❧❧❧ 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 ❧❧❧
............................................................... Click hereto see in bigger screen size
This is a submission to the "Compassion Film Festival" in Newport, Rhode Island, screenings at the 494 seat Jane Pickens Theatre, April 8, 2011.
The Jane Pickens Theatre 49 Touro Street Newport, RI 02840 (401) 846-5252 Bus: Touro Near Side Clark
The Festival rules limited the video submissions to 5 minutes. Prizes will be awarded for the top 3 juried places and also an Audience Choice award chosen directly by the audience.
Unfortunately the lips and audio became out of snyc due to compression of uploading here at Vimeo. Fortunately, the DVD of this video is in sync.
I always put credits at the end and couldn't because of the limit I had to get my message across.
Here are more complete credits:
❧ Special thanks to ❧ Eric Reeves for Open Letter excerpts Mohamed Suleiman for Darfuri sayings Photos ~ Mia Farrow Gabriel Stauring Sandra Hammel ♫ Music ♫ Bridge Over Troubled Water Performed by Eva Cassidy Available at itunes Krista Powell Presented by Sandra Hammel
Genocide flourishes when there is no accountability. It has been flourishing in Darfur since February 2003.
One voice won’t stop a genocide, but that is no excuse to be silent.
Please, use your voice to call upon our leaders to do what is right about something that is very wrong.
Contact President Obama, Vice-President Joe Biden or First Lady Michelle Obama
Contact me if you would like a DVD of the above video.
............................................................... ............................................................... Was Scott Gration Good for the Darfur Peace Process?
............................................................... ............................................................... See more videos of Darfuri refugee camp Goz Amer taken March 23 - 31 +, 2011 stopgenocidenow
Learn more about the sister schools program for Darfur refugee camps at Darfur Dream Team
Photo credit Gabriel Stauring Goz Amer School Classroom in a refugee camp Proof that ~ Where there is a will there is a way.
Human nature often includes the denial of truth because we are uncomfortable with the truth. So we live with our lies. Suppress our knowledge of truth.
WE SHALL REMAIN on TV PBS' American Experience Five episodes about the indigenous people - the Native Americans
I finished watching all five episodes last night. It will be repeated on TV and you can watch full episodes online . I encourage you to watch. This is a part of our history that needs to be told. It needs to be integrated into our conscience. In my mind, it needs to be formally acknowledged by our government that we have repeatedly done wrong to the native peoples. The land now called the United States of America was stolen by the immigrants. Our government legalized criminal acts against the people named by the immigrants as Indians (so-named because the immigrants thought they had arrived in India).
As someone who has been watching the internally displaced Darfuri people forced to leave their homes by their own government, have their land stolen, and now - especially since March 4, 2009 - have starvation, dehydration and diseases become part of the way to kill off the Darfuri people, I see striking similarities of what the white immmigrants did to the people already here in the United States of America.
It is wrong what was done to the Indians. The one race of people that remains to be discriminated against in the USA that pretty much is not talked about is the discrimination of the Indians - the Native Americans.
The United States of America declared independence while robbing independence from the Native Americans. Not only robbing independence, but institutionalizing racism.
The "land of the free" was built from the land that wasn't theirs. Many people who are not engaged in the lives of the Native Americans choose not to see how the nation was started. Our past affects what we are today. The truth remains to set us truly free.
WHAT "WE" - "OUR" ANCESTORS DID - WAS NO DIFFERENT FROM WHAT IS BEING DONE TO THE DARFURI PEOPLE OF SUDAN BY THEIR GOVERNMENT for the past six years.
Treaty after treaty, promise after promise has been broken by the USA government with the Native Americans. This treatment continues today. Another related link: Native American First Nations History
It is time to acknowledge the truth. The United States of America will never be based on values until it formally acknowledges what it did to the Native peoples. Until we can accept what is wrong as wrong, mistreatment and injustice will continue.
Denying truth doesn't make truth less true.
