People from around the world continue to fast for Darfur. Join us!

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Over 500 people from 34 different countries are now fasting together: Albania, Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Chad, Colombia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, New Zealand, Nigeria, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Senegal, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, UK, USA & Puerto Rico

• Jennifer Nguyen
• Nicole Olichney
• Brianne Skolnekovich
• Skye Stiles
• Erik VanHoozier
• Gabriel Stauring
• Katie-Jay Scott

Greatness is not about being larger than life, greatness is found in the simple actions, in decisions made that don’t stand out on the front page, the choices we make when no one is watching in order to give us accolades. There is greatness in the people living in Darfur right now at this very moment. Some will eat tonight, many will not. Most are looking directly at a future without any signs of hope.

If you are like me, you can choose to put aside creature comforts for a few days and join a fast, who knows maybe that will be all you do, or maybe it will inspire a revelation in you. Thank you to everyone who has already pledged there actions to this cause, I hope to see that as my fast day concludes many others are beginning.

-Taylor H

www.takethewalk.net twitter - @takethewalk

Today, I cannot eliminate the hunger I have, I cannot bring focus to my thoughts,
I cannot circumvent the pounding headache….but my loss of control
is temporary.

I think to myself, the same cannot be said for a young mother, or a child
a friend, someone’s companion or caretaker. For them loss of control is a new way of life.

Thank you to everyone who has already responded saying they plan to join the fast and their
kind words. Let’s make it more than words, join FastDarfur.org

Taylor H

For the next three days, I am choosing to add a different routine to my day which does not quite fit in. I am taking a small action of ultimate defiance by fasting from food which is so readily available to me. I am doing it in recognition of those in Darfur, who share all the same desires for internal peace of heart and mind, but have no hope of an outward peace for their flesh and blood. I am taking part in the fast today to join myself for a moment, to the thousands who find themselves with very little hope, in fear of starvation, disease, and violence against themselves and their families.

It is easy to think that real change is not possible, it is easy to tell yourself it’s not your problem to concern yourself with the suffering of the many who are thousands of miles from you, with different ideas, and scenarios we cannot possibly understand. We all have those thoughts, but the issues surrounding the tragedies in Darfur are among the greatest our generation has seen, and our ability to effect real change can begin humbly and with a resonance that will prevail. It can begin with the decision to stand in solidarity and in recognition with those who cannot stand for themselves.

Today I am hungry, hungry for peace, for the people of Darfur.

Taylor H

Sept 21 International Day of from fastdarfur on Vimeo.

When Bill was learning about the impacts of climate change, he studied the very real effects that a shrinking Lake Chad has on the people in the region. In most of the 250 climate change presentations he has given, he explains that the issue of genocide in Darfur is multifaceted, but that very real environmental degradation has impacted families’ abilities to fish, irrigate and feed themselves. This exacerbates the problem and puts further burdens on the people in the region.

Senator Bill Frist - Darfur Fast for Life from fastdarfur on Vimeo.

Senator Bill Frist joins Darfur Fast for Life

The Fast For Darfur was something that I knew nothing about. Berrin Noorata opened my eyes to the organization, it’s purpose, and her experiences fasting for the cause.  After hearing what she had to say, I felt compelled to do something.   If engaging in my own fast and writing about it could help this cause gain more public attention, then it became something I knew I was going to do!

Recently, I had been going through a lot of personal upset and feelings of loss. The introduction to the food crisis in Darfur really helped me put a lot of things into perspective. Gabriel had introduced me to  http://www.stopgenocidenow.org/iact/iact8/day9.  The website was extremely powerful, as is his relationship with Adef and their family. I began to realize that this is about Human Rights, and the power of people to actually make a difference. Looking at the steps that each individual had taken, I felt mindful, and a bit melancholy for some reason.  And thus the decision to follow through with this fast.

With good intentions, I started my day with a lot of water, rushing around, extremely fast paced, and feeling completely lethargic. I was desperate for caffeine; I had to refer back to the site on several occasions to remind myself to stay strong and keep the cause at the front of my mind. The stories and the journals really helped me, however I still found difficutly maintain my daily schedule, and functioning in the world.  I broke the fast at 9.30 pm with some food; so attached to my boot straps, I will try again in the am.

