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ONE’s Northern Exposure
The U2 Tour wrapped up in Vancouver last week and ONE members from the home of the 2010 Olympic Games (as all my cab drivers were proud to remind me) didn’t let a steady cold rain keep them from coming out to sign up new ONE members.
Our Vancouver volunteers were an enthusiastic and engaged group of and I was fortunate enough to get to chat with a few of them.
Lauren Chan
Lauren learned about ONE from a high school teacher. And as Graduation Committee President, she led her class in purchasing 58,000 tetanus shots for UNICEF. It was the first time a Langara High School class had donated it’s graduation committee fund-raising to charity and a sign of Lauren’s commitment to making a difference on issues of global poverty and preventable disease.
Eva, Paul, Heather and Rebeca
We got a little lost in conversation, so I’m sure they’ll forgive me if I don’t get the relationships right. But in the picture above you can see husband and wife Paul and Eva, along with Paul’s sister Rebeca and Eva’s sister Heather. And how did Paul and Heather meet? Through their work as anti-poverty advocates, of course. Paul and Heather both worked as Regional Team Leaders for our partner organization World Vision in British Colombia. They admit that some of those meetings when they first met weren’t the most productive, but it’s clear that they’re the most dedicated of activists. Paul is in his first year of law school at Saskatoon University Law School, where he hopes to eventually specialize in human rights and international law. He told me that ONE broadly encapsulates what they want to do with their lives – work against poverty and for greater justice. Eva continues at World Vision and talked with me about the power of participation that comes when the public engages and really understands the issues – and she’s a big fan of ONE.org when it comes to educating people on global poverty. Eva also talked about how ONE empowers kids to get involved in different ways. “Kids who might otherwise think of global poverty and say “I work at McDonald’s, I can’t afford to sponsor a child.” “But through ONE, they realize that their voices are powerful.”
Harneet Gosal
Harneet is a student at Simon Fraiser University and first got involved with ONE in high school. She signed up tons of new ONE members and particularly enjoyed talking about the issues with concert-goers. She even had a vigorous discussion with a U2 fan from the Czech Republic who wanted to know why she thought fighting poverty and disease in the developing world was important. She must have made a good argument, because he signed up to become a ONE member.
Robin and Dave McCombe
When Matt Higginson asked Robin and Dave if they’d rocked their volunteer work, they replied “punk rock all the way.” I’m sure the band performing that night would be pleased. Robin and Dave first got involved with ONE through their church, Coquitlam Alliance, where they watched video of an interview Bono did with a minister in Boston. They were particularly excited to see how excited the younger generation was about signing up to join ONE. “Nothing against the old folks,” as Dave said, “but it’s great to see kids, teenagers and young couples couples get involved. They also saw a lot of white bands in the crowd worn by concert-goers who are already ONE members.
This is our last stop on the 2009 U2 360 Tour and there’s not much more left to say, except for a giant thank you. I’m sure I’m forgetting far too many people, but thank you to Weldon and Matt, Marisa, Roxy, Luisa, Nealon, Leah, the more than 1,000 ONE members who came out to volunteer at 44 shows, and last, but definitely not least, U2 for sharing this amazing tour with us.
U2 fans Stand Up and Take Action (and rock!)
Last weekend was the annual Global Day of Action when people all over the world Stand Up and Take Action to end global poverty, and at Sunday’s U2 concert in Norman, Oklahoma, USA, 50,000+ U2 fans stood up to show their support.
They joined millions of people around the world – a Guinness Book of World Records 116 million stood up last year! – to show solidarity with the world’s poorest people and demand action on meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of halving poverty and disease worldwide by 2015.
Check out ONE members Standing Up at the show, after a long day of taking action against global poverty and signing up more than 2,000 new ONE members:
-Aaron Banks
Get on your boots, North America
The U2 360 spaceship has landed in North America, and we’re off to a rockin’ start. Matt (who’ll be running the tour for most of the North American tour) met me in Chicago and we ran around town gathering T-shirts, wristbands, and our new tabling set up. Everything was in perfect order, including the weather. I’m told the odds of 4 September days of 72 degree sunny weather is an near impossibility in Chicago, but that’s what we got.
