A Creative Way to Showcase Your Chapter’s Support
by Lily Mathias and Ellie Hamrick
Ohio University STAND
When we saw last year’s report that 1100 women and girls are raped every day in the Democratic Republic of Congo, we were outraged. That number should not be just a statistic—we wanted to emphasize the human element. So we started collecting photographs of students, parents, alumni, faculty, staff and community members holding signs saying they want to see a conflict-free campus. We made some signs ourselves and also invited participants to make their own.
We created the 1100 Faces Campaign and compiled a visual petition calling for action and justice in the DRC. Not only did this provide a tool to represent the broad support for the conflict-free campus movement to administrators, but it also provided us with a platform to raise awareness. In collecting photos of 1100 people, we had the opportunity to talk to each of them about the situation in the DRC and their power as consumers to stand up for human rights. Once we finished, we created a video using songs (with permission!) by Congolese-American rapper Omékongo Dibinga. We’ve also used the photos on fliers to advertise events around campus.
If you’re struggling to reach a broad audience or need a more creative, visually compelling way to showcase the support your STAND chapter has, this can be a great tool to utilize. The project easily initiates conversations with complete strangers about the violence in the Congo and leaves you with a great finished product to share with administrators and other stakeholders. To get started you can talk to people in your classes, at your work, in a coffee shop, while tabling, and at events held by your school. (We got about half of our pictures at an International Street Fair.) The opportunities to reach out to people are around every corner; you simply have to take advantage of them.
Check out OU STAND’s amazing 1100 Faces Campaign video below!
Want to be a spotlighted chapter of the week? E-mail us at info@standnow.org with updates on what your chapter is doing to make stopping and preventing genocide a priority in your community.