LRA Bill Passes Congress

In recent news, the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act (S. 1067 and H.R. 2478) has passed Congress and will hopefully soon be signed into law by President Obama.  If nothing else, this bill should make working to resolve the continuing conflict in central Africa a greater priority for our government.  Thank you for joining me in calling on behalf of it!

On to other bills.  Today, I’ll be calling  Senator Cornyn (202-224-2934) about S. 3184, the Child Protection Compact Act.  Here’s what I’m going to say:

“Hello, my name is Allison Kami and I’m from Denton, TX.  I’m calling to express my concern about the trafficking of children for forced labor and prostitution, and I’d like to ask Senator Cornyn to cosponsor Senate Bill 3184 to help combat this industry.”

Please join me!  And may God bless you and your neighbor through you today!

LRA

Today, I’m calling Representative Burgess (202-225-7772) about H.R. 2478, the House version of the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act.  Here’s what I’m going to say:

“Hello.  My name is Allison Kami and I’m from Denton, TX.  I’m calling to express my concern about what’s happening to children in central Africa at the hands of Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army.  I’d like to ask Representative Burgess to cosponsor House Bill 2478  to help bring peace and stability to that area.”

Please join me!  If you’d like to learn more about the actions of the LRA and why this bill is so important, please check out this report by Human Rights Watch about recent actions of the LRA in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  This evil and brutality can not be ignored.

May God bless you and your neighbor through you today!

Good News

Yesterday, S. 1067, the Senate version of the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act, passed!  This is a huge step.  Now, we need to wait on H.R. 2478, the House version, to come up for a vote.  It’s currently still in committee.  Hopefully this momentum from the Senate will coax along the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Today, I’m calling Senator Hutchison (202-224-5922) about S. 891, the Congo Conflict Minerals Act. Here’s what I’m going to say:

“Hello! My name is Allison Kami, and I’m from Denton, TX. I’m calling to express my concern about the ongoing conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and I’d like to ask Senator Hutchison to cosponsor Senate Bill 891 to help end the funding of illegal militias in the Congo.”

Please join me! And may God bless you and your neighbor through you today!

H.R. 2478

Today, I’m calling Representative Burgess (202-225-7772) about H.R. 2478, the House version of the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act.  Here’s what I’m going to say:

“Hello.  My name is Allison Kami and I’m from Denton, TX.  I’m calling to express my concern about what’s happening to children in central Africa at the hands of Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army.  I’d like to ask Representative Burgess to cosponsor House Bill 2478  to help bring peace and stability to that area.”

Please join me!  And may God bless you and your neighbor through you today!

Northern Uganda

Today, I’m calling Senator Hutchison (202-224-5922) about S. 1067, the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act.  Here’s what I’m going to say:

“Hello.  My name is Allison Kami and I’m from Denton, TX.  I’m calling to express my concern about what’s happening to children in central Africa at the hands of Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army and to ask Senator Hutchison to cosponsor Senate Bill 1067 and help bring peace and stability to that area.”

Please join me!  And may God bless you and others through you today!

Uganda and Liberia

Today, I’m calling Representative Burgess (202-225-7772) about H.R. 2478, the House version of the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act.  This bill is now up to 146 cosponsors but is still in committee.  Here’s what I’m going to say:

“Hello.  My name is Allison Kami and I’m from Denton, TX.  I’m calling to express my concern about what’s happening to children in central Africa at the hands of Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army.  I’d like to ask Representative Burgess to cosponsor House Bill 2478  to help bring peace and stability to that area.”

Please join me!  Also, I’m in the middle of watching The Vice Guide to Liberia at www.vbs.tv, and I’m learning a lot.  I’ll hopefully be able to research what groups are at work there and pass along the information.  Until then, it’s good to know what’s going on.

Today, may God bless you and your neighbor through you!

Back

I apologize for the unannounced long break!  Time with my family in Pennsylvania is very rare and precious, so I didn’t take any time away from them to update on here.  I hope all of you reading this had a merry Christmas and are enjoying the new year.  My hope for this year is that it may contain more reading and writing than the last one.  So far, so good.

The second session of Congress convenes today, so I’m going to start back with calling.  Here’s how a few of the bills I’ve been calling about stand at the start of the second session:

LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recover Act

S. 1067 – Currently has 47 cosponsors and has been placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar – Calendar No. 228

H.R. 2478 – Currently has 140 cosponsors and is still in committee.

Congo Conflict Minerals

S. 891 – Currently has 14 cosponsors and is still in committee.

H.R. 4128 – Currently has 9 cosponsors and is still in committee.

Water for the World Act

S. 624 – Currently has 28 cosponsors and is still in committee.

H.R. 2030 – Currently has 69 cosponsors and is still in committee.

Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act

S. 1524 – Has 22 cosponsors and has been reported out of committee but not yet placed on the Senate calendar.

Child Protection Compact Act

H.R. 2737 – Currently has 88 cosponsors and is still in committee.

So today, I’m calling Representative Burgess (202-225-7772) about the Child Protection Compact Act, H.R. 2737.  Here’s what I’m going to say:

“Hello, my name is Allison Kami and I’m from Denton, TX.  I’m calling to express my concern about the practice of trafficking children for forced labor and prostitution, and I’d like to ask Representative Burgess to cosponsor House Bill 2737 to help combat this industry.”

Please join me!  And may God bless you and your neighbor through you today!

Quarter of a Century

If you checked here yesterday, sorry I didn’t get an update up.  Due to final exams at the schools I teach at, my schedule has been a little wacky.  But today, I have only one lesson to teach and plenty of time on my hands.  So my missions for today are to finish addressing my letters for the Amnesty International Write-a-thon and get those mailed out, call our lender and ask him a long list of questions about our preliminary mortgage application before we sign it (yes, we’re looking at maybe buying a house in the near future), and get everything set for our trip up to Pennsylvania to visit my family.  Whew!  Plus, it is my birthday today.  I am officially a quarter of a century old!  I asked one of my seventh grade students yesterday if she knew how old that made me, and she asked me if a century means twenty.  I pointed out to her that if a century was twenty and I was a quarter of that, I would be five years old.  It was pretty cute.  Also, today I’ll be calling Senator Hutchison (202-224-5922) about S. 1067, the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act.  Here’s what I’m going to say:

“Hello.  My name is Allison Kami and I’m from Denton, TX.  I’m calling to express my concern about what’s happening to children in central Africa at the hands of Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army and to ask Senator Hutchison to cosponsor Senate Bill 1067 and help bring peace and stability to that area.”

Please join me!  And if you’d like to celebrate my birthday with a gift, please consider making a donation to the Denton Water Walk.  There are only four days left to give!  Thank you, and may God bless you and your neighbor through you today!

S. 1067

Today, I’m calling Senator Cornyn (202-224-2934) about S. 1067, the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act.  This bill is currently at forty-six cosponsors and has made it through committee.  There is still a need for pressure to get it on the schedule for a full vote in the Senate.  Here’s what I’m going to say:

“Hello.  My name is Allison Kami and I’m from Denton, TX.  I’m calling to express my concern about what’s happening to children in central Africa at the hands of Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army and to ask Senator Cornyn to cosponsor Senate Bill 1067 and help bring peace and stability to that area.”

Please join me!  Also, six days left to donate to the Denton Water Walk.  My birthday is on Thursday, and your donation would be a great gift!  May God bless you and your neighbor through you today.

Alternative Christmas Shopping List

If you’ve heard “Wal-mart Guy”, one of the songs that our band, Tolkien the Dog, performs, you probably know that I’m not a huge fan of Black Friday.  So, as a response to the sales and deals of yesterday, I thought I would compile an alternative Christmas shopping list for those of us who didn’t spend all of our money yesterday.  These websites give you the chance to not only give a gift to someone you love, but to also reach out a hand to those most in need.

World Vision Christmas Gift Catalog

World Vision is one of my husband’s and my favorite organizations to give through.  Their gift catalog is very diverse, so you can find a significant gift for almost anyone in your family.  Through the catalog, you can give gifts to families and children in need in a loved one’s name, and they will send a card to that person to explain the gift to them.  Gifts range from clothes to medical care to ducks.  If you give certain amounts to the Maximum Impact Fund, they will even send a gift to you or the person of your choice.

B:WM Biosand Filters

For $85, you can buy a biosand filter for a family in need in Zambia.  Blood: Water Mission is trying to raise money to buy 1,640 of these filters this Christmas.  This would be a great gift to give in the name of a family member or friend.

Invisible Children Store

The Invisible Children store has many items that go to benefit their work in Uganda.  Right now, they’re offering some great bundles that include items like fair-trade coffee grown in Uganda and Invisible Children scarves.  One of my favorite items they sell is their MEND bags.  These bags are handmade by women in Uganda who are former abductees of the LRA.  Each bag has the name of the woman who sewed it inside, and you can go to the MEND site and see a video about your bag’s maker.  The bags are a bit pricey, but are very stylish.

Charity: Water Gifts

Charity: Water has a selection of gifts, all of which help to provide clean water for those most in need.  Gifts include bracelets, Thermos bottles, personalized gift cards, and shirts.

There are many more ways to give, and I’ll hopefully be updating this as Christmas approaches.  Many Christmas gifts that we usually give probably get returned, collect dust, or become boring in about a month or two.  This year, please consider giving a gift that will make a lasting difference.

May God bless you and your neighbor through you today!