Commenting back
12:41 pm

Hola Mom! Me estoy poniendo bastante protector de sol y trato de encontrar una sombrita cuando puedo. Como estas tu y todos por alla? Yo aca enfocandome en cada dia y en la gente que voy conociendo. Los extano mucho pero los siento cerca. Un abrazo. Tu hijo el quinto y como dicen, no hay quinto malo.

Linda and Ana, thanks for your thoughts and prayers, and give a big hug to all at G&BT.

Rachel, JC, Teresa, Javi y toda la familia, thanks for staying with me. This is just about as remote as you can get on this earth, but with all of your notes and knowing of all of the work you are doing back home to spread i-ACT, I still feel that I am surrounded by family. Today I spoke with a family that said that many in their family are separated, in other camps or in Sudan, and they have not heard from them in months. I do not think I could handle that.

Primo Deniel, desde Monterrey, Mexico, gracias por tus palabras. Un abrazo a ti a toda tu familia. Saludos a la ciudad que todavia concidero mi hogar.

Alan from Seattle, thanks for sharing i-ACT with other teachers. Middle school is the perfect time to start teaching about important issues, such as the crisis in Darfur. From the very beginning, I’ve wanted i-ACT to be a tool for educators. We have to work so that in the future the world will be much more responsible, and the children is where it’s at.

Liz, prima, gracias. Saludos a tu familia.

Back to Mile
7:36 pm

The children make going to the camp a joy. As we were walking back from interviewing Idriss and his family at their home, we went past a school. The children came running towards us, shaking our hands and greeting us, “Sabah! Sabah! Sabah!” It was also great to hear the children singing, repeating what the teacher was saying. We will definitely have to spend a day at school.

For Day 7, you will again see Idriss. I’ll let you watch the video, so you can hear the story directly from him and his family.

Martin, from CCF, came to visit us at our bungalow this afternoon. I’m telling you, he’s just a great guy…and a very bright guy also, with deep insight into the human condition in times of crisis. He is a passionate man that remains powered by compassion, even when exhausted from working in challenging conditions day after day. We will go see Martin in action on Monday.

I really hope we are doing a good job in sharing at least part of what we are seeing and living out here. I am far from a professional journalist, documentarist, or anything close to either. At times I feel very inadequate at meeting the responsibility I set out for myself. I don’t dwell on it though. There’s too much to do. Please feel free to let me know when I make mistakes, when I miss things, or how I can improve in any way. I will certainly try to make adjustments and do my best.

Paz

Coming soon: Gulu to Darfur Peace Tiles
8:15 pm

I was talking with Martin about identifying some children, 18 to be exact, to which we can present the Peace Tiles, as a gift coming all the way from Gulu, Uganda, through Los Angeles, California. Please read more about the peace tiles here: (http://www.stopgenocidenow.org/tiles/). I am so excited about this project within our project. The children of Gulu are going through their own struggles and abuses. Even though, they found the power within themselves to create these beautiful works of art as a message of peace for their brothers and sisters of Darfur. It is a great lesson for us adults. It is easy to focus on ourselves and those people and things that are immediate to us. We have to shift our thinking to realize that any human is immediate to us. Children get it.

Paz