“I was ready to do whatever it takes for change. I didn’t care. I had children, and for them I figured I could make a stand here.”
When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.
Charges He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences: For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies: For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
[Excised passagte on slavery] see Jefferson's draftHe has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating it's most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidels powers, is the warfare of the Christian king of Great Britain. He has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce determining to keep open a market where MEN should be bought and sold: and that this assemblage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, he is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them, by murdering the people upon whom he also obtruded them: thus paying off former crimes committed against the liberties of one people, with crimes which he urges them to commit against the lives of another. In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends. We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
The Facts about Darfur United Nations say 2.7 Million Darfuris are displaced internally in camps 300,000 more are displaced to camps outside of Sudan in bordering Chad
4.7 Million need humanitarian aid such as food, water and medical help
The number of dead has been between 300,000 and 400,000 for a few years, now.
When are you going to take the lead and do something about the Darfur crisis? We are counting on your word to actually take seriously the crisis. Are we wrong to count on your word?
We have been waiting for you to put humanity before politics. The people of Darfur have a far greater crisis than the most recent flu news frenzied reporting here in the USA. Your inaction is not only defining you and proving your lack of seriousness about the Darfuri situation, but it is defining me as a citizen of the USA. Don’t choose a stagnant approach to Darfur and Sudan. Be the leader we believed you would be. We who have worked for years in the grassroots network to prevent and stop genocide are losing faith in your good will and your words about Darfur.
We were among your strongest supporters during the campaign. We didn’t join your band of supporters because we were swept up with the crowds, but because we believed you were a man of your word and would do what it takes to respond in a timely manner regarding inhumanity of such a dire story.
"A big lie."
That's what Sudan's ambassador to the United Nations calls a U.N. report that there are "over one million people at life-threatening risk" due to the government of Sudan's decision to expel aid groups.
With a million Darfuris without food and water since March 4, 2009 and many at the mercy of diseases spreading through the huge IDP populations, time is running out not only for the unarmed civilian Darfuri refugees, but time is running out for our respect of you on this important issue.
Genocide by starvation, diseases and other "passive" means have been done before. It was done on the North American continent to the indigenous people: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/weshallremain/
Now it is being done to the Darfuris.
When are you thinking it would be beneficial to actually act for those living without water and food for two months? When they are dead it will only matter in history texts because when you could have done something to save them, you were too busy to act. Surely, not too uncaring.
I have written four previous letters to you about Darfur. And in each letter, I have been less and less formal and more and more expressive about my anger at your failing to show us you are going to be different than President George W Bush about Darfur. In his first term, after reading the report on the Rwandan genocide, he wrote in the report’s margin “Not on my watch.” And indeed it did happen on his watch. Will it be different with you? Or more of the same? “We can’t say ‘Never again’ and then allow it to happen again…when you see a genocide…that’s a stain on all our us.” I believe that. And you, Mr. Obama, said that.
Genocide will never stop without us being stewards of humanity. In Sudan, extermination by starvation, dehydration and diseases - which come because of the weakened bodies due to lack of water and food- is happening right now in Sudan and since March 4, 2009. We are all the keepers of justice. In Sudan, there is an emergency in which human beings are dying to have their stories heard. Silence kills in its complicity to killing by treachery. Our silence and indifference are just as necessary to genocide continuing as having genocidaire perpetrators and weapons.
“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” Martin Luther King
We are watching you and your representatives be less than effective regarding our Darfuri brothers and sisters. We are the ones we have been waiting for and we are doing our part. You are the leader we thought would do the right things to help end this crisis of the human race – the most defining issue on three levels: 1) the perpetrators, 2) the ones who stand by and allow the perpetrators to carry on without accountability and 3) the human beings being victimized, rendered unimportant enough for others to act on behalf of justice and what are the right responses. Is this the human race you want to be a part of? Not me. I want to be a part of a human race that is on the side of truth and justice. And we are all a part of genocide until it doesn’t happen anymore. Matthew 25:34-45. (From verse 45: I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.)
