I've just returned from a trip to meet survivors
of the Darfur genocide at refugee camps in Chad. What I saw horrified
and saddened me, but it also inspired me.
Accompanied by acclaimed actress Mia Farrow, I
traveled to the region to learn about the lives of those displaced by
the violence, to tell them that the world will not forget them, and to
gather their stories to share with you.
We've posted photos and documentary film footage from the trip on our web site - click here now to view them.
In the Gaga camp, we met refugees who had just
arrived after a ten-day walk from Darfur and were too shocked to speak
in anything other than three- or four-word sentences.
At the Habile camp, we met the village chief of
Louboutigue whose 300-person community was still waiting for grain
rations eight days after their homes were burned and their food supply
looted.
In the Goz Beida hospital, we met three men
whose eyes were gouged out simply for being on their own land - land
that someone else wanted.
In the Djabal camp, we met a woman who showed us
a terrible wound on her back, caused by a bullet that had first killed
the daughter she had been carrying as she tried to escape an attack by
the Janjaweed.
And yet all the people we met believed that
the world community would end the violence and allow them to recover
their lives and return to their homes.
We met real people struggling to get through
each day, grinding grain, and taking care of children. The children
wanted to meet us and play with us. The adults had smiles for us. Most
of all, they wanted us to tell the world that they were waiting to go
home.
We must not let them down.
Upon our return, Mia Farrow and I held a
briefing with media in Washington to share our experiences along with
photos and video footage from Chad. The briefing and footage were also
distributed by satellite to international media outlets to tell the
stories of the people we met.
Please click here to visit our web site to see photos and film footage from our trip and the press briefing. Then share these stories in your communities so the people of Darfur can go home.
Through my work I have met many people like you who are standing up to fight genocide.
It was my deepest honor to represent you, and
the hundreds of thousands of courageous people like you across America,
to tell the people of Darfur, face to face, that we will continue to
speak for them.
I ask you to please forward this email on to your friends and family so they can join the effort.
To make a donation to allow us to continue our work, please click here.
Thank you again for your continued support and encouragement.
Best regards,
David Rubenstein
Save Darfur Coalition
The
Save Darfur Coalition is an alliance of over 175 faith-based, advocacy
and humanitarian organizations whose mission is to raise public
awareness about the ongoing genocide in Darfur and to mobilize a
unified response to the atrocities that threaten the lives of more than
two million people in the Darfur region. To learn more, please visit