But the Arrow Boys’ commander says it is.
“If we don’t patrol here … those people will come and enter the town,” Baiku says.
Later, Baiku and a sidekick take motorcycles 30 minutes outside of town, finally pulling up under a tree where a group of 50 Arrow Boys wait in the dusk. They have just returned from tracking a small band of LRA. Young and old, they carry spears, handmade guns forged over charcoal fires, the odd AK-47, and bow and arrows. Their leader, a thin farmer named Charles, has a bow and sports an extra-large neon orange T-shirt.
No one defends us, he says, not even the South Sudan army.
“Nobody followed up … looked after the dead people. And then that is why we formed our group,” Charles says. “Meanwhile, the LRA are killing us, so far better we can try to fight with them.”
A Wary Government
Arrow Boys are proud of their efforts. But the government isn’t as comfortable with locals taking matters into their own hands.
“At one stage, you feel like strengthening them by giving them more arms and ammo … but again you are cautious because they are not military people. They may end up shooting each other, or they may end up going to an ambush of an organized force, who will just shoot all of them or shoot most of them,” says Alfred Ngbakogbe, the state’s secretary-general.
And regardless of the Arrow Boys’ efforts, the LRA continues to kill — and families continue to flee. More than 15,000 people have been displaced in these recent attacks.
Today, Polino’s village is empty. The bustle of village life has been replaced by bird song. Many of the circular huts are reduced to ashes. Melted shoes, charred flashlights, pots of burnt maize are scattered on the ground.
On the outskirts of Tambura, Polino’s community surrounds a relief truck delivering shelters and blankets. Arrow Boys secure the area while babies cry and mothers wait patiently — displaced by a meaningless conflict, only miles from their home.
Nate “Oteka” Henn
July 13th, 2010We stand together with our brothers and sisters at Invisible Children and Resolve Uganda who have lost their dear friend in the tragic bombing in Uganda to support the Nate “Oteka” Henn memorial fund, please consider helping to carry on his legacy with a donation at www.natehenn.com
Gabriel covers Tom Waits to benefit African relief organization
June 22nd, 2010Source: RollingStone.com
On Peter Gabriel’s new album Scratch My Back, the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer reworks songs by Radiohead, David Bowie, Neil Young, Arcade Fire and more artists into orchestral arrangements. Now Gabriel is releasing one additional cover that didn’t wind up on the LP — a solo piano performance of Tom Waits’ “In the Neighborhood” — as part of the Voice Project, a music-based initiative that’s raising awareness and support for the war-torn region of Central East Africa. Gabriel’s daughter Anna is one of the founders of the Voice Project, and his cover is also streaming on the sites of non-profit groups Invisible Children, Oxfam America, Resolve Uganda, WITNESS, and HOPE Campaign.
To bring awareness to the problems plaguing Northern Uganda, Southern Sudan, Eastern Congo and Central African Republic, the Voice Project has recruited a number of artists to play a game of musical tag. Gary Go started things off by covering Joseph Arthur’s “Chicago,” which was followed by Arthur playing Gabriel’s “Shock the Monkey.” Gabriel opted to try his hand at the Swordfishtrombones track, revealing in a statement, “I’ve wanted to sing Tom Waits’ ‘In the Neighborhood’ for a long time and this was a great opportunity.”
Adding, “I love the idea that a song can reach people that can’t be touched in any other way,” Gabriel said he’s moved by how messages can spread by one mobile phone to another. “We can start dealing with the world’s problems linking person to person. That is what is powerful about the Voice Project’s original dream.”
Other episodes in the Voice Project have seen R.E.M.’s Mike Mills covering Billy Bragg, Steel Train taking on La Roux, Dawes performing Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes’ “Carries On” and more. Visit the Voice Project site for more information and to watch all the episodes.
How Far a Voice Can Carry, New Video of Peter Gabriel Covering Tom Waits for War Torn Africa
June 22nd, 2010A new episode of The Voice Project featuring Peter Gabriel covering Tom Waits’ “In The Neighborhood” was released today simultaneously across five non-profit web sites. Invisible Children, Oxfam America, Resolve Uganda, WITNESS, and HOPE Campaign teamed up to premiere this latest installment of The Voice Project, a music based initiative that’s raising awareness and support for the war torn region of Central East Africa.