From http://www.mandatedarfur.org/en/introduction.php "Two imminent political events could undermine the unity of the country and worsen the crisis: national elections in 2009 and the referendum on self-determination of the South in 2011. If Sudan's situation further deteriorates, peace throughout the region (from the Horn of Africa as far as Nigeria to the west), will be at risk. The scale of humanitarian crisis will be beyond the capacity of the international community to manage. Any solution must begin with a resolution of the conflict in Darfur."
Don’t let the hope die around you regarding Sudan. Thank you for not remaining silent and indifferent for the Darfuri people.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You can write to President Obama
The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500
If Sudan's situation further deteriorates, peace throughout the region (from the Horn of Africa as far as Nigeria to the west), will be at risk.
The scale of humanitarian crisis will be beyond the capacity of the international community to manage. Any solution must begin with a resolution of the conflict in Darfur.
```````````````````````````` Check out Mia Farrow's Fast for Darfur
There have been times in my life I have been lifted by what human beings do. Moments when witnessing others being human in most glorious and radiant ways.
It usually has to do with the human spirit shining or something to do with creativity in the arts.
Here is the human spirit being terrific... human beings sending their energy out which in turn creates for us a positive response and a sense of joy and gratitude to be a part of the human race illustrated here....
.................................................... The Sound of Music Central Station Antwerp, Belgium
More than 200 dancers were performing their version of "Do Re Mi", in the Central Station of Antwerp. with just 2 rehearsals they created this amazing stunt! Those 4 fantastic minutes started the 23 of March 2009, 8:00 AM. It is a promotion stunt for a Belgian television program, where they are looking for someone to play the leading role, in the musical of The Sound of Music. Uploaded by saihttam1988 If you click on the little rectangle shape in the lower right corner (to the left of the little rectangle with the arrow pointing upward) of the youtube video, the video will become as big as your computer screen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Darfur and Genocide
There are three actions highlighted in the Mother's Day Issue. In light of Carmen's recent post about "Hey tell Barack about Darfur" you all might want to engage your communities the first action! Here's a glimpse:
Mother's Day is a day we honor the mother's, especially our own mothers, for their love and devotion to their children, and in many cases to the community around them. For the past six years the mothers of Darfur have struggled to remain strong in the face of violence, towards them and their families. Many have survived and many others have died. Many have lost children, and many carried children on their backs across the desert with little to no food or water. Today, as the situation worsens, they face death by starvation and disease.
This Mother's Day, take action to honor the mothers of Darfur, and keep consistent and public pressure on the administration:
1. Families: write an open Mother's Day Card to Michelle Obama. When describing herself, she says, first and foremost, she is Malia and Sasha's mom. The mothers of Darfur need our support, and Mother's Day is the perfect day to honor their strength and advocate for their freedom to live their lives in peace.
Send a copy to the editor of your local paper and ask them to publish it, and one to the First Lady. If you want the card to go to a mother of Darfur, send the original to Stop Genocide Now. Here are a few examples for cards and open letters.
Addresses: First Lady Michelle Obama The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington DC 20500
Stop Genocide Now - The Mothers of Darfur 1732 Aviation Blvd #138 Redondo Beach, CA 90277
2. Mothers, sisters, daughters: In solidarity with Darfur survivors, read one or more entries from the collection One Voice: Testimonies of Darfurian Mothersat your place of worship or Mother's Day celebration, with your family, or perform it on a street corner.
3. Everyone: On Mother's Day participate in a global day of Fasting - water only or refugee rations.
.................................................... Uploaded by ilovemylifesblog Double click the video and see the video in High Quality at Youtube where you can benefit by clicking on HQ for High Quality (HQ is found in the lower right corner of the Youtube video).
Or if you want to remain here: You can click on the little rectangle shape in the lower right corner (to the left of the little rectangle with the arrow pointing upward) of the youtube video and the video will become as large as your computer screen.
Genocide by starvation, diseases and other "passive" means have been done before. It was done on the North American continent to the indigenous people: pbs.org - American Experience - We Shall Remain
Now it is being done to the Darfuris.
