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Day 5: June 19, 2009

Uncomfortable

Abdulaziz had a small plate with cookies at the end of our live event with DC. UNHCR brought some for the refugees, and our teacher friends wanted to include us in the snacking. Everyone from i-ACT, in chorus, said no thank you and please give to the children that were still crowding around our makeshift […]

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Day 4: June 18, 2009 Take Action

Day 4 Action: Text Clinton

Today, Thursday June 18, 2009, Secretary of State Clinton will be attending a special event for World Refugee Day in Washington D.C. with Angelina Jolie, Anderson Cooper, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Anontio Guterres. i-ACT will be bringing our friend Rahma from Chad, through video, to meet Secretary of State Clinton. You […]

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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 0: Preparations

Eric’s Hotel Journal

It’s 3:26 AM in N’Djamena right now. Today we went to the UNHCR building to submit our paperwork to get all of the stamps and signatures we need to legally travel to the eastern part of Chad. I don’t have anything really interesting to say right now. I’ve just been busy with working on testing […]

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Day 8: March 31 Take Action

Day 8 Action: Arab League & Get to Know your Senators

Urgent Action 1: The New York Times reported today that “Arab Leaders Unite Behind Bashir”, claiming that the ICC indictment against him is a violation of Sudan’s sovereignty. After spending the last 4 days talking to people who have suffered for 5 years or more as a direct result of this man’s government, news like […]

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Day 6: March 29

We Hope for Stronger, Not Weaker

It’s hard to see it when I am in front of them. When I return to our little compound at night and look through past slides, it becomes apparent. When I toggle between pictures from today and from last January of our friends here in camp Djabal, the difference is like night and day. The […]

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Day 5: March 28

YL’s journal (day 5)

Dear friends and family, I apologize for the short report today — we have an early start tomorrow morning to catch the kids as they go to school, so I should get some sleep to be as present as possible :) Today, we found four kids who we will be profiling over the next few […]

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Day 5: March 28

Old Friends

The thick layer of sand and smoke hangs in the air. My throat raw and scratchy from the days we have breathed in the Chadian air. Every visit has fallen at a different time of year: Jan, February, now March, June and August. And each one feels entirely different. I am parched and dry.  The […]

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Day 4: March 27

The lucky ones.

There are over a quarter of a million Darfuri people living as refugees in Eastern Chad.  About eighteen thousand of those live in camp Djabal.  Approximately sixty percent of them are what we in the US consider children.  What is sad to realize  is that these are the lucky children of Darfur.  They are only […]

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Day 3: March 26

YL’s journal (day 3)

Dear friends and family, Today we left N’djamena for Abeche. The day started with some drama at N’djamena airport, where we found that our luggage was way above the weight limit of 15kg per person. Mind you, it wasn’t that we brought a lot of extra items from home – just that with all that […]