Northern Uganda, Southern Sudan, Eastern Congo and Central African Republic have been severely affected by the ongoing violence of Joseph Kony’s rebel army the LRA in Africa’s longest running conflict. Women’s groups in Northern Uganda have been using songs to send messages of forgiveness to those abducted and forced to fight, many of whom escape but hide in the bush afraid to return home for fear of reprisals. The songs are played on the radio and passed by word to let the soldiers know they are forgiven and can come home.
“The life I was leading was a hopeless life and I could not imagine that I could come back home,” said former child soldier Odong Martin. “When I heard the song I felt happiness in my heart and I began to say that surely, people at home are really caring for us, that they are longing for us.”
Like the women in Uganda, the artists from around the world participating in The Voice Project are using music to pass the message. Each artist has been covering another’s song creating a chain of melodies, awareness and support. In this particular chain London based artist Gary Go passed the torch to his friend Joseph Arthur by covering “Chicago,” Joseph passed it to his friend and mentor Peter Gabriel with his version of “Shock the Monkey” and now Gabriel has passed it to Tom Waits with this cover of “In the Neighborhood.” “I love the idea that a song can reach people that can’t be touched in any other way,” said Gabriel. “The Voice Project is a movement that grew out of a few songs with a simple message. Almost everyone on the planet has access to a mobile phone, which means we can start dealing with the world’s problems linking person to person. That is what is powerful about The Voice Project’s original dream.”
Peter Gabriel just finished his world tour in support of his covers album “Scratch My Back” and his daughter Anna Gabriel is one of the founders of The Voice Project. “I am enormously proud of all my daughter’s work on this and I was very happy have been asked to participate. I’ve wanted to sing Tom Waits’ “In the Neighborhood” for a long time and this was a great opportunity.”
“Music has always been a part of my life and I believe it’s one of the most powerful and effective tools to bring about change,” said Anna. “My father has inspired me with his humanitarian work and has always been supportive of my work as a film maker so shooting this video in particular bought together all aspects of my life in an amazing way.”
“Peter Gabriel has totally inspired us, from ‘Biko’ to ‘Scratch My Back,’ said The Voice Project’s Chris Holmes. “He has been sharing his uniquely personal voice to make a change in the world around him. It’s amazing to see the transformative power that music can have in solving problems and healing wounds when words and diplomacy have failed.
The Project utilizes what it calls a content driven model of philanthropy, using the music and video content created on the Website not only to raise awareness but also to attract advertisers, sponsors and donors. “We’re using the content on the site as a means to fund initiatives on the ground that could contribute to ending the conflict and helping people in the region rebuild,” said Voice Project co-founder Hunter Heaney.
Heaney continued, “We wanted to release this video together with some of the organizations who’ve been working so hard and for so long on this issue. These are organizations we’ve been working with and who’ve become friends. One of the great things you can see happening now is how willing everyone is to work together at this problem, and all of us releasing this video in unison is a reflection of that.”
Quotes from Partners:
“By connecting people through the music that beats in all of our hearts The Voice Project is bridging cultural gaps in such a beautiful and wonderful way. We’re honored to be working with such a sincere and creative group of people dedicated to seeing peace in Central East Africa.”
-Kenny Laubbacher, Invisible Children
“One reason why Oxfam America’s music outreach work continues to be so meaningful is that we’ve built partnerships and alliances with other organizations who also use music to engage the public, like The Voice Project. I love how the voices of the women in crisis in Uganda are amplified by the artists involved. The Voice Project is more proof that music is a powerful tool for creating social change.”
-Bob Ferguson, Oxfam America
-Bob Ferguson, Oxfam America
“We are incredibly grateful for the hard work, creativity, and character of our friends at The Voice Project. Their team and the musicians who are coming on board this project are bringing very needed attention to one of the world’s most neglected humanitarian crises and they are doing it in a way that is truly inspiring.”
-Lisa Dougan, Resolve Uganda
-Lisa Dougan, Resolve Uganda
“The HOPE Campaign is honored to partner with The Voice Project in the effort to bring these important humanitarian issues to the forefront of the media through involvement of artists and the creative community. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, ‘Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.’ It is amazing to be a part of such an incredible collaboration!”