"A big lie."
That's what Sudan's ambassador to the United Nations calls a U.N. report that there are "over 1 million people at life-threatening risk" due to the government of Sudan's decision to expel aid groups.
The refugees in Sudan have been cut off from potable water, food and medical attention since March 4, 2009. Meningitis, cholera and diarrhea are spreading in the camps inside the Sudanese borders.
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. Fast for Darfur: fastdarfur.org
.................................................... Uploaded by iACTivism A school in camp Djabal in Chad where the Darfuri students share songs from their homeland. If you click on the little rectangle shape in the lower right corner (to the left of the little rectangle with the arrow pointing upward) of the youtube video, the video will become as big as your computer screen.
To join Darfur Fast for Life for one day or more, send an e-mail to join@fastdarfur.org with your name, date(s) fasting, hometown, and form of fasting you will participate in (water only or refugee rations). Please be sure to check with your doctor, if you intend on doing any extended form of fasting.
Water only fast
In this fast only water is consumed.
Refugee rations fast
Cracked Wheat- Daily, 7 oz. (weight not volume) (686 Calories) Farina Wheat Cereal - Daily - 1.17 oz (weight not volume) (123 Calories) Yellow Split Peas - Daily 1/6 Cup (82 Calories) Oil - Daily 2.4 TSPNs (96 Calories) Sugar - Daily 2 TSPNs (30 Calories) Salt - Daily 1/10 Teaspoon per day.
Total of 1,017 Calories
People Fasting in Solidarity are listed at fastdarfur.org
Darfur Fast for Life was created so that you and many more around the world can participate in saying no to the status quo on Darfur. Mia will be blogging here and at MiaFarrow.org. Others will join by participating in water-only and/or “refugee rations” fasts to bring attention to the immediate humanitarian crisis in Darfur created by the expulsion of aid organizations by the government of Sudan. Darfur Fast for Life demands from our leaders around the world to be ambitious and work on creating lasting peace in Sudan and guaranteeing the respect for the human rights of all.Darfur Fast for Life
..................................................... Larry King talks with Mia Farrow, about why she is going on a hunger strike in efforts to raise awareness about Darfur. April 28, 2009 Uploaded bydingerses
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Write to President Obama http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ Tell him we need his leadership for the short and long run on the issue of genocide and the 6 year old genocide on the unarmed Darfuri civilians, families.
President Obama can be called: 202-456-1111 or 1-800-GENOCIDE
As I was taking a moment's break from my aerobic exercise tonight, I picked up a book to read from the bookshelves beside my contraption. The book was Listen to Love - a collection of poems and excerpts. But in between the pages I found a newspaper clipping, yellowed with jagged edges - the paper, Boston Herald Traveler, Monday August 3, 1970. It was a letter in the Dear Ann Landers column.
Dear Ann Landers,
This is an answer to the reader from Port Jervis, New York, who wrote about a friend who committed suicide. Last December a pal of mine killed himself. Another friend attempted suicide three times in the past 14 months. I tried to take my own life a few years ago.
We all had promising futures and financial security, but we lacked one thing - the ability to relate to others. I stopped wanting to kill myself when I realized my death would make a difference. That somebody really cared.
If people want to help, they can. Here are a few things everyone can do: Smile more - even to people you don't know. Touch people. Look them in the eye. Let them know you are aware they exist. Be concerned about those you work with. Listen when they speak to you. Spend an extra minute. If someone has a problem, let him tell you about it. Sometimes just listening means more than you'll ever know.
To those who are in a depression say this: "Everybody has highs and lows. Nobody is on top of the world all the time. You'll crawl back up again if you give yourself a chance. Tomorrow will be better."
You could save a life without realizing it by letting a depressed person know he has value. He counts. Somebody cares. I care. - Age 27
It takes so little to be kind. It costs us nothing. It makes you better and it certainly brightens others' day. The energy we put out to the universe can be positive or negative. I tend to think no energy we put out is neutral. We affect those around us as we are affected by others who we see or hear in passing.