— Alysha

It has been five years since the United States Congress declared genocide in Darfur, but thousands continue to perish. Today I join activists in 34 countries who started fasting in April when aid organizations were kicked out of Darfur by the Sudanese president, leaving 1.1 million innocent civilians without basic access to food, water and medicine. From sunrise to sunset today, I will consume only water to demonstrate solidarity with the people of Darfur. It is an insignificant act relative to the magnitude of the tragedy unfolding there. But I join thousands in this simple act in hope that a critical mass will prick our global consciousness and keep us focused on the hundreds of thousands who have lost their lives. I especially want to thank the Plymouth United Church of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, members of the Save Darfur Coalition, who are joining me today. My fast won’t stop the tragedy unfolding in Darfur, but I hope that it will carry me deeper into thought and to help me reflect on how to end this tragedy.

Full story at: http://www.examiner.com

Today is the first day of my fast and  having skipped just breakfast so far, Im feeling fine.  I’m on my way to a lunch meeting - now minus the lunch.

I worked through the day and ran errands, trying to keep myself busy and my mind off food.  I started to feel light headed and tired around 4pm so I took a nap. By evening, I started to get a headache and noticed my mood become very irritated.  The first day of hunger seems to be effecting my head more than my stomach.

It’s late.  I’ve started and stopped this entry 3 times now.  I can’t think clearly so I’ll say goodnight.1s1

At around 5:00 PM I made a quick run to a friend’s recording studio with his pug who makes me smile. On the way back I got a sudden surge of energy and it was kind of startling because I had no idea where it came from. I felt wide awake for no apparent reason. My appearance wasn’t so inviting, though. I had puffy eyes, my muscles ached and my skin felt dry and I looked unfamiliar. I’m hoping for a good night’s rest and look forward to getting my body ready for a small but healthy meal in the morning so my body isn’t too surprised when it is fed.

The psychological effects of this fast are very obvious - it impacted my train of thought in different ways each day. The physical aspects made me feel useless. I though to myself at times, just have some tea I mean, it’s like water. But then I would just think about how I got through the past two days and pushed myself to go one more. Like many of the people who have participated and whose journal entries I was able to read, I had to remember this was not about me ’succeeding’ but doing my part as a human who wants to see change in the world and an end to the crisis in Darfur. I thought about inspiring people, like Mahatma Gandhi and Aung San Suu Kyi whose passion and dedication to nonviolence are remembered by what they sacrificed for the welfare of humans - even though they both faced an injustice from the cruelty of humans.

This fast is very very difficult, but I believe it has been my duty to try my best to join the efforts and set an example.

Tomorrow morning I will pass the baton and look forward to hearing about the experiences of the next person. But furthermore, it will be another person like you and me spreading the message and continuing to make people aware of these horrid crimes against humanity.

I really didn’t know what to do to get my blood moving and to shake this bewilderment I was experiencing.  It was my boyfriend’s birthday today and when I called him, I found myself cutting the conversation short because I was so backwards and stumbling over my words.  I felt very discombobulated.  He is very encouraging but is also concerned because I am borderline anemic.

To get myself going, I ran in place for a bit and then jumped in the shower hoping that the water splashing down on me would make me feel a little bit more normal and awake.  It helped a bit, but when I had to walk outside, the sun felt extra bright and it was as though I was moving in slow motion.  It really hit me how sluggish I was when I interacted with the salesperson at the electronics store.  She was trying to explain to me why one product was better than the other and I found myself trying to concentrate on what she was saying, but none of it seemed to matter and truthfully, I just didn’t care.

I had a ton of things to do today and really wanted to be on top of my game.  The friends I work with asked me about five times if I was hungry and what I wanted to do for lunch, quickly followed by, “Oh, I forgot, you’re fasting.” The longer I stayed in one place, the more shaky and insane I would feel.  Then someone came in and said, “there’s pizza!” and I wanted to scream but didn’t have the energy.

