How you can help Global Focus 50x50 Indigenous Land Rights
First, develop an interest in - and some expertise on - a particular issue
On the internet, follow several human rights sites - see our Human Rights page. Follow them by email, Facebook, or Twitter.
Get the WhatsApp app on your phone.
See https://www.wikihow.com/Use-WhatsApp#Setting-Up-WhatsApp
Or - How to use WhatsApp on your Android of iPhone: Click Here
Fill out the Volunteer Sign Up and click on Submit
If you have problems, contact globalfocus50x50@gmail.com
For communication, we will set you up in a WhatsApp group. Send pictures. Include screen prints and links of sites of interest.
Even better, the best way to find and follow issues is with Twitter. It's best to use a combination of WhatsApp and Twitter.
Get a Twitter account . Use a Twitter name that relates to your issue. Mine, for example, is @LoveMaasai . You can have more than one Twitter account.
Find the Twitter hashtag(s) (for example: #LandBack) or Twitter name that relates to the organization, or an issue. Or create a new one. Follow those tags and Twitter names.
Pictures on Twitter are good -- Using What'sApp, send a screen print of both image and text and Twitter name, date , and link to the tweet to a WhatsApp group (we will assign you to a group, depending on you interests).
Add more Twitter names to follow of people who are interested in the same subject.
For more information on Twitter, go to https://www.global-focus-50x50-indigenous.org/how-to-helpaiding-grassroots-activisim/armchair-activist-wiki
Developing contacts that you can rely on and you can trust takes months, maybe a year. But once you get experience, you can be lots of help.
If there is a language barrier, you might want to work with a different group or find someone who speaks the language. I know one woman who learned Swahili in order to right a blog about the mistreatment of the Maasai in Tanzania. Often there is a indigenous representative who speaks Spanish or Swahili or English.
Also check with Human Rights organizations and ask them if there is someone involved with the issue you choose who can benefit from your fundraising (Through organizations like Avaaz)
Please report your findings to us using WhatsApp.
Police firing on Maasai men, women, children
Helping grassroots activists financially
Smart phones
It was with a smart phone, that someone was able to capture - for the first time internationally - abuse of indigenous persons - as it happened.
The more people there are who are observant and have smart phones, the more evidence of abuse can be collected.
In Tanzania , for example, most on-the-ground activists have smart phones and use WhatsApp to allow groups interested in the same issue to communicate with each other. Usually the smart phones have the ability to take pictures and also draw or write on the picture. WhatsApp makes it easier for people to put together a narrative that fully describes the problem.
Five years ago WhatsApp was fairly new to the Maasai in Tanzania, but now the usage as grown, and is much appreciated by the Maasai.
On the other hand, not all indigenous groups have smart phones.
Transportation
The other need for grassroots activists is transportation. Some activists will volunteer to be scouts to get a bigger picture of the circumstances. For most indigenous people, transportation (often including accomodation) to other areas outside their local area is not cheap.
(to be constructed)