Darfur

This is a letter I wrote to the members of a committee I'm a part of at work. I went to a meeting and got to hear Mohamed Yahya speak. I just thought I'd share this with you all too!


From: Emily
To: [anyone interested]
Subject: Darfur (please read!)
Time: 12/20/2006 at 10:18AM
Message

Hi Everybody,
I attended the meeting on Dec. 19 and, let me tell you, Mohamed Yahya touched our hearts. He is from Darfur, like the previous email said, and on one day in 1993 his whole village was burned, along with 49 others. He lost 21 close relatives, including his grandparents who were too disabled to flee and were burned alive and two of his brothers. Two of his sisters were also raped, which in that region is worse than death. Due to his thick accent I couldn't make out some of what he said, but as I understood it, he heard from his parents once, as he was away on holiday, and to this day has no idea what has happened to them and his siblings. This was in 1993!!! Most of us have only recently learned about Darfur/Sudan, but the war has been raging for decades. Since the Darfur Peace Agreement was enacted, the fighting and killing has actually escalated. In August of this year, Resolution 1706 was passed to further enforce the peace act and protect those who wish to help Darfurians; its purpose was given as: "Invites Consent of Sudanese Government; Authorizes Use of ‘All Necessary Means’ To Protect United Nations Personnel, Civilians under Threat of Physical Violence." Mohamed Yahya addressed the issue of asking the Sudanese government for consent as ridiculous, comparing it to asking a criminal if it's okay to stop him from committing his crimes.
When one woman asked what else could possibly be done besides fund-raising and writing letters, Yahya relayed the devastating truth that money is wonderful but essentially ends up in the hands of the Janjaweed; we provide food and shelter, and the militia in turn kills the refugees and takes these supplies. Money is still helpful for organizations that wish to aid Darfur, but writing to our President, Congressmen, and whoever else will listen is just as important. Too much attention has been placed on other areas of the world, and this genocide is going unpunished. We always think of the Holocaust, Rwanda, etc. and say "Never again," but what are we doing about Darfur?
I'm so glad I was able to hear Yahya speak and share his voice with you.
Thank You for reading!
Emily

P.S. For more information about Yahya's group, check out this website —> Damanga

Flickr

This is the direct address for our Flickr group:
Marshall Pics
There should be four pictures there that I added. Also, once you start uploading your own photos, you actually have to "send" them to our group. Just click on your picture and right above it will be lots of little icons. One of them says "Send to Group." Click that and just chose the group! I hope this helps!

Welcome Back

So it's been a long time, but we've been communicating via email due to the Holidays. Anyway, I have invited you all to join Flickr, a place where we can share photos! You should have an email about it (if you don't, let me know!). Also, at the bottom of the sidebar on the right, you'll see a little box with a couple of pictures in it. This is a link directly to the Flickr sight and should show the most recently added photos (might have to see once we start adding more). I hope this is a better photo solution! Happy Blogging!!! :-D

Welcome Annie to the Blog

Alrighty - Thanks to Mom and Dad's pictures from Christmas, Annie is now here. Hope you all enjoy her, she is very cute and cuddily! ;o) She has very short stubby legs and a daushaund (sp?) belly. HEHE!!! (You can also look up my nose if you'd like, but I don't think there is anything cute up there...)

Family Photos

Hey everyone!

If you are computer savvy...which most of us are...how about if we posted pictures of the kiddos on here periodically, so we can see everyone as they grow? I was stunned at how big some of the little ones had gotten since I saw them last! Just an idea! Here's a pic of our little family for starters! (We don't have any shots with Annie, so I will have to add her later!)

Photo Test

This is just a test to see what it would look like to post a photo here. I didn't really have any in particular to post so I just used this one, taken by my friend John in Puerto Rico. I think this one is really beautiful. You can find more of his photos at Twistedsun.net!

By the Way...

I've sent out the invitations for the e-mail addresses I have. I mentioned that I was missing some e-mail addresses (i.e. Hank's, Jimmy's, etc.) in my announcement of the blog. Send me these so I can officially invite them too! Also, as you can see to the right, I've provided a link to the oh-so-cute Hailey's webpage! :) If any of you have similar webpages, I can add them. Just let me know!

Hello Family!

I've never created a blog, but I thought it was a nice idea given a recent recipe swap some of us had through e-mail. I think this will be especially useful at times when we all want to communicate about things or events but have a hard time keeping up with changing e-mail addresses and the like. Maybe this will take off, maybe not, but I thought I would try it out. Hope everyone else likes it! By the way, I'll be sending invitations to join this blog, but I can apparently only invite a few people at a time, so if you don't get invited right away, it's coming!!! :)