I decided to look up the effects of short term food deprivation compared to those experiencing long term starvation.  It was frightening to think about the people that haven’t eaten food for over A MONTH, longer than any of us volunteering to fast could ever endure.  I looked at pictures of people who have died from complications due to starvation and others that were alive but suffering tremendously.  Organ failure.  Inability to fight disease.  Reproductive problems.  Depression.  That victims of starvation are often too weak to sense thirst so they become dehydrated.  Atrophy of the muscles.  Hysteria.  Sensitivity to noise.  All of a sudden, my fatigue and craving for anything disappeared.  I think I just became ill from the photos and disgusted by the fact that this is still going on right here on our planet.

I watched a video today called Darfurian Voices.  There were two quotes that I wanted to share and end this journal entry with.  To me, the voices of the people of Darfur represented the hope and patience of many who have suffered and witnessed this catastrophe. The quotes have been translated from Arabic:

A Darfurian man said

“Of course there is nothing impossible in the universe.”

A Darfurian woman said:

“With regards to the conflict, I’m not a politician or anything like that.  And I’m not well informed of all the relevant issues.  But my humble understanding is that the conflict is the result of injustice.  There is injustice and inequality and there is the marginalization of the people of Darfur.  Peace means security. Peace means stability. Peace is justice.  Without them, there is no peace.”

I am taking on my third day of fasting tomorrow to share the hope and desire for peace of the Darfurian people and to let as many people I know be reminded of what is going on.

Week 18: August 24 - 30, 2009

To join Darfur Fast for Life for one day or more, send an e-mail to join@fastdarfur.org with your name, date(s) fasting, hometown, and form of fasting you will participate in (water only or refugee rations).

Please be sure to check with your doctor, if you intend on doing any extended form of fasting.

To join Darfur Fast for Life for one day or more, send an e-mail to join@fastdarfur.org with your name, date(s) fasting, hometown, and form of fasting you will participate in (water only or refugee rations). Please be sure to check with your doctor, if you intend on doing any extended form of fasting.

Week 17: August 17 - 23, 2009

To join Darfur Fast for Life for one day or more, send an e-mail to join@fastdarfur.org with your name, date(s) fasting, hometown, and form of fasting you will participate in (water only or refugee rations).

Please be sure to check with your doctor, if you intend on doing any extended form of fasting.

To join Darfur Fast for Life for one day or more, send an e-mail to join@fastdarfur.org with your name, date(s) fasting, hometown, and form of fasting you will participate in (water only or refugee rations). Please be sure to check with your doctor, if you intend on doing any extended form of fasting.

Week 16: August 10 - 16, 2009

To join Darfur Fast for Life for one day or more, send an e-mail to join@fastdarfur.org with your name, date(s) fasting, hometown, and form of fasting you will participate in (water only or refugee rations).

Please be sure to check with your doctor, if you intend on doing any extended form of fasting.

To join Darfur Fast for Life for one day or more, send an e-mail to join@fastdarfur.org with your name, date(s) fasting, hometown, and form of fasting you will participate in (water only or refugee rations). Please be sure to check with your doctor, if you intend on doing any extended form of fasting.

Week 15: August 3 - 9, 2009

To join Darfur Fast for Life for one day or more, send an e-mail to join@fastdarfur.org with your name, date(s) fasting, hometown, and form of fasting you will participate in (water only or refugee rations).

Please be sure to check with your doctor, if you intend on doing any extended form of fasting.

To join Darfur Fast for Life for one day or more, send an e-mail to join@fastdarfur.org with your name, date(s) fasting, hometown, and form of fasting you will participate in (water only or refugee rations). Please be sure to check with your doctor, if you intend on doing any extended form of fasting.

Week 14: July 27 - August 2, 2009

To join Darfur Fast for Life for one day or more, send an e-mail to join@fastdarfur.org with your name, date(s) fasting, hometown, and form of fasting you will participate in (water only or refugee rations).

Please be sure to check with your doctor, if you intend on doing any extended form of fasting.

To join Darfur Fast for Life for one day or more, send an e-mail to join@fastdarfur.org with your name, date(s) fasting, hometown, and form of fasting you will participate in (water only or refugee rations). Please be sure to check with your doctor, if you intend on doing any extended form of fasting.

