❧❧❧ Whatever you can do or dream, you can BEGIN IT. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Goethe ❧❧❧
❧❧❧ You were born whole, not broken. Sandra Hammel ❧❧❧
Tonight Rachel Maddow's MSNBC show had a segment regarding Darfur
Spotlighting... Darfur Dream Team brings schools in Darfuri refugee camps together with schools outside Sudan ...................................................
................................................... The text below is from the website www.darfurdreamteam.org
Young people everywhere are more alike than different. They want a good education and opportunities for the future. Children in refugee camps who have survived the war in Darfur are no different. They dream of quality education and a chance to help rebuild their lives and homes.
When Tracy McGrady of the Houston Rockets heard about the massive challenges children from Darfur were facing in the refugee camps in Chad, he decided to see for himself. After spending days listening to the harrowing stories of young Darfuris in the refugee camps and their incredible thirst for a better education, he decided to act. When Tracy and his traveling companions from the Enough Project returned, they hatched the idea for the Darfur Dream Team's Sister Schools program linking American middle schools, high schools, colleges, and universities with schools in the Darfuri refugee camps. Tracy's Journey to the refugee camps in eastern Chad is chronicled in the movie 3 Points.
................................................... 3-points Documentary 1 hour Houston Rocket Tracy McGrady, c0-founder of Darfur Dream Team goes with John Prendergast to Darfuri refugee camp No More Empty Promises
Shade - refuge from the sun .................................................... .................................................... Uploaded by ilovemylifesblog ACT NOW FOR DARFUR QUIET RIOT FOR DARFUR Newport's Easton Beach, Memorial Blvd, Newport, RI 02840 Organizer: Sandra Hammel April 18, 2009 - 2:00 PM
Events like ours today are happening all over the United States during the month of April – Genocide Prevention Month (450 across the USA).
We are using our voices as our freedoms are intended – to speak of what matters to us. Martin Luther King said "In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
Today, we are here to honor our unmet friends of Darfur. The Darfuri people who are dead because of the genocide.
And we are here to honor those who are still surviving from the genocide in Sudan and neighboring Chad. Instead of focusing on numbers of the dead and raped, and the millions without their homes, we will hear the stories of only three families – doing what the numbers fail to do – make this personal.
In preparation for today, I have viewed many pictures and 10 videos on youtube of the SGN –Stop Genocide Now – team’s very recent trip in March through April to Djabal camp of Darfuri displaced people. I have been affected so by seeing the families, pictures showing to me what their lives are like and being able to feel in touch with them. I contrast my life’s problems with theirs. I put myself in their place and wonder could I ever keep up my spirits and manage to be friendly, hospitable and ever smile? They have absolutely not one convenience. Nothing. Only their human spirit and faith that someday this will all be over and they can return to their homes – or where their homes once were. That is all that they want.
Thank you for coming today for our fellow human beings who have had relatively little media attention. Our President repeatedly said during his campaign “This is a defining moment.” And he is right in many ways. President Obama has nearly been in office 100 days. This story is a defining issue because what we choose to do or not do - to help end genocide states by behavior our values, moral fortitude and character. In effect, we have spoken with our failing. Failing to do anything to halt the known 6 year genocide of unarmed Darfuri families. This situation is defining for our world leaders, who have at best, chosen rhetoric - leading to no useful action. In place of choosing political will, our leaders have chosen indifference. HUMANITY BEFORE POLITICS is on the t-shirts of 3 friends, Gabriel, Katie-Jay and Yuen-Lin of Stop Genocide Now, who spent 10 days in Djabal, a Darfuri refugee camp March 23 – April 1, 2009. Unless, our message is clear to our leaders it will be politics before humanity.
Elie Wiesel says "...to remain silent and indifferent is the greatest sin of all...
The collective indifference to this human disaster is numbing and stunning.