-Andi Scull, HOPE Campaign
Information on The Voice Project
The Voice Project is a song-driven effort inspired by the women of Uganda who are using their voices and songs as vehicles for change in the war-ravaged region of Northern Uganda, Southern Sudan, Eastern Congo and CAR which for the last 24 years has been marred by terrible atrocities and ongoing violence. The Voice Project is an attempt to support these incredible women and the peace movement in the region, and an effort to see how far a voice can carry.
From Indie rockers to African Hip Hop and R&B artists, The Voice Project is recording musicians all over the world, filming them as they cover songs by fellow artists, creating a chain of melodies, stories, awareness and support. In the process, they are carrying a message of peace from resilient Acholi mothers and wives to eyes and ears around the globe and shedding light on Africa’s longest running war. The founders of The Voice Project see this endeavor as a partnership with the women and communities in the region, they emphasize that “the strength, the message, and the art of these women and their peace movement can benefit the world.” Beyond spreading awareness, the Voice Project also supports programs in region that provide viable and sustainable economic opportunities for these women, former child soldiers and their communities.
How TVP and Your Support is Making a Difference on the Ground in Uganda
June 3rd, 2010Site Evaluation – Gulu, Uganda May 2010
TVP continues to empower the women’s groups which have been staying together in the camp for 20+ years and working to empower communities to rebuild. As people are now being forced back into the villages from the camps they are not being assisted with food and housing. It is for this reason that creating sustainable businesses for the community will benefit this and future generations. The hope is that parents will be able to feed their children as well as pay expensive school fees to educate their children and end the cycle of poverty through community development.
Two Case Studies: Making a Little Go a Long Way…
Microfinance Example:
From an original US$100 of loan seed money in July 2009, the Gulu Women’s Group started to do small loans within their group. They put the money into their umbrella organization, The Koro Oribbe Community, and made small loans available to the members. Since the start of the loans there have been 150—200 loans given to the members. The loans are used for bicycles, school fees, small businesses and emergency money (i.e. burial needs). There is an internal committee in place consisting of 9 people to approve loans.
The use of the bicycle loan also facilitates a small business. For example a woman can get a loan for 150,000 Ugandan shillings = $75. The loan agreement is for four months and the interest rate is 10%. They have a high success rate of repayment. The woman can then use the bicycle to transport goods and food from the village to sell in town at a higher price enabling them to repay their loan in the time allotted.
The group has now registered a SACCO (Savings & Credit Cooperative) with AMIFU (The Association of Microfinance Institutions of Uganda).
Farming Example:
Eggplant farm – A US$200 investment in a small group in September 2009 resulted in a yield of US$750 once harvested and sold to a wholesaler in Kampala. With the US$750 yield the collective is:
1) Planting Cassava for the next harvest at this location.
2) Has started a Brick Making Operation. The use of this project is to manufacture bricks from the clay dirt and “fire” them. They in turn will use these bricks as part of the construction materials for their store room.
3) Planted a Maize Field (estimated harvest is next month).
4) Purchased two oxen in January of 2010 along with the plough. The oxen have since been trained for ploughing fields. They will be primarily used to plough the fields as needed and rented to others as a source of income.
Bottom line, small strategic investments can go a long way in fostering sustainable ventures and we have our supporters, The Voice Project family to thank for allowing us to make this happen, thank you.
Our Favorite 15 Second Videos:
June 3rd, 2010Nicole reunited with the Gulu Women’s Choir…
Celebrate Good Times, C’mon!!
May 27th, 2010Please treat yourself to this video from our amazing friends at Resolve Uganda talking moments after President Obama signed the LRA disarmament and N. Uganda Recovery Act into law. What Lisa, Michael, Paul and their team have accomplished is incredible, and to all who have been a part of the grassroots efforts who’s been answering the call to write and rally, thank you, please know that change can come. You see quotes around alot about how committed citizens can change the world or to “be the change you wish to see in the world,” this is a video that shows that it’s true and can happen. So let’s take a moment to celebrate what’s been accomplished so far, then stay tuned for the next steps…
President Obama Signs the LRA Disarmament and N. Uganda Recovery Act
