This Sunday, you can help political prisoners all around the world. And unlike these folks, you don't even need to leave your house to do it! (© Tomasz Bidermann | Dreamstime)
Sundays are a great day for getting down to those tasks that you never have time for in the week. There's that art project that you wanted to start. And you're always talking about a different colour for your room. Hey! You could even clean your room? (Okay, too far, we know!)
Personally, we find that Sundays are an excellent time to catch up with friends and family. And sometimes we do this by writing to them. It honestly does make a difference to get beyond the memes and emojis to really tell someone about your life. Occasionally, it can even be a real lifesaver.
Like on this Sunday: Write For Rights Day.
You = Human Writes Activist
Write For Rights Day is a massive day of international activism. Organized by Amnesty International, it sees hundreds of thousands of people worldwide get together to write letters. Letters with a purpose.
To address the plight of political prisoners, or as Amnesty calls them, prisoners of conscience. These are people who have been jailed by their governments because of issues of politics, gender, lifestyle, religion, or beliefs. In all cases, they have been confined unfairly. But without popular support, their cases are easily ignored by their governments, as well as the rest of the world.
That's where you, Sunday warrior of the written word, step in.
How does it work?
Pick a prisoner to support. (Amnesty even has a list of many of them to choose from on their website.)
Then... start writing! The letter can be addressed to the prisoner to let them know that someone out there cares about them and their situation. Imagine how good it would feel to read such a letter if you were in that position!
The letter can also be addressed to the government that has imprisoned that person. Here you can tell them why you believe that this is an unfair situation—one that should be fixed ASAP!
Power in numbers
And why the day? You can absolutely write letters like this all year round. But by having one day where everyone focuses their words, it can create an avalanche of letters that really drive home the message of freedom.
And you know what? Write For Rights Day really works! Watch the video below for some examples of how people's lives have literally been saved by literal words.
Not bad for a Sunday's work, are we write?
