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Day 8: Jan 26, 2008

From Concept to Reality

Yesterday we went to out to the UNHCR sub office Goz Beida which oversees to camps Djabal and Goz Amer. Djabal is home to about 15,500 Refugees Goz Amer is home to about 20,000 Refugees Plus there about 120,000 IDP’s or Internally Displaced Persons Eastern Chad refugee camp populations If you’re like me you’re probably […]

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Day 8: Jan 26, 2008

Eagerness? Lack of Patience?

Day 8 From the sky above, I can barely see the dried up wadi, instead I follow the trees and green shrubs of its watershed and tributaries as we leave Goz Beida heading to Abeche, then off to Gaga and Farchana. We pass a massive flood plain with splinter-like rows of green extending across the […]

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Day 2: Jan 20, 2008

Night Sounds in Guereda

G’s Journal – Day 2 Tonight it was not only the dogs making noise. Earlier this evening, as I was editing Day 2, a series of loud gunshots clapped hard against the dark sky, as if I was hearing them in a small empty room. It must have been five at first. Some more were […]

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Before i-ACT

Small town to smaller village almost to a camp

The streets are empty as we travel to UNHCR in Abeche to drop off extra luggage and then to the airport. We are the first ones this morning – and a good thing since we have a tad too much weight still! Government soldiers rolling up their mats and gathering at various gates around the […]

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Before i-ACT

13 stamps, 48 hours, and an Interview!

Man, I wish I had brought a French dictionary! Slowly its all coming back to me – all 5 years of reading and writing with very little speaking of French still gets puts me in situations of “Je ne comprends pas ou Je ne sais pas!” But as I hear more and more, I begin […]

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Replies to comments

KTJ Answering Comments, 16 Jan 08

My dearest Mastora! It is great to hear from you after our visit in Fort Wayne. Have you watched the video of our interview on our site? You can view it i-ACTzine issue 2! We will let you know how your friends are in the camps. We are currently in Abeche and leave for Guereda […]

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Before i-ACT

Crossing Chad, West to East, N’Djamena to Abeche

It’s cold up here. I have my SGN hoodie on and two shirts, but the cold still seeps through to my skin. We’re on a nine-seater, twin-engine “Beechcraft 200.” I’m reading this from a little pamphlet on the seat pocket, since I know nothing about planes. Mubarak arrived late for us at our hotel. We […]

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Before i-ACT

Hanging in the Capital, ready to move on.

N’Djamena It was so nice to see Ann at UNHCR in N’Djamena again. She is just getting back from leave and told us how “Chad is home,” and she likes coming home. Talking with Ann, you can feel her passion and immediately know that her job is not just a job for her. She has […]

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Before i-ACT

Bottles of Fuel, Barbed Wire, and Café Espresso

14 janvier 08 Men in solid dishdasha (Muslim robes) and women in two-piece African dress meander through the busy streets of N’Djamena. Last night the streets were lit by only a few lamps with small groups of teenagers gathered, laughing and smiling as I once did with friends in high school. Now the streets are […]

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i-ACT 4: Jan 19 - 28, 2008 Issue 4: Jan 2007

Chad: Travel Advisory issued January 3, 2008

Stop Genocide Now team members gather this week in Los Angeles to prepare for our fourth trip to the camps and my first trip into a conflict region. Our time is spent following up with UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) contacts, checking satellite connections, charging video cameras and, for me, learning an entirely […]