Our 30 volunteers were in good form, recruiting new members by the thousands. The biggest obstacle they ran into was that many of the fans were already ONE members. Not a bad problem to have!
I’m in Toronto now, and ready to get rolling on another two shows. I hope to see you at a show soon!
-Weldon Kennedy
So long Europe
It was a long summer touring around Europe with U2, but I’ve had a little rest and I’m ready to get back into action this weekend in Chicago. In just two months at 24 shows we signed up over 40,000 new ONE members, and fired up groups of ONE volunteers who are continuing to take action and organise in their communities.
One of the things that keeps me smiling up through the long days of the tour are the warm messages I receive from those volunteers all along the way. I asked a couple of them if I could share their sentiments, and I hope that you find them just as inspiring:
I wanted to volunteer for ONE for quite some time but I didn’t have a chance to before and thank you for giving me the opportunity. I’m still shaking from my head to my toes, it was probably one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.
My heart is so filled with pride and love and I’m sure u all feel the same. All of you made me happier and more optimistic than I’ve been in a very long time.
To be there, so speak and to be heard, to teach others…for the first time I had a feeling that I am actually really doing something.
And it felt good.
It felt good to know that I´m doing something worthwhile, and that even I can make a change.
It is hard to explain how this was important to me, but I think that you know it:-).
Giving me chance to work for a real and good thing is so precious. Giving me chance to do this during U2 concerts is just….like a dream.
America, I hope you’re ready to have a good time and sign up scores of new ONE members. Toss on your ONE shirts and let’s rock and roll.
-Weldon Kennedy
Volunteering with ONE – at U2’s Show in Gelsenkirchen
On August 3rd U2 played their second and last show for Germany in Gelsenkirchen. As in Berlin, ONE staff and volunteers were at the show in Gelsenkirchen to sign up new ONE members. ONE volunteer Leonie describes her experiences during the exhausting yet fulfilling day.
The sun is shining so things look promising! Everything is explained and soon enough, me and the other volunteers from all across Germany are ready to hit the crowd. There’s a huge queue of people all waiting in line for the doors to open, and they seem keen to join ONE.
Later that afternoon it’s my turn to photograph as many people as possible as they demonstrate their creative take on kissing the future. This job is really fun!
As we hear Snow Patrol perform their last song we hurry to take down our stand in time. Everything needs to be packed into the truck again, so it can hit the road for Chorzow, the next stop on the U2 tour, right after the show.
Until the doors opened, I was busy signing up plenty of new German, Dutch and Belgian ONE supporters, handing out a bundle of flyers and above all, having great conversations with so many people. Most people are really open to ONE’s issues and so we manage to cross all cultural and language barriers easily.
The ONE team are taking photos of people who’ve signed up to ONE so they can be part of a section of the show called ‘the future needs a big kiss’. Unsurprisingly, people are really keen to participate as there’s a chance their photo will go up on the screen during the show.
Finally, U2 come on stage and we get to watch the show. I really enjoyed dancing and listening, along with 74 000 fans, in a very impressive setting. After the show, we approach the concert-goers as they’re leaving, which is a nice end to the evening. There are still plenty of fans who are really curious about ONE, especially after all the great ONE elements featured in the show.
All in all, it was a great day, characterised by diverse encounters, an impressive show, four Irish musicians and unlimited sunshine.
-Leonie Adam
What a weekend!
U2 came to London and performed at Wembley Stadium on Friday and Saturday night.
The new Wembley stadium is an impressive, huge structure but U2 filled the space. In fact, with nearly 90,000 fans attending on Friday, I heard a record was broken for the number of people at the stadium.
Staff from the ONE office in London, including myself, came out in force to help Weldon and the other volunteers recruit new members.
It was really tiring but super rewarding. I had all sorts of interesting converstions with people including one who wanted to drive a jeep full of goods to an as yet unspecified village in Africa. There was also a couple from Belgium for example, with whom I managed to practice my French and try talking about ONE in another language!