Genocide has never happened when there is space on our “To Do” list – making it more probable for us to add Prevention or Stopping Genocide to our list. The holocaust went on for 12 years. Many claimed they didn’t know. We know this time. This time we have an internet to connect grass roots efforts to organize and pressure our leaders to make plans and act to resolve this human disaster. But here we are after years of pressuring and the genocide is worse than ever. On March 4th the ICC put an arrest warrant out on Sudanese President Bashir for crimes associated with the genocide. And on March 4, Bashir immediately revoked the licenses of 16 humanitarian organizations that have been keeping the people alive in the camps. Bashir says that he will protect the people that he is murdering. Now the refugees have been cut off from potable water, food and medical attention for 46 days. Meningitis, cholera and diarrhea are spreading in the camps inside the Sudanese borders.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> No Potable Water and No Food since March 4, 2009 – making a genocide worse
Genocide by Starvation
While in Djabal, Carol Jordan an emergency and ICU respiratory care specialist explained what occurs during starvation and dehydration. Here is a part of that:
Hunger When food is not readily available, the body is thrown off balance, which results in weight loss from the digestion of body fat first, then muscle, then vital organs to keep the body alive. Extreme weight loss turns to malnutrition and becomes starvation. The body becomes lethargic and a helpless system is going to end in a painful death.
Malnourished children get a disease caused by protein deficiency. One of several signs of this is evident in the camp we are going to hear of today – reddish orange hair. I am only mentioning orange hair as one of several signs of this disease – the others are excruciating to hear.
Dehydration
A population of people living where water is scarce and contaminated tip over into dangerous intestinal infections easily.
An example of sudden life-threatening dehydration is cholera. A healthy adult can die from cholera in 2-6 hours because of the acute and massive diarrhea it causes. There is no effective vaccine and antibiotics do not act quickly enough.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The Darfuris that we are now going to honor are living at Djabal camp, just over the Sudanese border to the west in the country of Chad. I would like to mention some numbers here: eighteen thousand live in camp Djabal. Approximately sixty percent of them are what we in the U.S. consider children. It is not a full life these children live, but they are alive.
As bad as it is for them, it is much better than those Darfuris inside the Sudanese borders. Of course the Stop Genocide Now team that just returned from Chad was not allowed inside Sudan.
Dajhima’s story is her personal story of course, but it is a story that only changes with the names - as it is a story heard from most everyone in the camps.
The story of waking up to bombs falling on what used to be the place where friends would play. It is the story of trying to run as fast as you can, to get away, while choosing to either try to carry or leave behind your children. It is the story of finding out your father didn't make it.
On the day Dajhima retold her story she was attending yet another funeral in the camp - her daughter’s best friend’s mother.
Dajhima’s village was Aattacked during Ramadan 2004 Definition of Ramadan: RELIGIOUS OBSERVANCE. PARTICIPATING MUSLIMS DO NOT EAT OR DRINK ANYTHING FROM TRUE DAWN UNTIL SUNSET DURING THE NINTH MONTH OF THE ISLAMIC CALENDAR.
FASTING IS MEANT TO TEACH THE PERSON PATIENCE, SACRIFICE AND HUMILITY. DURING RAMAḌĀN, MUSLIMS ASK FORGIVENESS FOR PAST SINS, PRAY FOR GUIDANCE AND HELP IN REFRAINING FROM EVERYDAY EVILS, AND TRY TO PURIFY THEMSELVES THROUGH SELF-RESTRAINT AND GOOD DEEDS.
In the video from SGN’s visit to Dajhima’s tent recently you see they greet by shaking hands, smiling. They are met with Friendliness and Warmth. There is some laughter. It all felt so normal as a time of greeting as I watched it. Only this was in a residence with canvas over sticks on sandy ground not fit for farming. And the Darfuri people are farmers.
Katie-Jay tells that in person, Dajhima is one of those people who you instantly connect with. Her arms open, cheerfully waving her hands, clasping hers and repeating her daughters name, Khadija, with laughter in between. She repeats the regular greetings, As-salam-mu-a-lai-kum, Al-ham-du-lil-lah… all the while smiling.
Dajhima rushes to wrap her scarf around her and stand tall for the camera. Charismatic and honest, she recounts her story. Katie-Jay said she couldn’t help but grasp her hands and tell Dajhima how sorry she was for her losses. The many in Darfur, and Khadija’s best friend’s mother.
