Stop Genocide NowFor many refugees 2009 will be their 6th year living in a desperate situation where their tents cannot shield them from the sun, rain, or wind of the harsh desert landscape. It will be filled with months of struggling to make rations last. And long, hard days of waiting to see if the international community […]
Today is day 5 and I just finished doing some light yard-work at my Grandma’s house. I only worked for a half-hour, and didn’t do anything very intense. I managed OK, but toward the end I could tell that I wouldn’t be able to keep it up for much longer. I am thinking about all […]
“We have our own in the car,” we say, so that we don’t offend the women that want to give us water and snacks, after we have taken their stories. Of course, the real reason is because we have weak stomachs. Our friend Bouba, always the gentleman, drinks the water and gives thanks. He later […]
This poem combines many statements from conversations over the last several days, most all of these conversations ended with the people’s joy and hope that peace will come once al-Bashir pays for his crimes. At one point, at the women’s center, the room erupted with cheers when one woman spoke of prosecuting al-Bashir, and […]
Justice comes with a risk. Do the ones at risk have a say on whether the risk is worth taking? We have met women and men at camp Oure Cassoni that bring up justices as an essential part of their returning to a peaceful Darfur. They mention International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo by […]
“The women are really suffering here, more than other camps,” Bouba says to me as we walk past the second school being built by women. The sun is at high noon, and in a camp of 27,000 refugees, there are maybe 20 in sight. Ten children tagging behind us, hoping to get their picture taken, […]
clay kitchen walls covered with black smoke fire destroyed Cornoye four years pass by energy spent waiting for humanity to reach from our hearts compassion rising above consumed lives buying spending thinking of self reaching up and out towards colors rose turquoise forest and sky set across the sand of hopeless desolate lives dependent on […]
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 […]
Your messages of love and activism that we share with refugees often bring tears and smiles to the faces of our friends who have suffered for five years. It is your words and images that provide them with the essential human connection that gets lost in the isolated desert. Without your messages, they would lose […]
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 […]