Amnesty is made up of great people ... like you and me

- by Chris Williams

I got the opportunity to go to a training for Amnesty last month (Thursday, November 21 - Saturday, November 23, 1996) at the International Secretariat (IS) of Amnesty International in London. The training was for members of Country Coordination Groups (cogroups) from different Amnesty Sections around the world.

I am a member of the Southern Africa cogroup Amnesty International USA. Cogroups members are "experts" on specific world regions human rights conditions, politics, culture, etc. I put expert in quotes because many of us are not really experts (or not yet at least).

The IS handles all of the research for the organization. There are Amnesty staff members at the IS called researchers who have a lot of interaction with cogroup members working on the same world regions.

The IS routinely has training for cogoup members. There are cogroup programs in many different sections of Amnesty (United Kingdom, Sierra Leone, Netherlands, Norway, France, Germany, Nigeria, Denmark, Sweden, Canada, etc.)

I was lucky enough to get to go to the last Coordinators Training Seminar this past November. I spent 3 days with 35 coordinators for mostly northwestern Europe. The training was pretty interesting and I got to meet the team at the IS that works on Southern Africa.

The best part of the trip was getting to meet the other coordinators. The people that you get the opportunity to meet in Amnesty are incredible. There are people from all over the world (well maybe from all over northwestern Europe) who are willing to dedicate their lives to the cause of human rights protection under the banner of Amnesty.

Spending time with other committed activists has proved to do what I did not think was possible. I came back to the USA more committed to Amnesty and human rights than I was before. I had thought that I was totally committed before so I found it interesting that I was even more galvanized that before.

Amnesty is not an organization, it is a movement. The movement is made up of incredible, amazing, dedicated, energetic, people who give their time, money, lives and hearts to the long, painful, frustrating, and sometimes rewarding struggle for human rights.

I get a great deal of satisfaction in working for human rights, even if I were to do it in a basement closet alone, but the opportunity to work in solidarity with thousands of others all around the world (almost) with people that are truly extraordinary is the greatest honor.