Share pictures of Dajhima and Khadija and the article “When the Extreme Becomes the Norm”
Taken from a video online, Dajhima explains her story in these her own words: When we were living in Sudan, we had so many things, like vegetables, fruit trees, and things we could prepare to eat. We could cultivate our land. Here is like a desert, nothing grows. Food that we are given is not enough. But there is nothing we can do, but wait for the monthly distribution.
Early in the morning, around 4:00 a.m., they started bombing us, and we had to leave all behind. During the attack, if you were strong - you can carry two of your children. But if not, they were left behind.
The helicopters were bombing from the sky. The janjaweed were riding their horses, and they would surround you and kill you.
During the running, so many people had fallen down. They were dead and injured. If you were holding your son’s hand and he escaped from you, there is no way to get him again because of the masses of people running. So many were injured and so many were killed.
My son Ibrahim and I were separated and it was eight days before I saw him again.
If they saw that you were wearing nice clothing, they would point the gun at you and tell you to remove it all.
They would take everything.
If they saw a girl that was about to be mature, they would take her away.
They killed my father and the son of another family member.
From my family-in-law, they killed six of their men.
There was no time to bury them. We had to run.
When we crossed to the border, some people from Chad helped us and gave us food.
After more than a month, the humanitarians came and brought us to this camp. Camp Djabal.
I thank God for everything. It is part of life.
We are still alive.
Sometimes it is very hard to feel the reality of what is really happening when in the United States. I think of the children in our families going through something like this. I see the pictures drawn by the children of blood dripping from their family members, their own government’s helicopters dropping bombs on their homes with blood drawn coming from them also, janjaweed pointing guns at their fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, grand parents, people forced to run over people already on the ground, fires being set to every house in their neighborhood, people laying dead and wounded with blood shown in the children’s drawing. While grateful that this isn't happening on our street, it is happening for Khadija, her mother, Dajhima and Ibrahim. Thinking of them as people just like you and me, Just like your children, Your loved ones - is chilling and sobering. Flower Petals At this time, to honor Dajhima’s father, son of another family member and six men from her family-in-law’s family and Khadija’s best friend’s mother - who are, each one, dead due to inhumanity:
Toss of flower petals in the ocean to the song: "Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child" sung by Kathleen Emery
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This was the 7th trip for the SGN team to go to Darfuri refugee camps and posting daily videos on their website, as well as on Youtube for all to see. They also have very telling pictures of which I was referring to in the previous story when I talked of the drawings of the children. The photos of these brightly colored drawings also included Big Hearts with the word FAITH on it and with the PEACE sign with two words HOPE and PEACE written. Children and families – no matter where they reside want HOPE, PEACE and use their FAITH to get them through adversity. And Genocide is the Ultimate Adversity.
twin boys Bashar and Bashir (were Hissein and Hassan)
The same boy above as below.
Above the year is 2008
Below is a picture from March 2009...
daughter Guisma and (daughter Marymouda died in 2008)
Guisa again
The entire family of Achta and Adef
son Abdelmouni (is pictured only in the family group picture above)
Adef, Gabriel of Stop Genocide Now, Achta and Guisma
March 31, 2009 – the Stop Genocide Now team met Adef and Achta's family in 2008
2) Raouda (12 years old) and Hassanya, her grandmother
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Adef and Achta – 4 children Guisma, daughter Bashar and Bashir, twins sons Abdelmouni, son
In the Youtube video of Day 6 , March 28th of this year, Adef and Achta, the parents greeted Gabriel with smiles and cheerfulness. Lovely and loving family. They shared news of another child dying - Marymouda, daughter died. She was sick for 2 weeks. When they took her to the clinic there was nothing they could do for her.
Another of their babies had died earlier of dehydration, while on his mother’s back on the way from their village to Djabal camp.
Their young daughter, Guisma, basically, was not smiling and laughing as she did last year, when her giggle was contagious and she would get her twin brothers rolling. Achta, their mom, said she had been sick too, but healed.
