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i-ACT soon to depart for Chad/Darfur border – Your Help Needed!

During this volatile time for Darfurians following the ICC indictment of President al-Bashir, i-ACT field team members Yuen-Lin Tan, Gabriel Stauring, and Katie-Jay Scott will depart for the Darfur refugee camps on March 21st – less than two weeks from now. We will be re-uniting with past friends and meeting new ones. Learning, first-hand, about the current situation and sharing the news with you through video web-casts, Darfur testimonies, blog posts and photos.

In order to do this we need your help. We need your help to purchase new tech equipment for the trip so that we can gather the best information in the highest quality. Your contribution will help us to spread the voices of Darfuris further than ever before. Your help will allow us to continue posting videos like Justice in Darfur.

We do realize that everyone is in a tight spot these days financially. Below you will see exactly what we need to purchase for the trip on March 21st. Every bit counts, and we will also accept in-kind donations. If you have unused memory cards that you can offer, we appreciate these too. We will be looking for discount options and deals whenever possible.

Your contribution will help build a global community that is real people and real voices. Thank you for considering contributing to i-ACT: Putting the Faces to the Numbers of Darfur.

2 Canon Powershot SD880 IS Digital Cameras: $598girl_with_boy.JPG
2 Canon HS11 HiDef Camcorders: $2,400
Zoom Field Recorder: $179
USB 2GB/4GB Memory Cards (for video, photo, and recorder) – $500

Total: $3,677

Donate NOW by paypal or credit card:

Thank you for your time and commitment to Darfur. We will keep you posted on our goal, so check back!

In-Kind Donations and Checks (made to Emerge Arts Projects Inc. with SGN in memo line) can be mailed to:
SGN
1732 Aviation Blvd #138
Redondo Beach, CA 90278

5 replies on “i-ACT soon to depart for Chad/Darfur border – Your Help Needed!”

Thank you so much Allison for your response.

Another friend found them for $860 each, so the price keeps going down! We were going with Best Buys price at the beginning and as I said in the entry, we will be going for the cheapest possible options so if you see others, please send them our way!

I am very sorry if you feel we have mislead you. We are in no way trying to squeeze money from our supporters. We usually do not even ask for money but this time we are on such a shoe string budget that we can not afford to purchase new equipment without help.

If we do reach our goals of $3,677 for this tech equipment and we find these items for cheaper and have left over money these are things we would spend the money on:

2-3 250GB SimpleTech Hard Drives
Satellite Phone (rental equipment)
Jump Drives to pass info between computers quickly in the field
VHF Wireless Mic System
BGAN Satellite Transmission (so we can upload the information same day)
Polaroid Camera and film (so refugees could keep a picture of their family – in the past they have really enjoyed this and we lost our last camera during the military coup in January 08)

Again, I am sorry that you feel we are misleading you and I promise in no way does any extra funding go towards i-ACT team members personal gain.

Oh gosh – now I feel horrible! I reworded it twice trying not to sound too snotty. Guess I didn’t hit the mark!

Thank you for taking the time to write such a thoughtful message back, it shows your level of dedication.

I pushed the donate button!

Dear Allison:

Thank you for pointing us to those less expensive cameras. I put in the numbers for that budget, and I was going for the ideal situation.

We would prefer a new camera and bought from a place that has good service for their goods and an even better return policy. Our equipment goes through some heavy, rough action out in the desert. At a place like BestBuy, they take them back and fix them or give you a new one.

We were actually looking at the HF11, which is a bit more expensive than the Vixia HS11. It was pricing, when I checked, at approximately $1,200 each.

Of course, we do not get the “ideal” on funding, and we usually don’t, we will go with what we can afford.

As a note, SGN is mostly volunteer, and at this point we are actually not funded. So please do not feel mislead. We use funding as wisely as possible, and many have had to sacrifice on the personal level to be a part of this team that is completely focused on doing what we can for the people of Darfur.

Please let me know if you have any good ideas on where to find better priced equipment. We are very open to ideas and suggestions.

Best,
Gabriel

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