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Day 3: June 17, 2009 Take Action

Day 3 Action: Tell Gration it’s Personal

For seven years we have advocated on every level for new policies, new pressure points, for carrots and sticks that may shift or create change on the ground in Darfur. Yet the situation has only gotten worse, not better. As US Special Envoy to Sudan, General J Scott Gration bears the responsibility to personally hold […]

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Day 3: June 17, 2009

Night and Day

At about 4:30am, I start to hear the roosters compete for loudest.  Then the donkeys follow with their heehawing, along with some confused horses jumping in to the fray.  I toss and turn for about an hour, on my foam mattress on the floor, trying to get just a few more minutes of rest before […]

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Day 3: June 17, 2009

Laughter

Since arriving in Goz Beida, the last two days have been a blur, more so than the five days of travel to get here.  My overwhelming impression is that for a group of people that have been displaced from their homes and forced to live in a refugee camp, the residents of Camp Djabal still […]

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Day 3: June 17, 2009

Eric’s Journal – Travel from N’Djamena to Abeche

Today we fly from N’Djamena to Abeche. On the small prop planes you are only allowed a total of 15 kg’s (33 lbs) of luggage per person, and that includes whatever personal bags you bring with you in the cabin. Four of us flying together = 60 kg’s (132 lbs)… we had closer to 160 […]

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Day 3: June 17, 2009

Sustainable Beauty

This environment is unforgiving. I have been in Chad during various seasons, and in June twice. This trip is one of the hottest I have experienced. An almost humid, but also dry heat that you just cannot escape or cool down from.  When there is a breeze, you almost always miss it for one reason […]

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Day 3: June 17, 2009

Pictures from Day 3

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Day 2: June 16, 2009 Take Action

Action Day 2: Courage to Spread the Word

During the Holocaust, there was a couple living in Germay who learned to the truth of what the Nazi regime was doing. For as long as they could, they left flyers in public places telling this truth. They didn’t know if it made a difference, but it was all they felt they could do. They […]

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Day 2: June 16, 2009

Dried Veins

As we fly from Abeche to Goz Beida, I begin to feel at ease; we are on our way and soon will be among old friends. This journey is now familiar. Out my window in the plane, trees grow near dry tributaries that stretch across the sand like the veins of a drying country. Small […]

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Day 2: June 16, 2009

At home at Djabal – ?

We arrived at camp Djabal at about 2:30pm, which is pretty late to be starting work at a refugee camp.  Djabal is a very convenient camp, though, because it is only about a 10 minute drive away from town.  The camp looked empty, since people get away from the heat and out of sight during […]

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Day 2: June 16, 2009

Pictures from Day 2