Share pictures of the family - on green paper
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On the March 31, Katie-Jay Scott of the SGN -Stop Genocide Now - team wrote about 12 year old Raouda and Hassanya, her grandmother.
It affected me immediately.
Katie-Jay wrote the following about them on the SGN website while there:
“I am feeling a bit overwhelmed tonight. I have been trying to think about what to write and how to write it for some hours now.
Tomorrow, we leave after six amazing days in this refugee camp. Six days that have given me the chance to understand and know more than a dozen children intimately. Each one has shared with me their story, and shown me their home. As I spent more time with them, especially the girls, their personalities began to replace their initial shy smiles. They loosened up, laughed more, skipped, danced, and cracked jokes in broken English.
I feel so connected to them and it makes me really, really sad to say goodbye to them. I will be able to send them messages soon. I know that I will be back in the future to see them in person. But it is really hard to say goodbye to such a community.
I was also sad because I realized that even in a refugee camp, disparity can be so severe. While following one young girl to her house after school, we walked through narrow paths littered with animal feces, plastic, straw, and other garbage
rather than the sand that guided us to Adef’s and Achta’s house. This was Raouda.
Raouda’s house was so sad. Mostly sticks, with a torn tent, no bed or extra clothes hanging like many of the others. This twelve year old lived just with her grandmother and when not in school, she took care of most all the chores: water, cooking, cleaning, firewood. She leaves at 6 a.m. and returns around 5 p.m., carrying all she can.
Many of the girls we worked with were excited to show us their humble dwellings and for us to meet their families. This particular refugee looked upon us with very sad eyes as she pointed to her home, cooking area, and resting place, all within only a few steps.
12 year old Raouda
Raouda and her grandmother, Hassanya at their home
The grandmother looked so fragile, and they literally had one mat, and a few plastic bins for storage. Other than that, nothing. At all.”
We moved on quickly to the next little compound, which had an earthen oven, several tukul dwellings (huts), a blackboard, and large, open area to store firewood and dried grass. Katie-Jay shared that even though she knew fundamentally that this difference exists everywhere – this disparity affected her greatly. -----------------------------------------------------
Residences contrasted:
In answering my questions, Katie-Jay shed more light on Raouda’s life in Djabal. Contrasting Adef and Achta’s residence to Raouda’s and her grandmother’s this is what she said:
Raouda and her grandmother have two structures that are within a few feet of one another. There is no outer fence to provide privacy and it looks like they are situated right at a path that splits into four small paths. The sitting hut is made of all sticks and provides a space that is out of the sun. Just between this and their main sleeping tent is a small pit for cooking over while squatting. The walls of their tent are a mix of torn tarp and sticks, while the roof is three layers of sticks - a ragged tent. They live in the most crowded part of Camp Djabal.
Many families have a little compound or area that is enclosed by partitions made of grass. This part of Chad is more "lush" (relative to the rest of Chad, not necessarily what we would think of as lush) and has grass and more sticks for people to use to build a fence for privacy and weave together walls to replace the torn and ragged tents. In other parts of Chad, Darfur refugees use water and the sand to make bricks for the fence or buildings. All of the structures are single room structures. Traditional ones are round tukuls, but now some are more square with sticks and grass as walls and then make a roof with tents and tarps.
Raouda: “ I don’t remember my village, only where it was. There is nothing there, now.” Raouda was 7 years old when they came to the camp.
Adef and his family live in the far opposite zone. They have much more space than Raouda and her grandmother, Hassanya. Adef and Achta have a straw fence that is about 5 feet tall that surrounds a large area for their home. They have two sitting structures, and when we visited them - there were a handful of men in one, and a handful of women resting in the other. They then have a tent structure for storage and sleeping which is blocked by a smaller fence, almost like a screen for privacy. This is also the area with their kitchen fire pit. They have a few benches and mats for sitting. Raouda and her grandmother offered a tarp for us to sit on. The zone where Adef and Achta live is much cleaner than Raouda’s zone. This may be because it simply has fewer people and more space.
Raouda’s mother lives in another area of the camp.
