Darfur - What CAN you really do?

I have been getting many people asking me the same questions about what it is I can do with my work. What would make me want to go to a region that is so unstable and is "helpless" because:

"That's just their culture, they've always been like that - why try to stop it now?"

WRONG. That is NOT their culture and I'd like to give you a small incite into the world that I am trying so desperately to preserve for future generations of humanity. It is a world of beauty and hope, incredibly loyalty among the tribal villages where respect and honor are the modes of gaining leadership of the community.

Daoud Hari is a Darfurian translator. He is one of millions of people that have been displaced by the war in Darfur and instead of finding himself ina camp, he felt his duty was to use his knowledge (rare) of English, Arabic and Zaghawa (a Darfurian/Chadian dialect) to help reporters and aid workers get into the deepest darkest places of Darfur where the atrocities are happening daily.

He has written a book about his travels to different parts of the region and how he has himself been in situations that would make the best of us curl into the fetal position and cry for the lack of humanity that ravages the Sudan. It is called, "The Translator."

These people have families, extended families and rely on each other and the networks they have created to sustain their villages and care for their children. The children play games as we did here in the States, a common game for them is similar to our "Capture the Flag."

 They work harder than most American's and the fruits of their labor are spent not on themselves, but anyone who is in need. Giving is so much more important than receiving. You take care your own of course, but your own includes your people. We are all human, and these people have understood that for generations.

We are one, we are humanity, that is why everything must be preserved, but first. Respected.

I am doing my part to bring awareness to the international community so that these people, who are the most intelligent and respectful people in the world back to their homes and end this genocide so they can have what they want most. Peace. Simply to live and to live in peace.