Gsolomon20’s Weblog

On Friday, May 2 at 5:30 p.m, the UN Student Association will be hosting a benefit for Save Yar with good food and an exclusive photo exhibit of Robyn and Kait’s visit to Juba over Spring Break (like below).

Kou is currently in South Sudan, where he has been invited to take part in meetings aimed at intertribal reconciliation, a key element of addressing the root causes of child abduction. We are thrilled that Kou has the opportunity to participate in this rare and important conversation. This summer, we will also be sending two students to Juba to build upon the connections that Kou, Kait, and Robyn have made with human rights organizations on the ground. Please join us, learn more, and help support our work.

For information about attending this event, please contact Robyn Skrebes at skreb002@umn.edu.

Gabriel Kou Solomon has had a productive month in Juba. He has met with officials at every level of the South Sudan government. As he gathers information, he has made progress in sorting out the interlocking economic and social problems that form the context of child abduction. And more to the point, through his work as a positive ambassador, he reminds those officials that the rest of the world is counting on them to protect their most vulnerable residents – and that we are ready to help.
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This cause is getting support and attention as several of its leading organizers are being honored with awards.

Dr. Barbara A. Frey, who singlehandedly enabled the campaign to thrive by adopting it into the Human Rights Program which she directs for the University of Minnesota, has been selected to the University’s highly prestigious Outstanding Community Service Award.

Campaign Chair Robyn Skrebes and Vice Chair Amelia Corl each have been awarded an Upper Midwest Human Rights Fellowship thanks to the support of Al and Ingrid Lenz and the Otto Bremer Foundation. Coordinator Daniel Lynx Bernard has been selected for the Mary A. McEvoy Award for Public Engagement and Leadership. Read the rest of this entry »

Gabriel Solomon continues to meet with important officials in Juba this week. Robyn Skrebes and Kait Dougherty are back in Minneapolis educating the rest of us on the wealth of information they acquired over Spring Break.

Already we can tell that their accomplishments in Juba will raise this campaign to a new level of effectiveness.

Most immediately, we may have a new major partner who will assist and facilitate our research in South Sudan (stay tuned). More profoundly, Kait and Robyn gained insight into the nature of child abduction of South Sudan and how it fits into the web of challenges facing that region. On a personal level, Robyn and Kait have gained strong respect and sympathy for the people of Sudan striving to move out of the civil war period and toward a prosperity that seems well off in the future.

This week we’re working hard to turn their new knowledge into a plan of action for the next five months followed by a report for the public. The visit to Juba was incredibly valuable. It was also expensive, so we are resuming our fundraising. If you’d like a T-shirt in exchange for a $20 donation, stop by the Humphrey Institute’s Jernberg Lounge over the lunch hour on Thursday or Friday, or stop by 246 Social Sciences anytime.

–DLB

They made it!
Dr. Barb Frey got a call from Kou, Kait and Robyn arrived in Juba, South Sudan, in the evening Sunday (Juba time; in the morning Central U.S. time). “They arrived, they’re safe … they sounded good and upbeat,” Barb said.  Now they’re working on activating their local cell phones (which Barb procured with the help of some friends). Then they will proceed to meeting with key actors to learn about child abduction and form a transnational advocacy network to stop it.

They made it … and we all have made it, from frustration thousands of miles away, to action on the ground in South Sudan.  Thanks to all of you who helped them get there.

The trio is in Uganda and preparing to fly to Juba.  Kou arrived late Tuesday, and he met Kait and Robyn at the airport when they arrived Thursday.  Kou’s friends from University of Wisconsin-Madison, John and Caroline, are helping them out.  When they get their money and paperwork sorted out, they’ll fly to Juba on Saturday or Sunday.

No reply yet from the Government of South Sudan to our requests for meeting appointments, but I’m sure the power trio can get an audience once they’re in Juba.

Thanks to the many donors who are making this trip possible through your PayPal clicks and paper checks.

Kou just called me and asked me to tell everybody that he arrived safely in Uganda. He sounds in great spirits although he complained that it’s hot there, poor guy.

After his long flight from Minneapolis via Amsterdam to Entebbe, he crashed at the Holiday Inn and slept till noon local time. He is in the company of his friends John and Caroline whom he met during his undergraduate studies at the University of Wisconsin Madison.  They are helping him arrange documents for him to enter South Sudan along with Robyn Skrebes and Kait Dougherty, who are scheduled to fly out of Minneapolis today and arrive in Entebbe late Thursday.

Kou asked me to send everyone his best.

At this hour, Kou is probably in Amsterdam awaiting his flight to Uganda, where he’ll apply for documents to enter South Sudan.  Amanda Lyons, John Colombo and I brought him to the airport in Minneapolis this morning for an emotional but upbeat send-off.

I parked at the curb.  Before he entered the terminal, we took a moment to reflect on how far Kou has come in his life’s journey — from “Lost Boy,” to political refugee, to human-rights advocate returning to his native land.  We reflected on how far we all have come, all of us who have been compelled to join Kou in trying to stop child abduction in South Sudan.

Almost exactly five months ago, it was just Kou and two friends, trying to get a handle on this unjust crime, wondering what we could do from Minnesota.  Today we have a strong network of supporters, hundreds of pages of knowledge and planning, and a team on the way to South Sudan.  Robyn Skrebes and Kait Dougherty will leave on Wednesday to join Kou, who is, I believe, full of more purpose and determination than he has ever been.

At curbside, we all clasped hands, and I declared that Kou, henceforth, is a “Found Boy.”

–Daniel Lynx Bernard

As Kou prepares to fly to Africa on Monday, he is sped on his way by the spiritually uplifting praise he received from the Sullivan Ballou Fund on Friday. The Fund, founded by Elissa Peterson and Hennepin County District Court Judge Bruce Peterson, gave its Sullivan Ballou Award to Kou and $2,000 to support the travels of Kou, Robyn and Kait.

The Petersons’ award letter to Kou reads in part: “We salute you for your commitment, your strength, and most of all, for your undaunted confidence that great changes start in the hearts of individual citizens. For that, of course, is how heart energy always works—quietly, and with complete confidence. You are an example to all who know you that, indeed, we are the ones we have been waiting for to end oppression and injustice.”

For the whole letter, click below.
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Ever since the University of Minnesota granted permission for our trio of students to travel to Juba, the preparations have been flying. On Friday, Kou will receive the Sullivan Ballou Award in a ceremony that is also our send-off for him, Robyn, and Kait.

The Ballou Award includes a grant that greatly helps us cover current costs. For Kou to be able to stay for more than a month in Juba, we need to keep fund-raising. Just as important, the award by the Sullivan Ballou Fund, based in Minneapolis, shows this campaign is supported by the greater Twin Cities community beyond the U. of M. campus.

At the same time, our support from the U. is getting stronger. The University News Service is helping us publicize the Ballou Award and the trip (see their press release and video segment). And two of our members (Amanda Lyons and Daniel Lynx Bernard) received word from the University this week that they each will be recipients of the 2008 President’s Student Leadership and Service Award at a ceremony May 5 .

This support means a lot as our team prepares to blast off. Kou’s flight is Monday afternoon; Kait and Robyn leave Wednesday afternoon.