Her grandmother, Hassanya looked like she was in pretty bad shape when we met her. Limping and old. We didn’t ask her directly why she couldn’t or didn’t help. But it looked obvious that most her life was hard, and she is probably toward the end of it. She definitely didn’t look like she should be going out to gather firewood. (neither did Raouda, but her mother had her go live with her grandmother to care for her, so it is her role currently.)
They have been living at Djabal for 5 years. It took them 2 weeks to walk to Tine from their village and be taken by UNHCR (UN Refugee Agency) in trucks to Djabal.
Raouda is sad and lonely. She was serious when in school and interviewed on camera. She is introverted, but with other girls she seemed to enjoy herself. On the path walking to their place, KTJ said that they passed by girls her age and they smiled when seeing Raouda. Raouda was hospitable and kind.
She was the most serious, the most sad when at “home”.
The people either sleep on the sand, or on a bed frame made of sticks. The rain and wind come through the tents. The sticks provide protection from the sun and keep it cool. There is no electricity and wood is only used for cooking, so after dark most everyone is at home.
When it rains, there are large "wadis" or dry river beds that surround the camp and they flood. Many talk about how when it does rain, they just don't sleep because there are not enough sleeping beds off the floor. KTJ said: “ I am not sure about Raouda specifically, but they definitely sleep on the ground. They had tarps and sticks trying to make walls, but I am sure that the rain gets in.”
It is desert so it is very hot during the day, but cold at night. Like the deserts here. Keeping warm in the cold months may be an issue for Raouda and her grandmother, as they don't have much. Some people have been given blankets.
Cleaning: The UN Refugee Agency – UNHCR - when available gives out soap, each month on food distribution day. It's not much and many times they don't get it. Each refugee gets about 15 liters of water a day - that's for everything - washing clothes, cooking, drinking, sharing if needed - and that may not be accurate, it's just an estimate from UNHCR and water is definitely one of the things they say they don't have enough of.
I have always wondered how it is for them regarding having privacy to take care of their hygiene and “bathroom” needs.
KTJ: Some have a latrine area where there is a hole and a woven "screen" that provides some privacy. But there isn't much and I didn't see anything like this at Raouda's.
a kitchen
In answering my question about what they eat, I was referred to a video from their 6th trip – which was last year and this is what I saw. www.stopgenocidenow.org/iact/iact6/day9 People chattering outside a tent waiting for their names to be called. Inside they would receive rations to be scooped into their containers and dragged home. The team followed a mother, Husna who got the following for her family of five to live on for one month:
2.5 ounces of salt 6 cups of sugar 11 lbs of cereal 8 cups of oil 25 cups of yellow split peas 70 lbs of sorghum grain That is it.
When asked what they would be eating back home in their village farms in Darfur: Answer: tomatoes, millet, maize, okra, papaya
At the camp, some have a cooking hut. Raouda cooks over a hole in the ground.
When I asked if they gather communally and for what activities?
I was told:
They probably eat alone, but I was also told that Darfuris always tell stories about how they share their food when someone doesn't have enough.
And they get together for different ceremonies. There was one when SGN was there, but KTJ wasn’t sure what it was for. They mostly worship on their own. Drumming comes with the ceremonies and there is always singing at school! Always. And always about returning to Sudan.
When I asked: What can Raouda look forward to on a daily basis? Is there a highlight to her day?
Answer: “This is a really hard question. School. School is only thing they have to do.
Raouda expressed missing her home. Her dolls and a stuffed animal. She loved playing JAX. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stone Skipping At this time, I would like to ask you to skip your stone on the water – to set in motion our energy fields – as in quantum physics - sending out our energy of desire to make a difference for Darfuris – while sending the energy toward Sudan and Chad with the intention to replace the pain of genocide with positive change. Change - so needed and as quickly as possible.
Please join me in saying to our leaders and specifically to President Obama : “We are United States citizens and we are the voices for our Darfuri brothers and sisters. Please, Act Now for Darfur. Thank you President Obama for not remaining silent and indifferent.” Lighting of the candles Candles – symbolizing our light and voices being used for those in need of Darfur. Music: "This Little Light Of Mine" sung by Odetta
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter." Martin Luther King
Everyone signed the petition to President Obama. The petition was mailed to the Save Darfur Coalition in Washington, D.C., who will deliver them to The White House. The collective number of petition signatures will let the President know we are not silent.
