Pray the Devil Back to Hell

Juzi (the day before yesterday in Swahili) I watched Pray the Devil Back to Hell. Going into it I was expecting your average African movie that leaves me depressed with teary red eyes and angry at the injustices in the world. However, I got much more than that.....I got inspired. I was left feeling the amazing power of women and peaceful protest. Sure, I still had the teary red eyes and sadness/anger around the violence/murder/rape during the Liberian civil war....But instead of the empty void of "these problems are too big" I was motivated to immediately do some web browsing to see how I could help too.

Reading through partner org Women for Women led me to Run For Congo Women. I've heard about Run For Congo Women before but never really considered doing it myself. Not anymore, I've decided to raise money for a undecided cause while training for my first marathon this year. To redefine what I'm running for..... Now I just have to decide if I will be raising money for a war torn country, a Tanzania ngo or US one. Once I decide I will set it up using active.com's fund raising platform.

Synopsis:

"Pray the Devil Back to Hell chronicles the remarkable story of the courageous Liberian women who came together to end a bloody civil war and bring peace to their shattered country.

Thousands of women — ordinary mothers, grandmothers, aunts and daughters, both Christian and Muslim — came together to pray for peace and then staged a silent protest outside of the Presidential Palace. Armed only with white T-shirts and the courage of their convictions, they demanded a resolution to the country’s civil war. Their actions were a critical element in bringing about a agreement during the stalled peace talks.

Their demonstrations culminated in the exile of Charles Taylor and the election of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa's first female head of state, and marked the vanguard of a new wave of women taking control of their political destiny around the world."