It has been more than a year since I met Adef and his beautiful family, but he received me at his home with such joy and recognition that it felt as if we were best friends, reuniting after a short time apart. The smile on my face lasted a few minutes, until he told us that their baby, Marymouda, had past away not too long ago. It is Adef and his wife Achta’s second loss, since leaving Darfur.

This trip was filled with such moments—joy followed immediately by sadness, many times both flowing together through the same time and space.

We are now safe and on our way home. I can’t wait to see my children, hug them and kiss them. Adef’s daughter, Guisma, let me carry her, and she smiled—now and then. On our previous trip, Guisma did not stop laughing, and it was all-out, contagious laughing! This time she looked thinner, and there was sadness behind her beautiful dark eyes.

If you are one of the few people that read these e-mails of ours, you are already committed to helping Guisma and the millions of Darfuris that live away from their destroyed homes. For a change, on this e-mail I will not ask you for anything. Instead, I want to share the gratitude that every single refugee expressed and asked us to pass on to you. They thank you for doing what you can to bring peace, protection, and justice to Darfur. They thank you, from deep in their hearts, for listening to their stories.

Salaam,
Gabriel

by katie-jay scott
3 april 2009

dirty clothes
with holes that expose
malnourished tummys
and our failure as humanity

common colds
cracked skin and bumps
ordinary for children everywhere
possibly deadly for those here

animal feces, garbage, dead carcasses
sprawl the camp paths
only a few of many
lucky enough to wear shoes

families grow
animals acquired
food rations, water supplies
remain at constant short fall

Marymouda fell ill
medicine and aid too late or too little
the second child of
Adef and Achta lost

perhaps not forgotten
but hope diminishing
peace for Darfur
further away for the widowed

generations of knowledge
replaced with dependence
farming to hand outs
sustainable to bare minimum

everyone wants to dream
for hopes to soar and
realities to exceed
expectations of status quo

for the mother of seven
with only a tent and
an empty cooking pot
hopes may remain only dreams

i dream
for a world without hate
where people are free
to create their way forward

to be who they are
with no negative consequence
no fear of harm
for their choices to be

Darfurians targeted
for murder, rape, their end
those who survived the flames
memories of hatred remain

life will never be the same
intergenerational genocide
loss of culture, traditions
stories of elders reduced to ashes

to begin to return
peace comes with justice
leads to renewed hopes
and a possible future

for rebuilding the homes
cultivating the land
educating the youth
raising expectations

we cannot change what past
we can support
the next generation of a
stronger Darfur returned

Gabriel, Katie-Jay and Yuen-Lin have safely arrived in Chad! Their flight was delayed leaving Los Angeles, which made their transit in Paris very ‘exhilirating’. Their bags haven’t arrived yet though, but they will continue making preparations to head out to camps while they are there.

 Read more thoughts from Gabriel here.

WANTED:  i-ACTivists

Darfur needs you. Darfuris in need of food, water, medicine, shelter, and protection need you to re-energize. Yes we have been working to bring peace to Darfur for too long. But we have not done enough. Now more than ever, they need us to bring LOUD, VISIBLE, and CONSISTENT pressure to our leaders - all of them: local, state, and national.

Less than three weeks ago, the International Criminal Court indicted Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bahsir on War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity. Upon hearing this, al-Bashir took the actions he claimed he would in the months leading up to the arrest warrant: 16 aid organizations expelled leaving 4.7 million refugees without aid and janjaweed and Sudanese soldiers armed and prepared to act on any orders from Khartoum. Once again the innocent civilians will suffer the most. It is the time for i-ACTivists, around the world, to take collective action for each individual suffering on the ground.

Join us by participating in the i-ACTivist Challenge. In the daily action of each i-ACT day one word will be BOLD. That word will only remain bold on that day. Write it down somewhere safe, and send your list of 10 words and the ACTION that you took that day at the end of the trip to challenge@stopgenocidenow.org — if you get them all correct, we will send you an profile of a Darfur refugee and a Humanity before Politics t-shirt!

March 23rd through April 1, 2009!

For 10 consecutive days, i-ACT will connect you with the faces and lives of Darfur refugees who escaped, for now, genocide in their homeland.

Watch videos and view photos from Darfur refugee camps; read journal entries and add your comments; take action daily that will change the way the world responds to genocide. We cannot expect our leaders to STAND UP if we are sitting down.

The violence and insecurity in and around Darfur has escalated since the ICC announced an arrest warrant for Sudan’s President al-Bashir. Thirteen international and three Sudanese aid groups providing life saving services have been expelled from Darfur, leaving 4.7 million without help. Peacekeepers were ambushed and injured yesterday in the region. The Government of Sudan is seizing food, vehicles, files (names and locations) and more from aid organizations. Many believer that Darfuris will begin to cross the border with Chad, seeking help.

i-ACT will take you to the people to hear what they say about Justice and peace. For you to see and understand the situation on the ground. Each day there will be a daily action item and, of course, we will be doing the i-ACTivist Challenge once again! The swiftness of our actions needs to match the urgency on the ground.

1. Fliers to hand out will be coming soon!

2. Take your first action by attending our Facebook Event: i-ACT and asking others to join.

3. Link our site to yours - ADD this button

4. Send this short blurb to your group - include it in your daily or weekly briefing!
For 10 consecutive days, i-ACT (interactive-activism) connects you with the faces and lives of Darfur refugees who escaped, for now, genocide in their homeland. Watch videos from the field team; read journal entries and add your comments; take action daily that will change the way the world responds to genocide. The violence and insecurity in and around Darfur has escalated since the ICC announced an arrest warrant for Sudan’s President al-Bashir. Thirteen aid groups providing life saving services have been expelled from Darfur, leaving 4.7 million without help. Visit Stop Genocide Now i-ACT (www.stopgenocidenow.org/iact/iact7) to join the community, learn what Darfuris are saying about the ICC and justice and personally connect with a child who needs your voice and action.

5. **Please also consider donating towards new technology to make this i-ACT happen. We hate asking for money, but once again we are heading to the region on a tight budget. We have used the same digital cameras since our first i-ACT trip in 2005, and our video cameras from 2008 are at their end. Every bit would help us. Thank you.

For 10 consecutive days, i-ACT (interactive-activism) connects you with the faces and lives of Darfur refugees who escaped, for now, genocide in their homeland. Watch videos from the field team; read journal entries and add your comments; take action daily that will change the way the world responds to genocide. The violence and insecurity in and around Darfur has escalated since the ICC announced an arrest warrant for Sudan’s President al-Bashir. Thirteen aid groups providing life saving services have been expelled from Darfur, leaving 4.7 million without help. Visit Stop Genocide Now i-ACT (www.stopgenocidenow.org/iact/iact7) to join the community, learn what Darfuris are saying about the ICC and justice and personally connect with a child who needs your voice and action.

Help us spread the word about our upcoming i-ACT by displaying our dynamic banners on your website. Banners come in 2 sizes, and will be updated daily with the latest frame captures from our new videos.Copy and paste the code above the banner you’d like and you’re all set!Note: Please do not store the following images on your server as they will be updated each day during i-ACT.

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