Join the solidarity for Dafur at this site http://fastdarfur.org/ In Sudan - Extermination by Starvation and Dehydration is happening since March 4, 2009
Genocide will never stop without usbeing stewards of humanity.
............................................................ A wish for Darfuris "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" sung by Eva Cassidy Uploaded by stressbed
DARFUR is a western region in the country of SUDAN. The President, Omar al-Bashir, of Sudan is killing some people that he doesn't like, the Darfuri families. When you target a group of people because of who there are it is not only sick, we invented a word for it after World War II.The word is GENOCIDE.But Bashir says that he isn't murdering his people.But by accounts but his, he is. And there are Chinese companies in Sudan with oil rigsreaping their oil.And 70% of the money made by selling the Sudanese oil goes to buy the very weapons that are used to murder the people of Darfur and on the border of Sudan and Chad.
Recognizing liars isn't a difficult thing. But it does mean we have to face the truth. And sometimes we choose not to face the truth. Sad, very, very sad. And a disgrace. And it means once again that we never meant it when we said “NEVER AGAIN!”
DO or DIE.
WE DO. . .
or . . .THEY DIE. .................................................................................................................
WE = the average, common every day human being, living in our homes.
THEY = the average, common every day human beings, the Darfuri family members and some Chadian family members.
There's a GENOCIDE going on. But is your American free press reporting it?
Who cares?President Bush - after reading the report on the 100 day 1994 Rwandan genocide that President Clinton complicitly allowed to go on, while ignoring its grim story - wrote in the margins of the report
“Not On MY Watch”
Well, we know he didn’t mean it.Don’t we?
Does he mean ANYthing he says?
Rwanda went on for 100 days.Darfuri families having been living, or dying, in a state of “shock and awe” otherwise defined as genocide since 2004 – for over four years.Yes, four years and “not on MY watch” are just
empty
words.
In GW Bush’s second swearing to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States he uttered these words:
“All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors…”I think that is exactly what GW has done…ignored the Darfuri families’ oppression and excused their oppressors.
In the same speech just a couple paragraphs below he also said:
“The leaders of governments with long habits of control need to know: To serve your people you must learn to trust them. Start on this journey of progress and justice, and America will walk at your side.”How does he say his words without choking while he says them.
His words are noble.His actions are not.
He says a lot of things.He just doesn’t do many of them, but the senseless ones.
On December 9, 1948, in the shadow of the Holocaust and in no small part due to the tireless efforts of a Polish-Jewish lawyer named Raphael Lemkin, the United Nations approved the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. This convention establishes "genocide” as an international crime, which signatory nations “undertake to prevent and punish.” It defines genocide as:
Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL: THE DEFENDANTS
The defendants listen as the prosecution begins introducing documents at the International Military Tribunal trial of war criminals at Nuremberg. November 22, 1945.
On October 18, 1945, the chief prosecutors of the International Military Tribunal (IMT) read the indictments against 24 leading Nazi officials. The four charges brought against these officials were:
1. Conspiracy to commit crimes of peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity
2. Crimes against peace
3. War crimes
4. Crimes against humanity
At this link there are the sentences handed down to the defendants at the
This weekend, Saturday, but probably more on Sunday, there are events going on around the planet earth networked by average, common every day human beings who are leaving the comforts of their homes for people who have no homes, STANDING UP, walking, lying down at the Boston Commons DIE-INS, carrying posters with messages that Time Is Up - Darfur needs us to be what we claim to be. Decent human beings who have the moral conscience that we were born with.
