Sorry for posting my journal entries late! Over the past few days I’ve posted entries for all days except day 9. Thanks for your support, and here’s my entry for day 10.
The past two weeks have given me a lot to digest. Nonetheless, I feel that I have gained a better grasp on the reality of the crisis in Darfur. Seeing and hearing from the people of Darfur through past i-ACT missions brought me closer to them than was possible through traditional channels, but meeting them, speaking with them and being with them has helped a great deal. “They are the same as us” is now a solid truth, not just a belief. “We are all family” is not just an ideal; it’s in the nature of things. The question of why we work on their behalf is no longer worth asking as there is simply no other way. As many truths can combine to form another truth, here are three truths:
“We are all family”, thus the people of Darfur and us are family.
“In a family, we love one another”, thus we should love the people of Darfur, and they us.
“When someone loves another, he gives selflessly for that other’s well-being”, together with the above, implies that we should give for the well-being of the people of Darfur.
From this mission, I know two things with certainty. One, the people of Darfur are surviving in refugee camps thanks to their resilience and the admirable efforts of humanitarians. But they are living very, very harshly. Two, the people of Darfur love their homeland and want to return as soon as there is peace. Thus, working for the well-being of the people of Darfur means working to improve their lives in the camps, and working to allow them to return home as soon as possible.
Please continue your own search for the reality of Darfur, and let your actions be guided naturally by what you know and feel. I hope what we have done through i-ACT will aid you, and I assure you that we are doing a lot to make it even easier.
Thanks to the many people who, through their own acts big and small, have allowed this mission to take place. Thanks to the people of Darfur for making me feel like family. I can report that love is alive and well everywhere I have been: in the most privileged parts of the world, as well as in the toughest places in the world.
3 replies on “Yuen-Lin’s Day 10 journal”
Hi Yuen-Lin,
Thanks for your journal entries, I did have a hard time locating them from day to day on the website for some reason and I hope others had the opportunity to read them as well as your words are very enlightening. The three of you as the i-ACT team on this mission have definitely accomplished something and you have brought us the reality of the conditions of the refugees and the reason for each of us to do whatever we can for our family in Darfur.
Hi Yuen-Lin,
You are so very right in all that you say. A family isn’t just someone directly related, such as your parents or your children. Every human being is family. We are all brothers and sisters in the eyes of whom ever your God may be. Without the love and support of family, we are nothing. This has been a very enlightening experience for me. All of the I-Act team has been wonderful, I can not wait until I can one day meet all of you. I only hope that I may be able to help the people in Darfur half as much as you have done (you have done sooo much). Be safe
Peace,
MaryAnn
Dear Teresa:
So very sorry about the journal entries, that you thought it was your fault when it was actually mine! Thank you for your kind words and encouragement.
Dear MaryAnn:
Thank you for your kind words and support throughout our trip. I also hope to meet you one day, and to continue working together. I think we are each doing our part, and just as family extends well beyond the immediate relatives, the i-ACT team extends well beyond the few of us. It includes you and everyone else who believes in family and friendship, has come to this issue out of basic empathy, and is taking action sincerely and in earnest.