The Online Reflector

On Oct. 7, “Falling Whistles,” an organization comprised of individuals helping to seek peace in the Congo, visited the University of Indianapolis.

The United Nations Student Alliance, a club that simulates an actual U.N. General Assembly meeting at UIndy, was aware of this organization through President Beverly Pitts and decided it was something that needed attention.

According to speaker Sean Carasso, during the past decade, in a lesser known part of the world, the world’s largest and most deadly war wages, costing nearly six million lives, and 1,500 more daily. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, children are forced to the front lines, some of them not even big enough to carry a gun. These children are then forced to carry a whistle in hopes of scaring off the enemy. When they are shot and killed, their bodies form a blockade for other children with the guns to hide behind.

Two men deeply moved by the Congolese war took turns to speak about their personal experience on Oct. 7 in Schwitzer room 11.

Yves Muya was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo. When he was ten years old, he and his family were forced to flee their country in hopes of finding a safe haven from the violence. They escaped into Zambia, where they hoped to stay for only a year, but when things got worse, they had to stay longer.

Muya said that the only thing that got him through the tough times was, “the ability to dream in the midst of hopelessness and hunger.”

His father would ask his family what they hoped to be. Holding onto that, Muya said, “it was better to dream sometimes than not to dream at all.”

After Zambia, they headed to Malawi to a refugee camp sponsored by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, where they were rationed one meal a day.

“I would lay out in a field and close my eyes and create dreams in my mind,” Muya said.

Muya was able to attend college, and his dream was to major in communication, because he wanted to change the media to also focus on situations in Africa. He applied for a scholarship at Claremont Colleges. After being told he would never receive the scholarship because of his refugee status, he defied the odds by winning it.

Muya flew out to Los Angeles looking for a place to stay and was referred by a friend to Sean Carasso, who had an internship position available.

Carasso was moved by Invisible Children, an organization seeking to end conflict and the use of children as soldiers in Uganda. He then wanted to do something about the situation in Uganda. In northern Uganda, children were forced to leave their homes in the middle of the night and sleep side-by-side in a community center for their safety.

Carasso and his friends decided to start a protest and came up with the idea to leave their homes in the middle of the night and all sleep side-by-side together. One month before the rally, he had recruited 4,000 people to participate but they needed more to make a difference. In 2006, Facebook had just been created and with its help, 80,000 people showed up on the night of the rally.

A month later, the State Department started referring to the crisis in Uganda as an emergency. The next year, the State Department gave $20 million to the peace process in Uganda.

Casarro’s friend had started a project out of a loft where for every pair of shoes bought, they would donate a pair to a child in need. Tom’s Shoes was founded, and Carasso was asked to go to South Africa for the shoe drop. He quit his job, packed his bags and boarded the plane.

“Connection is the currency that makes the world go round,” Carasso said.

He traveled to the Democratic Republic of Congo on what was supposed to be a short stop where he experienced the inspiration behind his current organization, Falling Whistles. He said he watched a camp beat and torture former boy soldiers, became friends with a young girl dying from AIDS and through this he endured so much tragedy his life would never be the same.

Carasso wrote a journal entry and forwarded it to the people he knew, who in turn forwarded it to people all around the world. The next morning, he woke up with responses flooding his e-mail, asking him what they could do to help.
After Carasso returned to the United States, he received a whistle from a friend and was asked to wear it around his neck. He was told to make his voice his weapon and to tell the children’s story to all who asked about it.

They launched the campaign and started selling the whistles, giving 100 percent of the proceeds to rehabilitate and advocate for war-affected children.

“The differences were real, but the commonalities were overwhelming,” Carasso said.

Their Web site at fallingwhistles.com has information on the organization and how to make donations or purchase merchandise.

Senior and Secretary of the UN Student Alliance Nick Betzner expressed the importance of the event.
“I hope that students realize that normal people can make a large impact on the world.”