Several customers shoot a curious glance towards the small washed wood stand and then towards one of the several sales associates wearing one of them around their neck. But many also leave without asking about it. Until a woman, buying a pair of Toms Shoes for her son asks, “What’s with the whistles?”
The sales associate looks over at the stand with a smile and touches her own, standing out against her bright shirt. “They are Falling Whistles, and they’re a symbol of protest.”
It all started with one person. Sean Carasso visited the Democratic Republic of Congo as what was supposed to be a one-day stop while traveling through Africa with his friends from Invisible Children and TOMS Shoes. What he found there though, completely changed his life.
Right now, the DRC is experiencing the deadliest war since World War II. There are many reasons for this but one of the most prominent is because the DRC rests atop a rich supply of minerals such as Coltan, a key ingredient in the production of the cell phones so many of us in developed countries have. This gives the DRC great potential to expand and grow, but it also leaves it open to other countries interested in manipulation.
In Congo, Carasso and the group he was traveling with met five boys: Busco, Bahati, Serungendo, Claude, and Sadiki. These boys had been kidnapped by the rebel army; stolen from their families and homes and forced to fight as child soldiers. But they found the courage to escape, even knowing that if they were discovered the penalty was death. Only to be found, captured and abused by the National army. Because they had fought for the rebels, even unwillingly, they were considered enemies of he state. When the national army intercepted these children, all under the age of fifteen, they were starved, beaten and humiliated. Ribs pushed out against skin, visible through dirty and tattered clothing. But what was even more horrific than the injustices done against them was the story they told.
They spoke of young boys, too small to even use a gun, sent out onto the frontlines of war by the rebel army with nothing but a whistle hanging around their necks. They use the whistles in an attempt to scare away their enemies, but when that isn’t effective, the opposing national army shoots these small children, turning their bodies into human barricades.
“The sickness of everything that is occurring there, and what is happening to these children just horrifies me,” UCO student Hailey Barry said. “ When a close friend of mine told me the story, I knew I had to help in some way. The fact that I had never even heard about any of this before was appalling. I couldn’t believe it wasn’t more publicized.”
By the end of the day that they met the boys, Carasso’s group was able to get the UN and UNICEF to help the five children escape and send them home to their families. Five out of a million. But what about the other children, the ones who were stuck in the crossfire of two vicious armies with no hope and no foreseeable freedom in sight? That was the question Carasso brought back with him to America. The answer he found was in the symbol that brought so much pain to so many people; a whistle. It was in the whistle that he discovered “Their weapon could be our voice”.
So Falling Whistles was launched. A grass roots business in every way, they had volunteers that moved cross country on everything from bikes to their own feet, just trying to get their word out and spread the whistles. They moved slowly, but grabbed attention quickly, creating displays for the likes of Fred Segal department store, and Donna Karan New York. Until it moved its way into Oklahoma with Lucca Fashion Boutique stores, which is now the largest whistle distributor in the state.
“It was an easy decision to support a cause like this,” Lucca Inc. Owner Yaniv Segal said. “You can do your part to buy the product and spread the word, but it’s not enough! The small part we can play in the overall scheme of this cause is the least we can do. There are people in this world who are meant to be leaders, who follow a path that no one else is willing to take, and who fight for that, for the chance of a better future. By supporting the cause of these leaders, you are helping to create change.”
100% of the proceeds of each whistle sold go to rehabilitating war-affected children in the DRC. According to the website, through creative methods like art, dance, and sports, the children in the rehabilitation program with Falling Whistle’s partner organization in Congo are able to begin healing. They are then enrolled into school to get an education. They will receive job training as well as receiving human rights training so that they have the skills to become a productive member of society. These methods are designed to repair and heal the children who have escaped from one or both armies and are traumatized by the heinous acts they were forced to do.
“These whistles make a kind of clientele who’s not aware of certain political problems in other countries more aware of the things going on,” Lucca employee Andrea Gentis said. “Typically you never hear what’s going on in Africa through our media outlets, especially not in the news, and specifically what is happening to the children, even though it is one of the biggest problems right now.“
Referring to their supporters as “whistle blowers for peace” Falling Whistles does rely on the people who believe in their cause to spread the word. When asked, Barry Segal, and Gentis all consider themselves whistle blowers. The other thing they also agree on is that getting the word out is one of the most important things they can do.
One of the easiest ways for consumers to gain knowledge and get a feel for the organization is to visit their website at www.fallingwhistles.com where the user friendly layout easily guides the viewer through the different aspects of the war, the children, the story, and ways to purchase a whistle.
“Personally I wear my whistle every day,” Gentis said. “It is for me to represent that I believe in this cause, and anytime I’m asked, I get to share this with a person who is more than likely not aware of what’s going on. Then they get the idea and majority of the time they feel the need to at least look into the problem, or buy one of the whistles.”
John Lennon once said, “A dream you dream alone is only a dream. A dream you dream together is reality”. That is exactly what Falling Whistles is trying to accomplish. By using something so visible, the word gets spread faster. And with each new person that hears the story and walks away with knowledge, the more the dream of ending the war and saving the children hurt by it becomes a reality.
No comments:
Post a Comment