We Day

This past week has been a whirlwind. The NGO that I work for, Free the Children, put on a concert for social justice; We Day. 16,000 students and teachers came to the ACC in Toronto to learn about social change. Talent such as K'naan, Jacob Hoggard, Down With Webster, Betty Williams, and Deepak Chopra made appearances. It was incredible.

The planning began months and months ago for Free the Children, but we started implementing it on Tuesday. Tuesday and Wednesday were 16 hour work days; loading everything into the ACC and getting prepared for Thursday. It was nothing short of exhausting, but we were all excited. The talent arrived on Load in Day #2 to do sound checks, and we all went into the bowl to listen as Greyson Chance, Jacob Hoggard, and Down With Webster played their songs... a private show!

We arrived at the ACC bright and early at 5am on Thursday. By 8am the doors open and the students flooded in. They wore Me to We style and carried handmade posters with captions like "I Am Making a Difference" and "We are the Change". The best part of We Day, for me, was walking in from backstage just as the concert was started, and seeing 16,000 students screaming for social change. To know how their lives will be impacted for the inspiration they got out of We Day is incredible... and even better, the lives in our projects around the world that will be impacted by the action they start to take.

Working on the food team, I helped to feed the talent and get their dressing rooms set up, etc. Some were very high strung, some were down to earth, some sat and had conversations with us, others acted as if the world revolved around them. It was interesting, to say the least. The contrasts between working for an NGO and working with celebrities were overwhelming at times. Most of my day consisted of delivering teddy grahams to Greyson Chance and organic milk to K'naan, but fortunately we had a bit of down time and I was able to run into the center of the bowl and watch the show. It was definitely exciting getting to meet people that I have only seen on TV before, and I think they are all awesome for taking part in We Day. The guys of The Buried Life, in particular, were awesome.

Marc and Craig spoke to the students and did an awesome job of inspiring them to take action right away. Craig has been travelling for most of the time I have been employed by Free the Children, but Marc is often around and he is someone I have so much respect and admiration for. Both of them are incredible people. I caught bits and parts of the show, and Rocky Dawuni was someone I caught, and had never heard of before. He is a Ghanian artist and I really liked his style; download his song Walls Tumblin Down. We were busy and running around much of the day (my feet are so sore I cannot walk!) but when K'naan closed up the show we all dropped what we were doing and ran out to watch his two songs. He sang Wavin' Flag and Take A Minute. As he closed it up with Wavin' Flag, I enjoyed the benefits of being staff and walked right up to the stage; I have an awesome video of Marc and Craig, our friends Wilson and Jackson (Maasai warriors from Kenya who just came to Canada for the first time to speak at We Day), and the huge audience all screaming for K'naan... incredible.

We Day was exciting and busy, but I will admit that Shameless Idealists is something I like even better. Friday consisted of another 5am wake up call as we headed back to the ACC to host 1000 students for Shameless Idealists; a series of CTV aired segements featuring Craig interviewing some of our talent; Jacob Hoggard, Cherie Blair, Betty Williams, and K'naan. The day was much more low key and I was able to watch much of the show. It had a more intimate feel than We Day, and was much more about the real content; talking to the talent about how to get involved and what their passions are.

Jacob Hoggard talked about his trip to Kenya with Free the Children, in particular with the alternative income program. I was really impressed with how genuine he seemed. I found myself nodding in agreement as he described emotions that I experienced after coming home from my first humantarian trip. I am not a huge fan of Cherie Blair, so didn't watch any of her segement. I had never heard of Betty Williams before We Day, but she was incredible. I delivered food to her dressing room and she was so kind and eager to talk. On stage, she was in tears talking about violence and her Nobel Peace Prize award for her passion and commitment to peace. Her personality is what struck a chord with me. She is one of those rare people who does not care at all what people think. She spoke from the heart and bared her soul and struck a passion in the audience unlike any of the other speakers. K'naan spoke about growing up in Somalia, and then moving to America (and then Canada) and the violence he experienced both in Somalia and in North America. Many of his friends were killed in Somalia, and many were killed in gang violence in North America. He sang a new song, Fatima, about his best friend growing up. When they were both 12 years old, he left Somalia, and she was shot 3 days later. It is a beautiful song and a beautiful testimony to her. I was really impressed with him on stage. I had always thought of him as someone who used being African to his own fame, but who didn't really care about the issues. He seemed so genuine and very intelligent; talking about bringing sustainability and conflict resolution to Somalia, rather than just a hand out, and talking about how Africa is more than just war, poverty, HIV/AIDS; it is very diverse and we shouldn't stereotype it, as he admitted that he used to do.

Being backstage, aside from going into the bowl and seeing the excitement of the students, I wasn't really able to see the outcome of We Day. I know that it is incredible that young people are coming together to cheer for a movement. I know that many had tears in their eyes and that many had their hearts changed and their groups mobilized to take action. But I will admit I am very excited to get to work on Monday and call my school groups to hear first hand how this experienced changed them. The emails from my educators have already begun flooding my inbox.

We Day is unique. Never before has there been a concert this big SOLELY for youth and SOLELY for promoting activism. I am exhausted right now after a week of We Day madness, but am so honoured to have been a part of this and am so excited to see effects that will come from it.


I will post my videos soon, once I combine them in one big video. Follow the link at the end of the video and 'like' We Day in facebook... it equals $1 donated to Free the Children!