Stop Genocide NowKatie-Jay keeps i-ACT running on several levels. Much of her work entails coordinating partnerships with other grassroots organizations and implementing the campaigns developed by Gabriel and seeing through the details. She graduated from Portland State University with a BA in Sociology and a focus on Community Development. She has previously worked as a community organizer in Thailand, Guatemala, and with grassroots organizations across the United States.
Energized. Positive. I am ready for a new day after a full night’s rest. I checked my watch at 9am, but rolled back over, thinking to myself, today will be the last day to sleep in for a while, enjoy. Once up, I slip into my flip flops, and slowly walk towards Le Meridien for […]
Today is a hard day for me. We spent most of the day in the lobby of Le Meridien; waiting for our fixer, waiting for permits, waiting for the video to upload, lots of waiting. As a result, my jet lag has h it me harder than I have ever felt before. Usually there is […]
We haven’t heard from our fixer, and it’s about 3pm. UNHCR hasn’t called back and we have a new cell phone number so we are confined to our room, until someone calls with information about our permits. I’m nervous that we might get stuck in N’Djamena. Swedish European Union forces and small Chadian children share […]
Feels strange to be back in the same airport, headed back to the same city that I left by military plane last February. I guess that is expected however, the strange feeling, the surreal emotions; we really are going back. Most people would have processed that before we purchased the tickets, or even last night […]
I’m sitting at my dining room table walking through many of the same steps that I did prior to our last trip in January/February 2008: sending emails, writing the daily action items, scanning the news for the latest reports from both Chad and Sudan.And with each click of my mouse, and with each search I […]
Only weeks ago, we were enveloped into the eyes of Fatna (view video here) as she described bombs falling from the sky and bullets hounding her family of seven as she struggled to keep them together in their journey to safety. No food, no water, nothing but the clothes on their back. They now live […]
Update: Darfur refugees who have been waiting for three weeks at the border of Chad-Sudan are being relocated to existing refugee camps near Guereda. When we were last visiting our friends, Adam, Yakoub, and Fatne in Kounougo, there were 16,188 residents. Mile held 13,500. Together there is room for no more than 10,000 more of […]
Living on an island, it’s easy to forget that there is a world out there in need of our care and continued consideration. As part of the Dream for Darfur torch relay event in Honolulu, Camp Darfur was able to bring that sense of reality to the participants of the event, as well as many […]
The clouds roll in heavy over the ocean and reach the base with a scattered thunder. The sounds of Gabon, including drumming last night, are refreshing after the sounds of war. We are waiting for our flight to Paris, then to LA. For my sisters and brothers in Portland, I will be home on the […]
In all the chaos, I have forgotten to take my malaria pills a few times on this trip. But tonight, as we wait outside of the registration office, at the French Military Base lit by a single fluorescent bulb, I remember to take it. This is the worst the mosquitoes have been on the entire […]