November 6, 2011 | Nairobi, KenyaDay #5- This lovely day is our first concert! This is what the We Have Faith Caravan is all about; sharing, educating and collecting signed petitions to present to world leaders at COP17 (conference of parties). And, in my opinion, it was a major success. We started fairly early in the morning, piling onto the trucks for the first time ever!!... a little taste of what the upcoming weeks had in store. We arrived outside the park to see many WHFC members already handing out petitions and performing sound checks.There was so much energy and excitement, and even though we started a couple hours late and began to really understand the saying TIA, This is Africa (often accompanied with little shoulder shrug), the concert was amazing. All the performances were filled with passion and got the crowd so excited and engaged. It certainly helped that we had Juliani, a HUGE star in Kenya, along for the ride. And would you believe it when I told you that by the end of the concert WHFC participants had collected over 10,000 petitions!?
It was just amazing to see so many young people from so many different countries coming together for such a hard-to-digest cause. And, in truth, it is amazing to me that the whole thing was pulled off. Just think about it, nearly 200 young people from all over the world travel by truck across Africa, camping, and hosting large concerts along the way with 'big name' artists, as well as, local artists. This was a BIG thing!
And, in case you were wondering, here is a quote from the actual petitions. This what everyone was signing for:
"We call on our leaders to fight for a just and legally binding climate treaty! We call on our negotiators to treat the Earth with respect, resist disorder and live in peace with each other, including embracing a legally binding climate treaty." (www.wehavefaithactnow.org)
The concert had such an amazing turn-out and, I will say it again, the performers were amazing and truly inspiring!
I hope you enjoyed seeing a little more of my adventure!!! I can't wait to share even more, still have 34 more crazy days to go. As always, let me know what you think or if you have any questions!
Truly,
Karmen