I first posted this video back at the beginning of the month, the fruit of a collaboration between Congo's "girl mothers," Congolese pop stars Innoss'B and Maisha Soul, a group of dedicated activists (including a friend of mine), and a group of donors from all over the world who brought the Kickstarter project into being.
The video, of course, is in Congolese. Honestly, you don't really need to understand the literal meaning of the words to grasp the larger meaning; the song is one of those that doesn't beat you over the head with its message, but it worms its way into your heart and soul, and later you'll find yourself humming "Tushiiiiiiiinde pamoooooooooja," whether you know what it means or not.
But now, you can sing along in English if you like, because we have subtitles!
In case you missed the backstory, here it is, from one of my earlier posts:
One of her former students launched the project, and is collaborating with musicians in Congo to help what are known there as "girl mothers": very young unwed mothers who have been abandoned by their families and society. These young women have decided that they will not be tossed aside, and instead have banded together to mount a fierce fight for their own futures, the futures of their children, and the futures of all of Congo's other girl mothers and their families.
This is leadership. Leadership, in fact, at a level that most of us can't even begin to imagine. It's difficult, it's frightening, it's dangerous. All the more so in a place like Congo right now, where bloody internal strife is being leveraged and exploited by outside colonizing forces that want to steal the region's wealth of valuable natural resources.
Now, this Kickstarter project is trying to help amplify these young women's voices. Two popular Congolese musicians, Innoss'B and Maisha Soul, have committed to working with them to create a powerful music video and help send it viral throughout Congo (and, everyone hopes, the world beyond). It's a message of hope, expressed through the cultural commonality of music.
It's a message that these young women and their children matter.
Today, you don't need to do anything that will cost anything more than a few seconds of your time. Nope; no request for donations. Just a request to send this viral.
The many people who worked so hard to produce this video wanted to send it viral across Congo to reach as many young women (and their families) as possible with this message of hope. But it's a message that needs to be heard worldwide. And now that people are able to follow along with the subtitles, that message can be brought directly to the entire English-speaking world (and from there no doubt translated into other languages, as well).
So please: Click the links and send it viral. No, not this post; the YouTube video itself. There's a function called "Share" beneath the video on the YouTube site, and it'll let you disseminate it via every major form of social media. You can also cross-post it wherever you hang out on the Internet.
And special thanks to rb137, who brought this great project to my attention and who plays her own role in its creation (and in so many other hugely important projects).
Remember that Kickstarter project for the "girl mothers" of Congo? I wrote about it here and here, with an update here when the shooting of the video was complete. If you missed it the first time around, the ten-cent version is this: A friend of mine, a professor, lends her formidable skills and talents to a great number of projects, some of which involve underserved populations in Africa:
One of her former students launched the project, and is collaborating with musicians in Congo to help what are known there as "girl mothers": very young unwed mothers who have been abandoned by their families and society. These young women have decided that they will not be tossed aside, and instead have banded together to mount a fierce fight for their own futures, the futures of their children, and the futures of all of Congo's other girl mothers and their families.
This is leadership. Leadership, in fact, at a level that most of us can't even begin to imagine. It's difficult, it's frightening, it's dangerous. All the more so in a place like Congo right now, where bloody internal strife is being leveraged and exploited by outside colonizing forces that want to steal the region's wealth of valuable natural resources.
Now, this Kickstarter project is trying to help amplify these young women's voices. Two popular Congolese musicians, Innoss'B and Maisha Soul, have committed to working with them to create a powerful music video and help send it viral throughout Congo (and, everyone hopes, the world beyond). It's a message of hope, expressed through the cultural commonality of music.
It's a message that these young women and their children matter.
Now, the video is not only complete, but uploaded to YouTube to make it accessible to anyone with an Internet connection. The goal of these young women and their allies in the group Maisha Soul is to send it viral across Congo. But it's a message that is so important — and the video itself is so uplifting, so inspiring, so filled with hope — that it needs to be sent viral worldwide.
You can help with that. Click on the video above to take you to its YouTube page. From there, share it via the many different social media platforms that it makes available — a click or two is all it takes. Cross-post it, repost, share it via e-mail, tell your friends.
Let's get the stories of these courageous, strong, beautiful, powerful young women out there.
Chi miigwech.
* If you'd like to read an English translation of the lyrics, they're over the jump, courtesy of my friend rb137.
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| Image courtesy of rb137. |
Finally, some good news to report.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a Kickstarter project to benefit the "girl mothers" of Congo. The project is called Succeeding Together: Uniting Music and Hope. Coordinated by a former student and friend of a friend of mine, it unites Congolese pop stars with one of the most disadvantaged populations in Congo. Together, they're making music: Specifically, they're making a music video with a message of hope, with plans to sending it viral across Congo (and, thereafter, the world).
The video's finished! The image above hows Modestine Etoy, the program coordinator at HOLD-DRC, the nonprofit organization in Congo that is coordinating the project, holding finished copies.
For more about the project, read on. As I said a couple of weeks ago:
Yesterday evening, I posted a squib about a really cool project being funded via Kickstarter called "Succeeding Together: Uniting Music and Hope."
It's cool, yes, but it's also important. It's a chance to do a lot of good for some strong young women in Democratic Republic of Congo for a very little amount of money.
My friend is the professor mentioned at the Kickstarter page, and she's the one who turned me onto this. [You can read her posts about it here and here.] One of her former students launched the projects, and is collaborating with musicians in Congo to help what are known there as "girl mothers": very young unwed mothers who have been abandoned by their families and society. These young women have decided that they will not be tossed aside, and instead have banded together to mount a fierce fight for their own futures, the futures of their children, and the futures of all of Congo's other girl mothers and their families.
This is leadership. Leadership, in fact, at a level that most of us can't even begin to imagine. It's difficult, it's frightening, it's dangerous. All the more so in a place like Congo right now, where bloody internal strife is being leveraged and exploited by outside colonizing forces that want to steal the region's wealth of valuable natural resources.
Now, this Kickstarter project is trying to help amplify these young women's voices. Two popular Congolese musicians, Innoss'B and Maisha Soul, have committed to working with them to create a powerful music video and help send it viral throughout Congo (and, everyone hopes, the world beyond). It's a message of hope, expressed through the cultural commonality of music.
It's a message that these young women and their children matter.
There are three days left in the Kickstarter campaign; it ends at 5:05 PM MDT on Thursday, March 13th. It's a very, very modest goal: a mere $2,000. But donations have stalled at $915. All we need to do is help raise $1,085, and it's done. But remember: With Kickstarter, the project must raise pledges for the entire amount of the project goal in the allotted time, or the project gets nothing.
So please: Share this with everyone in your networks, both on- and offline. And if you can kick in a little, that helps, too. The minimum pledge is one dollar. But add enough of those dollars together, and the girl mothers of Congo will get to lift their voices and sing.
I'm waiting for additional information from the friend who turned me on to this, who is also a friend of the project founder. For now, though, I want to get this posted as a placeholder, because time is short: There are four days left to fund the project, and out of a very modest $2,000 goal, only $815 has been pledged thus far.
And remember, this is Kickstarter: If every penny of the goal is not pledged within the time allotted, she gets NONE of the dollars pledged. At all.
So, for now: Share, "like," donate if you can. I'll have more information later.