I sent my final email out to my list of sign-ups and others that are on an email list regarding Darfur, but most of which I have never met.Here it is:
April 26, 2007 Last Email before the NewportDarfur Walk & Gathering
Dear Person of Conscience,
This email is going out to all people that have either signed up for Newport’s Darfur Walk & Gathering on www.savedarfur.org/globaldays or are on my original Darfur email list.I would like to send what will probably be my last email before the Walk & Gathering, this Saturday, April 28 at 3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.Rain or Shine.Let’s send positive thoughts out for the “Shine” option.I request that if you haven’t gone online to sign up, that you do so.This gives me a better sense of what to tell NBC, ABC and CBS when I call them again Saturday morning to see if they have chosen us for coverage that day on the news.It is important that Darfur gets in the news.If you go to www.beawitness.org and watch an extremely brief clip, you will see why it is important to me that this Darfur Walk & Gathering get in the news here in Rhode Island along side all the other events around the world.
Bring your digital cameras, take pictures and download them to me at________. I am looking for a few good pictures that capture the essence of our day to send in to have them posted alongside every other event on www.savedarfur.orgIf you are able Save Darfur asks us to put clips of the day up on www.youtube.comThis is our way of saying we’ve had enough silence and complicity on this human rights issue of genocide vs. living out a natural life.Cox Cable is willing to put up video of the day’s event on the public access channel.It needs to be in DVD form.Another great way to help be the media instead of waiting for the media to find this story and put it on the radar screen of what is note worthy.Real news and not the entertainment news that is too common.
This is the first time that the Save Darfur Coalition of Churches, organizations and small groups have networked and planned the Darfur movement in this way where we aren’t having one central city where we transport ourselves out of state and even have to stay overnight to participate in this grassroots quiet, but steadily growing swell of voices that are saying “NO MORE” Standing Idly By and being complicit in yet one more genocide.This is the first genocide that the citizens around the world are empowered by the networking available to us through the wonderful world of the web.Over 400 events in the USA are planned this week of Global Days for Darfur. And over 30 countries besides US are stepping up and taking our swing at being the voice of the people who have no voice in Darfur.
GOOD for US.And we must not let the momentum grind to an abrupt stop after Saturday.I just got off the phone of our weekly conference call with the Save Darfur office in Washington, D.C.And what I like about this activism this time is that we already have in place plans for two or three follow-up actions to take after Saturday and Sunday’s big events are over.I’ll be telling you all about these on Saturday.
Don’t stay home. Come. Bring your friends, children, family members, co-workers…I am so excited that we ARE going to have media coverage.This is one of the goals for this under-reported story that belongs on the front pages of responsible journalism.Not relegated to a Letter to the Editor or infrequent mentions over the four years that it has been allowed to deny our words of NEVER AGAIN.Overall, Rhode Island is apathetic about this issue.But you are not.And because there is so much disinterest and apathy, you are even more important than you think you are.
The Newport Daily News has committed two things:1) publish my Letter to the Editor, hopefully, April 28, Friday, otherwise, my text will be stale 2) they are sending a reporter and a staff photographer to our event.So, if you have a Darfur t-shirt, wear it.If you have a blue hat we suggest you wear it to signify UN Peacekeepers’ blue.Four women “who rule in my book” got together last evening for two intensely artful hours and made fabulous posters for you to carry and make our presence effective as we walk.I have various flyers that will need to be passed out not only to you, but to people we pass as we walk to Washington Square.This is an historic town and we are on an historic path to be the first citizens to insist that genocide’s termination is long over due.
We are a part of probably hundreds of thousands over the weekend around the world.We may not be a huge group, but we walk along side other “people of conscience” around the nation and around this planet that all want to see peace.We are given love to give it.
And please, when asked by a volunteer to sign the petitionto ask Fidelity to divest their holdings from Chinese Oil Companies in Sudan which in turn that money buys the Sudanese government’s military equipment (70% of Sudan’s budget goes to the military) to bomb and murder their own unarmed families in their homes - please, sign the petition.It IS ONE thing we can do with or without our government’s direct support and action.
Come, find that there are others in Rhode Island who care about the human disaster, genocide.
Thanks for being willing to “Stand Up & Stand Out” for Darfur.
Great news!Thanks to your work, 96 Senators are now signing the
Biden-Lugar Darfur letter to President Hu of China!
Here’s The Letter your elected politicians have been signing to pressure China to stop being supporters of President Omar al-Bashir and his government-supported genocide on unarmed families, while using rape as a tool of genocide.
