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Reports from N'djamena

Night in N’D—waiting.

It is past 1am in the capital of Chad. There has only been sporadic fighting, since the sun went down. I assume and hope that fighters need the rest and will take it easy for the night. Another better hope is that the fighting is over, and the people of Chad will begin a peaceful […]

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Reports from N'djamena

Latest from Gabriel

It was a close one. Bullets flew over our heads and parts of the walls and objects around us came raining down on us. We were already lying on the ground because the attack on the hotel had started just a few minutes before, when we came running down from the third floor. We made […]

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Reports from N'djamena

Latest from N’D

We had some few minutes of quiet, but now there is an all out assault somewhere close in the direction of the Palace.  There are so many reports, all unconfirmed, of one side winning and then the other; there’s also been a report that the French are evacuating the President, but, as I said, we […]

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Reports from N'djamena

From Gabriel

We go through some quiet minutes, and it feels close to normal, but then, consistently, we get big bangs and non-stop gunfire that brings us back to the reality of N’Djamena. As I write this, a shell hit way too close to us, the kind of bang you feel on your skin. I start to […]

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Reports from N'djamena

From KTJ

That stray shelling was a little close for comfort. The hotel, and my heart, shook for a moment, the longest moment I have felt in a while. We hold up on the first floor of the Le Meridien waiting to hear word from the French military or the US Embassy who is closer to the […]

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Reports from N'djamena

Getting Louder and Closer.

The US Embassy has told me that they cannot come and get us, so we have to wait it out here.  The sounds and feel of fighting is louder and closer.  The walls and windows here shake, and we can feel the explosions. OK, fighting is right at the gate of the hotel.  We’re all […]

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Reports from N'djamena

It has started.

Fighting has broken out in Chad’s capital, N’Djamena.  We can hear and feel the explosions, since the Presidential Palace is very near.  I came out to the lobby to see what was happening this morning because we were getting phone calls with people talking in French or asking for someone that was not in our […]

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i-ACT 4: Jan 19 - 28, 2008 Reports from N'djamena

Chaos as Norm – we stay in Chad for at least one more day…and who knows.

Hello from N’Djamena: We made it safely out of Eastern Chad, right before violence and instability broke out; we could have been stuck there, since the road we last traveled was closed down the very next day. Our friends in the camps are not as lucky, with aid staff being relocated and services being stopped; […]

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Day 12: Jan 30, 2008

58 Days of i-ACT completed, and yet the work is just beginning.

G’s Journal—day 12 (and 11 and 10) I’m again writing from up in the air, flying over the Chadian desert on our way back to N’Djamena. Day 12 is the last day of our fourth i-ACT, but it is not the end of our “interactive-activism.” We have to see it with the energy of beginners. […]

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Day 9: Jan 27, 2008

10 + 2 = a chance to increase urgency more than 20%!

G’s Journal—Day 9 Our plan was 10 days of i-ACT, but today is day 9 already, and we still have three days left in camps before returning to N’Djamena on our way home. The last day will be in Camp Gaga, where little Leila lives. I haven’t asked the rest of the team, but I’m […]