Take a moment to consider how much richer you would be to be kind throughout your day. Be kind to yourself. Be kind to others. And then at the end of the day - consider how that kindness was better than negative, angry or cold thoughts or words that you could have chosen to put out in the world.
Recently, I notice how nice it is to actually call a business and talk to a live person, not some automated voice on the other end. And then have the person, be kind, take their time with me and actually listen to my questions and attempt to directly answer my questions. And also to walk into a local business and be treated with respect and get thoughtful help.
Maybe, feeling alienated by all the technology that has no person, texting as on Twitter, automated "assistance" or told to go to a website and go to "frequently asked questions" to hunt for the one question I have - all this makes person-to-person kindness seem rare. When calling a business, I halfway expect to get "automated" people and am surprised when a real person "appears". It is really nice.
Being human is more pleasant when actual people are, well, human.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Part Three
Round 2 match with Seppi photos Photo credits: Unsure but possibly REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi, Julian Finney/Getty Images and AP Photo/Carlo Baroncini, CBS Sportsline and from internazionalibnlditalia.it
....................................................... A typical Fantastic point by Rafa and the ending of the match today in Rome Round 2 with Seppi Uploaded by NadalPower
A note about the photo credits: I retrieved the Rafa pictures at a site that didn't credit the photographers. I did see some of the same pictures other places and these names were given for sources for those pictures: REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi, Julian Finney/Getty Images, and AP Photo/Carlo Baroncini, CBS Sportsline, internazionalibnlditalia.it website.
To join Darfur Fast for Life for one day or more, send an e-mail to join@fastdarfur.org with your name, date(s) fasting, hometown, and form of fasting you will participate in (water only or refugee rations). Please be sure to check with your doctor, if you intend on doing any extended form of fasting.
Water only fast
In this fast only water is consumed.
Refugee rations fast
Cracked Wheat- Daily, 7 oz. (weight not volume) (686 Calories) Farina Wheat Cereal - Daily - 1.17 oz (weight not volume) (123 Calories) Yellow Split Peas - Daily 1/6 Cup (82 Calories) Oil - Daily 2.4 TSPNs (96 Calories) Sugar - Daily 2 TSPNs (30 Calories) Salt - Daily 1/10 Teaspoon per day.
Total of 1,017 Calories
People Fasting in Solidarity are listed at fastdarfur.org
Activist-actress Mia Farrow will began an extended hunger strike in solidarity with the people of Darfur on April 27, 2009. She intends to continue this water-only fast for 21 days. Darfur Fast for Life was created so that you and many more around the world can participate in saying no to the status quo on Darfur. Mia will be blogging here and at MiaFarrow.org. Others will join by participating in water-only and/or “refugee rations” fasts to bring attention to the immediate humanitarian crisis in Darfur created by the expulsion of aid organizations by the government of Sudan. Darfur Fast for Life demands from our leaders around the world to be ambitious and work on creating lasting peace in Sudan and guaranteeing the respect for the human rights of all.
We fast in solidarity with the people of Darfur because they do not have a choice. We fast as a personal expression of outrage at a world that has allowed the suffering of millions of innocent people. We fast because as we simply watched, Darfur’s defenseless people were forced into wretched camps where today they are facing starvation and disease. We fast because those in positions of authority who know what is right and just, could and should do more to alleviate their suffering and bring peace, protection, and justice to the people of Sudan.
We fast for Darfur’s courageous people —because we yearn for a world where human rights are respected and a life of dignity is the legacy for every man, woman and child.
Our Act Now for Darfur event in Rhode Island - April 18, 2009 .... Quiet Riot for Darfuri Families ....................................................
Text from the Youtube from Quiet Riot for Darfuri Families: Music Selections: "Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child" ~ sung by Kathleen Emery "This Little Light of Mine" ~ sung by Odetta
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. Sudanese President Bashir says that he will protect the people that he is murdering.
