Drivers Ed with the GOTB team

In January 2009, GOTB held its first leadership retreat for new and veteran lead organizers. The daylong retreat was designed to share GOTB's best practices on community organizing: communicating the message and being able to speak about the actions; GOTB specific "how-to" tips, like how to organize bus transportation; and event planning. We're all volunteers -- some of us are full-time students, some of us work full-time and some from overseas! -- and much of the organizing work that goes into GOTB is done remotely via email and the web. This retreat was a unique opportunity for the GOTB organizing team to come together and build strong working relationships. 

Spice it Up!

Retreats are incredibly effective for team building and strategic planning, but they don't have to be boring. We bonded over homemade food and games that revealed little-known fun facts about ourselves! 

Step into the Driver's Seat

The GOTB retreat left us feeling refreshed and excited to "get on the bus" for another year. In fact, we were so inspired by each other that we plan to hold a retreat again for GOTB 2010. Consider yourselves invited. Contact gotbvolunteer_AT_amnesty133.org to volunteer or join the organizing team!

Movie showing at Brandeis: "No More Tears Sister"

Hello All,

I was asked to write for the blog in order to inform everyone about what is going on with the Brandeis Chapter in terms of getting ready for GOTB and hopefully to share some successful ways to get the word out about GOTB. And this just happens to be my first blog ever...so here goes!

In order to inform fellow students about the issues we are focusing on with GOTB and to get out the word about GOTB in general our chapter decided to hold a movie showing on one of the focus cases. Anna, the GOTB'09 Coordinator, helped us get our hands on a copy of the film "No More Tears Sister," which recounts the life of renowned human rights activist Dr. Rajani Thiranagama and her work for human rights in the midst of the conflict in Sri Lanka. Before the film we talked a bit about GOTB and this year's focus cases then played the video posted on www.gotb.org to show students exactly what this event is. We also had two letters for people to sign and send to the president of Sri Lanka, one demanding protection of civilians, the other demanding freedom for political prisoners.

In terms of logistics, it was very easy (not to mention free!) to get the rights to show the film publicly. If you want to show this movie with your group contact the GOTB Coordinator (gotb_AT_amnesty133.org) to get the film and then go to www.amdoc.org/outreach/events/register.php/ to register your group with American Documentary Inc. and then register the event.

Good luck!