Cross-Canada SOS Car Trip -- West Team Media Experience Sharing

The western leg of the Cross-Canada SOS car trip traveled 11,000 km across five provinces in 28 days, and received 64 media reports, raising public awareness and offering salvation to humankind.

The western leg of the cross-Canada SOS trip was focused on raising awareness about the escalating persecution of Falun Gong in China. The purpose was to let people know how urgent the situation is for innocent practitioners who are being systematically abused and tortured simply for their belief in Truth-Compassion-Tolerance.

Our efforts met with tremendous media response. Towns and cities in relatively remote areas previously did not have the opportunity to report on the persecution since there weren't any practitioners or Falun Dafa events in their local area, a criterion that many small papers have to meet. Our SOS trip provided the opportunity for many thousands of Canadians to learn the truth about the persecution, and position themselves well for the future.

With the Fa in our hearts we made every effort to place our media appointments as the top priority above our personal interests, in order to achieve the goal of maximum coverage during our trip. As a group, we had the heartfelt wish to let the greatest number of people know about Falun Dafa and benefit from Falun Dafa. With a busy travel schedule and a small team of just three practitioners, we knew the media could relay our message most widely.

As we traveled and talked with people, we stressed the universality of Falun Dafa to let people feel that this is something that people from all walks of life can practice-something that transcends all boundaries of race, religion, and culture. We also let people feel that this kind of persecution against innocent people simply for their beliefs is a persecution against human nature, not only something taking place in China.

At least half of the reporters we talked with really came to understand the persecution and Falun Dafa on a deeper level. Another 25 percent were definitely moved in their hearts. A few media offered to provide maximum print space or airtime to our story, realizing their role and ability to help in this capacity. The genuine offer to support Falun Gong is precious indeed.

We also found that many reporters in remote areas did not have any preconceived notions and seemed to want to report exactly what we told them, to the best of their ability.

We maintained a serene energy field to meet the media, and delivered our message calmly, rationally, and from the heart. We used a short exercise demonstration of 12 minutes standing and 6 minutes sitting to provide photo opportunities, and often the reporter would choose their preference. Each practitioner contributed uniquely, combining the efforts of Western and Chinese practitioners. The Western practitioner did most of the media contacting while the more veteran Chinese practitioners sent forth righteous thoughts during the interviews and shared their understanding and experiences with the reporter, which helped to augment the thorough clarification of the truth.

Due to the nature of our travels and the nature of media, sometimes our schedules did not match, therefore we learned to develop different ways to approach the media channels. We realized a few days into the trip that we needed to phone every media agency in the phonebook. Up until this time our support team had only arranged the major contacts with news releases prior to our arrival. But what about the many other media personnel from different walks of life? We could not pick and choose the people we spoke with, nor the places we stopped. By speaking with everyone, we received a lot of support, and many on-the-spot radio interviews, and unexpected reporting.

When a reporter claimed to be too busy to meet with us, we would offer to drop a package at their office, which often led to an on-the-spot interview. We carried a digital camera, a laptop computer, and a power converter that hooked into the cigarette lighter of our truck. This enabled us to run and charge equipment as we traveled. We could then offer to take the photos for the reporter and send them through e-mail along with the news release. This could provide a report for their newspaper on the spot.

We found many media really wanted to support our efforts to raise awareness to end the persecution. We had a few reporters who really went out of their way to take time to report on our SOS visit.

The many phone messages we left with the information about our trip, our message, and purpose helped to clarify the truth and pave the way for the next practitioners who might travel through. The collective improvement to the understanding of media in Canada was a significant effect of our SOS trip. Unfortunately, we did not have the insight to keep comprehensive records of the local media, nor of the contacts we made. This would be a really good idea for trips in the future, as this kind of information can lead to follow up work, and future positive news coverage.

When we had time, we dropped off packages at the Mayor's offices and books and exercise videos at the local libraries. Inside the towns and cities, we spent time in parks and libraries doing hongfa and raising awareness of Falun Gong in the communities.

We traveled with four large signs covering our truck, and handed out flyers everywhere we stopped. When eating, filling with gas, asking for directions, or staying in the campground, kindhearted Canadians were happy to learn the truth about Falun Dafa. And everywhere we stopped, there were the predestined people waiting to meet us, receive the information, and ask their long kept questions.

We saw so many things that could contribute to Fa-rectification and Fa-spreading during our trip. Using the resources we had, our understanding of the Fa, and our hearts, we put forth our best effort to maximally use this sacred time to do Fa-rectification across the heart of Canada. Concurrently around the world, fellow practitioners are elevating humankind and voicing the same message: SOS! Urgent: Rescue the Falun Gong Practitioners Persecuted in China.