April ___, 2006
President Hu Jintao
c/o Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong
Embassy of China
2300 Connecticut Avenue NW
Washington, DC20008
Dear President Hu:
We are writing to request your assistance on a matter of grave mutual concern requiring urgent action.
The devastating crisis in western Sudan has escalated despite UNSC Resolution 1706, and the subsequent agreement brokered by the United Nations late last year in Addis Ababa to establish a joint African Union-UN peacekeeping mission in Darfur.Simply put, the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS) has not had the troop level, financial resources, institutional capacity or mandate to protect civilians or humanitarian organizations in Darfur.The Government of Sudan has yet to formally agree to admit UN peacekeepers.In fact, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir recently sent a disturbing letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon in which he backed away from the Addis agreement to implement phases II and III, the heavy support package and a robust UN peacekeeping force. President al-Bashir’s stonewalling while civilians are raped and killed in Darfur is unacceptable.
The conflict waged by Sudanese government forces and government-backed Janjawid militias against armed rebel groups has driven more than 230,000 Darfuri refugees into Chad, and displaced more than 120,000 Chadians.Hundreds of thousands of Darfuri civilians have been killed and an estimated 2 million displaced in Darfur itself.The conflict has had particularly devastating consequences for women and children, who make up the vast majority of victims. Humanitarian operations have also been increasingly attacked and disrupted in recent months—leaving millions without access to the most basic assistance.
We appreciate the steps the international community and China have taken to confront war crimes and other egregious human rights violations in Darfur.Now, we urge China to do even more and to reassess one recent decision.Providing the Government of Sudan an interest-free loan to build a presidential palace clearly sends the wrong message to Khartoum.We hope that you will reconsider the loan and impress upon President al-Bashir the need to halt Sudan's military operations throughout Darfur, to withdraw Sudanese troops from the area, and to accept a robust AU/UN peacekeeping force in Darfur. These steps, at a minimum, are essential to enforce the ceasefire, protect civilians, ensure access to humanitarian assistance, and begin the path to reconstruction and reconciliation in Darfur.
As Members of the U.S. Congress, our primary objectives in this endeavor, and those of our constituents across the United States, are to protect civilians in Darfur, end the violence, find a just resolution to the political conflict, and begin the long path to reconstruction and reconciliation.
We must now work together as an international community; there is no time left to wait.We therefore appeal to you today to use your influence in words and in deeds to protect civilians.China has a lead role to play in insuring that President al-Bashir accept the best and most reasonable path to peace, move forward with the heavy support package, and the full contingent of UN peacekeepers and related personnel in Darfur.We would appreciate any information you can share on actions China intends to take to protect civilians in Darfur.
I love my life. I love where I live. And I am passionate about my passions. I love to dance. Necessary to live: music, piano, singing, writing, acting, painting.
I have been fighting for and supporting the arts all my adult life. Since 2004, I have been working with other activists to end the Darfur genocide.
I have traveled to Europe many times since my early twenties. Places I have been: many USA states including Hawaii, Montreal, Canada, Barbados, France, Spain, Luxembourg, England, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Greece and Germany - and have wonderful memories.
My last trip was in May - June 2013 to Spain.
I would like to travel to Europe and Kyoto, Japan.
I love the southwest where I have visited Hopi, Navajo, Zia and San Idlefonso potters.
Life is exciting and I intend to live it full-out to the end.
B.S. and M.M., both in music
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Khartoum, Sudan Stop Genocide Time
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Spain Time
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Melbourne Time
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Hawaii Time
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RAFA NADAL -BRING BACK LONG PANTS - SLEEVELESS TOPS
Double Click on Videos to Enlarge
Darfur - The Abandoned Genocide - a video by Sandra Hammel
Want to help? Call 1~800~GENOCIDE
"May I Suggest" by Susan Werner
Satchita - Playing for Change
Stand By Me ~ Playing for Change
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Genocide is not only a word,
it is crying of the whole human race.
There is nothing redeeming about being silent
when speaking up is the humane thing to do.
The honor and integrity of the human race is at stake.
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