Raise Hope for Congo with Ryan Gosling

While I was on a gossip website (I know), I found this cute and shockingly informative video with Ryan Gosling. He talks about going to the Congo in support of Raise Hope for Congo (skip to the 1:15 mark).

 

 

Since our upcoming (actual date TBA) HollerDay is going to be about the Congo, I figured this was pretty relevant and something to think about.

Check out the info Raise Hope for Congo has about conflict minerals on their website.

Personally, I’ve never even heard of conflict minerals before and being in a program that requires me to rely solely on my laptop and iPod it really disturbs me. Definitely something that people need to be aware of.

 

Posted by Andrew Kress

jhr RRC Goes Global

CreComm Student Earns Local Media Internship in Africa
Spending Summer 2011 in Ghana
By Emily Wessel

Alyssa McDonald is a bubbly, outgoing first-year Creative Communications student at Red River College’s Exchange District Campus. The 20-year-old Minnedosa native often acts as the coordinator of after-school drinks at the King’s Head on Fridays. 

 

 But McDonald has a serious side.

“My ultimate goal is to work for a human rights awareness organization,” McDonald says. 

To achieve her goal, McDonald joined the new Red River College chapter of Journalists for Human Rights (JHR), the largest media organization in Canada. JHR encourages a focus on local human rights issues, and from May to August, McDonald’s locale will be Ghana. 

“I first heard about the internship through Twitter,” McDonald says. “The tweet said the application deadline was extended for another day, so I just sent mine in before it was too late.”

After a Skype interview with last year’s intern, McDonald learned she had secured the position. McDonald will work for a local radio station, television station, newspaper, or some combination of the three – she has yet to find out. Her regular duties will include blogging, photographing, and writing articles about what is happening in Ghana. McDonald is also expected to add value to the organization in any way she can through skills she has learned as a journalism student.  

“We’re training media, but we’re also being trained,” she says. “It’s a partnership with the locals and very give-and-take. We’re not going there as experts – we have a lot to learn.”

After pre-departure training in Toronto, McDonald will find out what city she will be living in and will live in provided accommodations with other JHR interns. The Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) subsidizes some of the cost of the internship in return for a 10-minute documentary that McDonald will produce on one of CIDA’s priority issues, including sustainable economic growth and increasing food security. However, McDonald must fundraise the remaining $5 000 that the summer will cost her. JHR will be setting up a website in McDonald’s name for people to donate directly to her.

It won’t be McDonald’s first time in Africa – in 2009 she volunteered at a school in Ethiopia.  

“I think my trip to Ethiopia prepared me for this, but it will be different because it’s a different setting and I’ll be a professional,” McDonald says. “I’m mostly excited, but this will be the longest I’ve ever been away from home for.”

McDonald’s mother says she is proud of her daughter’s drive.

“I know how passionate she is about both journalism and human rights so it’s a great fit,” Jennifer McDonald says. “The work and travel experience will complement her career aspirations.”