Week 13: July 20 - 26, 2009

To join Darfur Fast for Life for one day or more, send an e-mail to join@fastdarfur.org with your name, date(s) fasting, hometown, and form of fasting you will participate in (water only or refugee rations).

Please be sure to check with your doctor, if you intend on doing any extended form of fasting.

To join Darfur Fast for Life for one day or more, send an e-mail to join@fastdarfur.org with your name, date(s) fasting, hometown, and form of fasting you will participate in (water only or refugee rations). Please be sure to check with your doctor, if you intend on doing any extended form of fasting.

Week 12: July 13 - 19, 2009

To join Darfur Fast for Life for one day or more, send an e-mail to join@fastdarfur.org with your name, date(s) fasting, hometown, and form of fasting you will participate in (water only or refugee rations).

Please be sure to check with your doctor, if you intend on doing any extended form of fasting.

To join Darfur Fast for Life for one day or more, send an e-mail to join@fastdarfur.org with your name, date(s) fasting, hometown, and form of fasting you will participate in (water only or refugee rations). Please be sure to check with your doctor, if you intend on doing any extended form of fasting.

— Scout

John

As an aside, this is the first time I have ever taken part in a fast. I absolutely LOVE food and it’s something that I look forward to everyday with every meal. To participate in the fast I knew it was going to be a tough challenge, but I thought if the people in Darfur are forced to go without food for days, I should be able to do it voluntarily (especially knowing that I will have some great meals to look forward to…unfortunately they do not).

I have to admit, today was relatively easy. Maybe it was because I was focused on accomplishing the end goal and knowing that I cannot eat anything, but for the most part it hasn’t been that bad. Although today was relatively manageable, it did have some rough patches. I went down to the local grocery store with my wife around midday, and it was especially hard going down the first few aisles. I quickly grabbed what I needed and proceeded to the check out (thus annoying my wife because she still needed to get a few things). They say never go to a grocery store when you are hungry as you will spend too much money. Well, don’t go to a grocery store when you are hungry and fasting because it will just cause misery.

Despite the fact it was Sunday and the day after Independence day, I knew that I had to have a productive day or I would be thinking about food throughout the day. After taking a walk in the morning and then doing some work for next week at the local coffee shop (yes painful to see people sip away on delicious concoctions of coffee and cream), I decided to hit the beach to surf for a few hours. Now it’s 6 pm, I’m a little sun burnt, but craving food (especially the salami and cheese my wife just cut for herself). I’m starting to get a little headache but, I’ll manage.

As a funny side note, my wife just told me, “I really like you on this fast. You don’t mess up the kitchen.” So I guess there are some other benefits to this fast as well.

I have a read a few posts on the internet about some people saying that fasting is a waste of time and has nothing to do with the cause. They specifically said that time and effort should be put to donating money or actually going there to help out first hand. I do not disagree that donating time and money are really important (and I encourage everyone to do this), but I have to disagree with the comments that participating in a fast is useless.
Everyday we are bombarded with messages, news stories, and advertising from TV, radio, and the web. In a lot of ways we have become a desensitized society and unfortunately have fallen to the out of sight out of mind philosophy. You hear about atrocities all the time in the news, but nothing really grabs your attention until someone that you trust or respect sheds light on the cause. I had heard about the issues in Darfur, but only in broad terms, and it wasn’t until Blake brought up Fast For Darfur that I felt there was something I could do to help. As a result (I’ve been scouring the internet about the cause to learn as much as I can) and I’m now participating in the fast and doing my best to spread the word to my friends and family to shed light on the difficult situation in Darfur. Let’s be honest, I know my efforts won’t amount to much singlehandedly. However, if it educates and inspires a few of my friends and peers to do something or share the cause with someone else who will continue to keep passing on the message it will be a step in the right direction. Nothing happens overnight and it’s through education and familiarity that get issues to that point where that last straw finally breaks the camels back. Thank you Mia for shedding light!

I could journal for hours of the internal perspective you realize about yourself, about the world, about others through this process. It’s an amazing adventure, ever part of it!

I know one thing for sure; it will be a very long time if ever that I take a meal for granted or sip a beverage without thinking about those kids.