The latest I’ve heard is that all the hard work of the volunteers paid off with nearly 4,000 people signing up and joining ONE during the two London shows.
Now there’s only a few more shows to go over here and then the tour goes State side…
It’s not gonna rain (again)
As you know, Weldon Kennedy is traveling with the U2 360 Tour signing up new ONE members all across Europe. He writes from Sweden:
I have a catch phrase that’s served me well along the U2 tour: “It’s not gonna rain.” Thus far with that phrase and the collective will power of tens of thousands of fans, we’ve managed to keep the rain off of us despite what the forecast said. I suppose I should have been saying, “It’s not gonna rain, and there won’t be gale force winds.” But I didn’t, and so that was our weather for the first day in Gothenburg, Sweden. You can get a sense of the conditions from the picture above from when we were unloading in the morning.
But the rough and rugged ONE volunteers braved the wind and the rain, and still managed to sign up hundreds of new ONE members. I was as impressed as I was cold – I’d packed for a summer concert tour and lacked the proper insulation for the 17C windy soggy day.
Everything changed for the second day in Gothenburg. The skies cleared, the wind stopped, and we were in serious business. We doubled the number of people we signed up, and after the concert still had the energy to share a few laughs and a some Swedish gummy candies - Gott & blandat, which I highly recommend if salt liquorice sounds good to you.
It’s now onward back to Germany, where I’m meeting up with a couple members of the German team for a show in Gelsenkirchen. With any luck it’s not going to rain (again).
-Weldon Kennedy
Traveling through Europe with U2 and ONE
Phew! The U2 360 Tour has been fun, exciting, and a ton of work. As you know I’ve been traveling with the tour from city to city signing up ONE Members, coordinating volunteers, sorting out logistics… and “Kissing the Future”.
After the tour’s launch in Barcelona, we headed to Milan, Italy where lots of volunteers turned out to help sign up concert-goers to become ONE Members. One really cool thing about the volunteers in Milan was that it really seemed to be a family affair, with parents showing up with kids in tow just to help out. It was great to see different generations coming together to work as ONE. Some of the youngsters were pretty shy at first, but I found the trick was to get them out of their parents’ shadows, and then they really started to get into the fun. As more and more concert-goers poured in, I found the inter-generational dynamic of the volunteers actually perfectly reflected the make-up of the crowd, with people of all ages coming to enjoy the music and—assuming we did our job right—learn a little about ONE.
After Milan we headed to Paris for a couple concerts at the Stade de France. Stade de France is that it’s not only the biggest stadiums I’ve ever been in, but one of the biggest structures I’ve ever stood in, period. It was absolutely huge. While an awesome sight, this also made coordinating ONE volunteers that much more difficult. Security was also an issue, not leaving us with much room to catch eager U2 fans as they made their way towards the stage. Fortunately on the second night we went TO the crowd waiting in lines outside the Stade and signed up hundreds of ONE Members.
From Paris we headed south to Nice, which ended up being a bit of a trick in terms of transporting all of our tabling kit. I ended up enlisting the aid of a crew of men in the middle of the night to help me push a cart of equipment back to my hotel, then hired a van with a faulty petro meter to drive down to Nice. But once I was there, it was amazing. Informally referred to as U2’s “second home town”, The crowd there really treated U2 as one of their own and the atmosphere was very warm, pun on the 34 C weather not intended. Just as the other stops along the tour, lots of music and lots of sign-ups.
From Nice we went to Berlin (which Carola was kind enough to write about here) and then to Amsterdam for another two concerts. There we set up kiosks inside the stadium as there was absolutely no space to set up our tents outside. Interestingly, the security there asked that we not sign people up to become “ONE Members” but asking that they sign a “petition” was perfectly okay. With a little finessing, everything worked out. I also followed the old rule “when in the Netherlands…” and hired a bicycle for my stay in Amsterdam. While I normally have to take taxis to freight my equipment from place to place, I managed to load most of it up my bike and cruise around on the beautiful bike path between my hotel and the stadium. It turned my otherwise stressful commute into a peaceful morning and evening ride.