The refugees in Sudan have been cut off from potable water, food and medical attention since March 4, 2009. Meningitis, cholera and diarrhea are spreading in the camps inside the Sudanese borders.
President Obama repeatedly said during his campaign "This is a defining moment". This story is a defining issue because of what we choose to do or not do. If effect, we have spoken with our failing. In place of choosing political will, our leaders have chosen indifference. HUMANITY BEFORE POLITICS is on the t-shirts of StopGenocideNow.org -unless, our message is clear to our leaders it will be politics before humanity.
MALNUTRITION 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.
With extreme malnutrition comes starvation. The skin hangs on the body, the facial contours change with temple wasting as a giveaway sign. Hair begins to lose pigment, thin, and then fall out. The person becomes so weak that appetite is radically diminished: the effort to eat and the energy needed to digest exceed bodily strength. Lethargy, apathy and onset of opportunistic diseases (bacterial, parasitic) besiege the helpless system.
In open circumstances, such as starving populations, disease usually kills first.
Kwashiorkor is a disease of children caused by protein deficiency in malnutrition. Signs of this are orange hair, swollen bellies from liver disease, vomiting, diarrhea (which contains undigested food), ulcerated peeling skin and sloughing of tissue/development of ulcers throughout the digestive tract. Extreme pain is present. The ulcers are entry points for bacteria and death usually occurs from overwhelming infection.
THIRST AND DEHYDRATION Thirst drives a person to consume fluids of all types and juicy foods to make up the deficit.Unless fluid intake is successful, signs of dehydration occur, the most obvious of which is tenting. Gently pinching up a bit of flesh on the back of the hand creates a small tent which should fill and sink back if all is well. If there is dehydration, the tent stays up.
Sudden life-threatening dehydration brings on 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.
We honored three familes at QUIET RIOT FOR DARFURI FAMILIES
Raouda (12 years old) and Hassanya, her grandmother
Adef and Achta and their 4 children A family that the SGN team had made friends on their trip June 15, 2008 and again this trip in March 2009: Guisma, daughter Bashar and Bashir, twins sons Abdelmouni, son
Dajhima - Mother Khadija Daughter Ibrahim Son
As bad as it is for these families, it is much better than for those Darfuris inside the Sudanese borders.
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.
Pictures in ilovemylifesblog's video are from camp Djabal, a Darfuri refugee camp visited March 23 - April 1, 2009 by the Stop Genocide Now iAct team. I have obtained permission from Gabriel Stauring, the founder of Stop Genocide Now, for use of the pictures. The other pictures are mine and of Newport (also known as Eastons) Beach, Newport, Rhode Island on the Atlantic Ocean on April 18, 2009 at our event.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ March 4, 2009, the Sudanese government decided to expel 13 international humanitarian aid groups from working in and around Darfur.
These are the consequences...
According to a joint UN-Sudanese humanitarian assessment team, around May 1st we will see a sharp drop in the health and well-being of people living throughout the Darfur crisis region. Emergency food rations will run out. Clean water, an already rare commodity, will become even scarcer. And to top it off, a "rainy season" will render on-the-ground movement extremely difficult, escalating the risk of disease and danger to children and the elderly.
Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates match point and 6-2,7-6 victory against Andy Murray of Great Britain in the semi final match during day 6 of the ATP Masters Series at the Monte Carlo Country Club on April 18, 2009 in Monte Carlo,Monaco. Photo credit: Michael Steele/Getty Images
Rafael Nadal of Spain in the final match against Novak Djokovic of Serbia during day seven of the ATP Masters Series at the Monte Carlo Country Club on April 19, 2009 in Monte Carlo,Monaco. Photo credit: Michael Steele/Getty Images
Rafael Nadal of Spain in the final match against Novak Djokovic of Serbia during day seven of the ATP Masters Series at the Monte Carlo Country Club on April 19, 2009 in Monte Carlo,Monaco. Photo credit: Michael Steele/Getty Images
Rafael Nadal (l) of Spain holds the winners trophy alongside Prince Albert II of Monaco (r) after his 6-3,2-6,6-1 victory in the final match against Novak Djokovic of Serbia during day seven of the ATP Masters Series at the Monte Carlo Country Club on April 19, 2009 in Monte Carlo,Monaco. Photo credit: Michael Steele/Getty Images
Rafael Nadal of Spain celebrates a point on his way to a 6-2,7-6 victory against Andy Murray of Great Britain in the semi final match during day 6 of the ATP Masters Series at the Monte Carlo Country Club on April 18, 2009 in Monte Carlo,Monaco. Photo credit: Michael Steele/Getty Images
Rafael Nadal of Spain in the final match against Novak Djokovic of Serbia during day seven of the ATP Masters Series at the Monte Carlo Country Club on April 19, 2009 in Monte Carlo,Monaco. Photo credit: Michael Steele/Getty Images
Monte Carlo Rd 2 Rafa d Juan Ignacio Chela ~ April 15 ~ 6-2, 6-3 Rd 3 Rafa d Nicloas Lapentti ~ April 17 ~ 6-3, 6-0 QF Rafa d Ivan Ljubicic ~ April 17 ~ 6-3, 6-3 SF Rafa d Andy Murray ~ April 18 ~ 6-2, 7-6(4) Final Rafa d Novak Djokovic 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 Fifth straight year Rafa won Singles at Monte Carlo Last year he also won the doubles
Rafael Nadal (l) of Spain poses with the winners trophy after his 6-3,2-6,6-1 victory in the final match against Novak Djokovic (r) of Serbia during day seven of the ATP Masters Series at the Monte Carlo Country Club on April 19, 2009 in Monte Carlo,Monaco. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images
Rafael Nadal of Spain on his way back to the players lounge after attending a press conference on day 1 of the ATP 500 World Tour Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell 2009 tennis tournament at the Real Club de Tenis on April 20, 2009 in Barcelona, Spain.
Photo credit: Jasper Juinen/Getty Images Europe
Barcelona ~ Rafa did it again Rd 2 Rafa d Frederico Gil ~ 6-2, 6-2Rd 3 Rafa d Christophe Rochus ~ 6-2, 6-0QF Nalbandian withdrewSF Rafa d Nikolay Davydenko ~ 6-3, 6-2Final Rafa d David Ferrer ~ 6-2, 7-5
Link to pictures of Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell 2009
Former tennis great Manolo Santana (L) holds a racket used by him in the year he won the Wimbledon Championships flanked by Rafael Nadal during a promotional event for Nadal's foundation on day 2 of the ATP 500 World Tour Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell 2009 tennis tournament at the Real Club de Tenis on April 21, 2009 in Barcelona, Spain. Photo credit: Jasper Juinen/Getty Images
Rafael Nadal of Spain heads the ball during a training session on day 2 of the ATP 500 World Tour Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell 2009 tennis tournament at the Real Club de Tenis on April 21, 2009 in Barcelona, Spain. Photo credit: Jasper Juinen/Getty Images
Link to pictures - Day 3 ~ Rafael Nadal vs. Frederico Gil of Portugalat the ATP 500 World Tour Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell 2009 tennis tournament at the Real Club de Tenis on April 22, 2009 in Barcelona, Spain. Nadal won the match in two sets, 6-2 and 6-2.
Link to pictures of Rafael Nadal vs. Nikolay Davydenko of Russia during his semi-final match on day 6 of the ATP 500 World Tour Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell 2009 tennis tournament at the Real Club de Tenis on April 25, 2009 in Barcelona, Spain. Nadal won the match in two sets, 6-3 and 6-2.
Rafael Nadal of Spain returns a shot against Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia during day 6 of the Sony Ericsson Open at the Crandon Park Tennis Center on March 28, 2009 in Key Biscayne, Florida ~ Miami. Photo credit: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images Link to more pictures in Miami.
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.
Photo credit Gabriel Stauring