I have well over 3,000 Facebook friends and will post this opportunity….curious to see how many will join this war and starvation.

Sadly, we all become a bit self-absorbed in our own lives, we are blessed with so much but to take a moment for a stranger, an angel, a fellow brother or sister requires more effort than we are often willing to give it.

I may have been that guy. This fast did more to change me internally possibly than any awareness or difference I may make for those hungry kids. Many more people in need will benefit as a result of my three day fast.

Understand, this is so much more than not eating for 3-days. I suggest it’s impossible not to change internally for the much, much better. I challenge you to become that change for yourself and for those in need.

Tomorrow it’s life as usual for me. Everything’s back to normal. The abundance of food is back. The physical pangs and the emotional torture of the fast will be gone. This “light at the end of my hunger tunnel” is here. I still can’t stop thinking that those kids have no light. There is not an “end” to their pain unless we become that “end”.

This was my first fast, it will certainly not be my last

God Bless all of you,

Michael Skupin

A million. That brings it all full circle. That is how I got here. We are a group of people who played a game on Tv for a million dollars, more money than most of us can conceive. For every dollar I can imagine I am putting a child, woman or man’s face on it to try and imagine…a million people going hungry in one small area compared to the rest of the world.

Mind bobbling.

Some people have praised this Survivor group and some have thought we were silly…but either way we made some people think. And for that I am grateful.

p.s. As far as the physical side effects this has sucked! Last night was really hard and today I feel very loopy but plan to stick this out til midnight tonight since I started it midnight on Wednesday! I feel so lucky to be able to physically do this and feel lucky again in being chosen to be involved as a pebble.

Once again if anyone with the connections can make it happen I am sure this group would be happy to go to any country and do bigger and better work. It is something I will put my mind too!

Thanks again for all the support and don’t forget about the chain once we are done!

Coby

Someone said, “No one’s supervising you. Just eat and say you didn’t. Pretend.” But I don’t operate like that. I have more integrity than that.

When my children were young, I read an article in a magazine called Moody Monthly that encouraged parents to decide what top five values or character traits they wanted to instill in their children. It was no trouble at all for me to identify Self Discipline as number one on the list of traits I valued. That ties into this. Fasting is pure personal self-discipline. By the way, the other four character traits on my list were thoughtfulness, thankfulness, cheerfulness, and honesty.
So — I’ll be hanging in there today on the water-wagon. I thought about doing the Jewish or Muslim style fast which ends at sunset, but I think I’d rather wait till tomorrow morning to eat. I can do it.. And it does remind me of the folks in Darfur who can accomplish so little because without food, there just is not the daily strength to accomplish a lot. That even goes for me, a slightly-stocky person with plenty of body fat to live on for awhile!

Smiles,
Wanda

This morning will be way more challenging than usual for me. It’s amazing how much we take for granted how nutrition affects every fiber of our being. Even thoughts and reactions are labored. Thank God for water, which I’m consuming well over a gallon a day of. Partially to hydrate but more so to satiate the yearning for something in my stomach….I know I’ll make it, yet instead of feeling victorious, I feel saddened….there is a light at the end of my tunnel (in 15 hours I get to eat), there is no light for those kids. We may be the only light they can hope for.

The question is….Will we be that hope or continue to watch from afar? How can we help? How can I do more? How can I make a difference? How can I impact, there are sooooo many. It reminds me of “The Starfish Story”

While walking along a beach, a man saw in the distance what looked like a boy dancing.
He was encouraged by the outward expression of someone dancing to the new day on the beach, and he approached the young man. As he got closer, he realized that the young man was actually running, leaning down, picking something up and then gently throwing it far into the ocean.

As he came closer, he saw thousands of starfish the tide had thrown onto the beach. Unable to return to the ocean during low tide, the starfish were dying. He observed the young man picking up the starfish one by one and throwing them back.

After watching the seemingly futile effort, the observer said to the young man, “There must be thousands of starfish on this beach. It would be impossible for you to get to all of them. There are simply too many. You can’t possibly save enough to make a difference.”

The young man smiled as he continued to pick up another starfish and toss it back into the ocean.