All in all, a very successful tour so far, with over 16,000 sign ups by the end of Amsterdam. I’ll have more for you from on the road soon!
-Weldon Kennedy
ONE and U2 in Berlin
Last Saturday, U2 finally hit Germany with their 360° tour. Before the show in Berlin’s Olympic stadium, ONE had invited friends and supporters to a summer outside reception at the waterside.
In his short address, Germany director Tobias Kahler gave an account of his recent travels through Ghana and Nigeria where he witnessed the progress that development cooperation can achieve. The simple possibility to cultivate and trade with pineapples, for example, started a chain reaction which irrevocably changed the lives of a whole community for the better. ONE’s CEO David Lane focused on the national election which is to be held in Germany on September 27. Referring to experience made in the US with campaigns like “On the Record”, he recounted how mobilization of the American public was able to influence the presidential race. ONE Germany is campaigning in a similar way, asking voters for their signature to the “Article ONE” which urges the next federal government to boost development issues in their coalition treaty. To raise awareness for this campaign, we asked our guests to sign the Article ONE and had their photographs taken while doing so.
All in all, ONE staff members, politicians, artists, journalists and representatives from other NGOs spent a relaxed afternoon with plenty of time to engage in discussions on our issues before moving on to the stadium to enjoy the concert.
Twenty spirited ONE volunteers spent their afternoon in a much less relaxed, but certainly as exciting way: Thanks to U2’s commitment to ONE, we had the opportunity to inform people on progress and challenges concerning the fight against extreme poverty and recruit new ONE members before and after the concert. As at all the other venues in Europe and North America, we set up our ONE stand and photo booth where newly signed-up ONE supporters could have their picture taken while giving the future a big kiss. A number of those pictures were seen by a crowd of 90.000 when they appeared on the giant 360° screen above the stage that same night.
We managed to sign up a vast number of new ONE supporters that day, including quite a few who had come from other countries - like Greece, Denmark, Sweden, Israel, Spain and even Brazil – to see U2 on stage.
The band’s truly amazing performance thrilled ONE volunteers, our prominent supporters and the rest of the 90,000 fans alike, and we were all inspired by the political messages sent out during the show. An especially moving moment was Archbishop Tutu’s message that surely convinced many of the infinite power we have in our hands if we act together. Right afterwards, a message on the screen asked fans to join ONE by texting “KISS” to a short code – all over the dark stadium, glowing mobile lights attested to the immediate reaction. There were statements on other contemporary political focal points, too: U2 dedicated their classic “Sunday, bloody Sunday” to the suppressed oppositional movement in Iran, bathing the enormous stage in green light. Burmese Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi – the most courageous woman in the world, as Bono said - was honored by hundreds of people wearing her mask during “Walk On”, and some of them even walked on stage during that song. A special greeting went out to another Nobel Peace Prize winner: U2 and fans sang “Happy Birthday” for Nelson Mandela since he turned 91 that day.
We’ll have more updates about ONE’s efforts on the U2 tour soon!
-Carola Bieniek
What Archbishop Tutu Says
One of my favourite moments of the U2 360 show is Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s stirring speech about taking action together as ONE. The Archbishop is ONE’s international patron, and has more authority to talk about the power of collective action than just about anyone. It is humbling to hear him say that as we take action against extreme poverty we are proving ourselves to be the same people as those who have engaged in other great humanitarian movements, like the struggle to end apartheid which he championed.
I’m including a video here from the folks at U2.com, but really you have to be there to feel the impact. As a ONE campaigner it just floors you.
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The International ONE Blog is a daily log of the anti-poverty movement. The site is operated by ONE staff, with guest contributions from ONE volunteers, members and allies.
The content of each post and each comment represents the views of that author and does not necessarily reflect the views of ONE. ONE does not support or oppose any candidate for elected office, and any post expressing support or opposition for a candidate is not endorsed by ONE.
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