“It made a difference to that one,” he replied.

The older man shook his head at the impossible optimism of the young man, and then turned away and walked home. That night, he sat for a long time thinking of the young man, and determined that the young man was really affecting the world and taking action to make a difference. Something that the older man would like to do. That night he slept fitfully. In the morning, he awoke, went down to the beach and found the young man again. Then together, they went along the beach shore tossing starfish back into the ocean.

–Author Unknown

Much love,
Kim

Let’s assume my name is John Doe and I live in Coshoctan, Ohio. (Get your google map out to locate Coshoctan, or maybe even Ohio, if you missed that lesson in school.) I’m an everyday person, I have a wife, two kids, a 9-to-5 job that I hate, a mortgage, a cat, a dog, and an aquarium that hasn’t been used or cleaned in months yet has enough algae to be titled “The Science Experiment in the Living Room” by my adoring children. I hear about world events on the news - Tom Brokaw used to deliver me the messages and now I browse numerous channels and sometimes watch Katie Couric. Still, all the events seem so alien to me - genocides, civil wars, missile launches and starvation. Starving to me is when my wife is late for dinner and I wait an extra hour to visit the Chinese Buffet (yum!). To be honest, I can’t even figure out the boroughs of New York City, or what the h*ll the 405 is that my LA peers discuss sitting on for hours. Sounds painful to me. With that in mind, how am I ever supposed to understand famines in Asia or Africa, much less the what’s occurring in Sudan or actually find Darfur on the map? I’ll settle for waiting in line at the drive through for some nachos. Thank you.

Luckily on Thursday nights there is a show on CBS called Survivor. My boss, who relocated to my town last year from Boston, playfully teases me for watching the show. Most of my “Big City” friends and coworkers often do. I adore the show - the crazy antics, mind games, the stories of adventure, love, deceit and the best are the plots to overthrown one another all while isolated in a remote location - sometimes the desert, sometimes a beach. I tried to discuss the show with my boss but when I mention Borneo, Tocantins, or Palau he looks at me like I’m nuts and asks “Are those Midwestern towns?” I laugh and walk away shaking my head thinking “Mr. Educated needs to take a few more world geography lessons, or maybe watch a couple seasons of Survivor, to keep up with me.”

So I was intrigued this morning while reading a message board (yes, my fellow fans and I post often about Survivor and read of the castmates’ lives) to see a link to Fast for Darfur. Some of the castmates I watched are willingly drinking water and eating nothing or next to nothing during a holiday weekend. Why would they do that and not have the chance to win a million dollars? Interested to learn more, I click on the link and read about Darfur. I’d seen a special on CNN about it, but to be honest, it bored me and I didn’t understand why I should care. This time, however, I my interest is peaked — the castmates of Survivor are people that I can relate to and understand - we have a lot in common…. If this is something that is important to them, and they aren’t even being paid to discuss it, then I should pay a little more attention too!! After reading their journal entries, I found myself surfing the net for other articles, maps, and statistics. By the end of my session, I was angry that I never knew this was going on - or at least never took the time to fully understand. To be honest I could never relate before, and I know that isn’t a great excuse, but it’s true. I copy and past the information and website link, and forward along to my database of email addresses. I find myself thinking that people need to know what is going on there. It isn’t just happening in Darfur, it’s happening everywhere and we’re too blinded by meaningless nonsense to care/know. I’m now motivated to find other issues that are going on in the world, maybe research some of the countries my favorite show has been filmed on and see what I can learn. Then I can discuss it with my coworkers, continue the chain, and gain some support for people going through horrid torment everywhere. If no one says anything, these people will be forgotten. I’m going to use my knowledge and apply it to world events. Come to think of it, I recently saw where some detainees from Guantanemo were being sent to Palau (where Season 10 of Survivor was filmed). In fact, my 80 year old mother called to tell me the news, who learned about the country while following Survivor.

Survivor has become an avenue of knowledge for me. It not only provides me with entertainment but each season gives me free lessons in psychology, survival skills, puzzles, and geography. The castmates that go on to discuss world events and bring attention to numerous causes help me to contribute to the world by making me aware of events and speaking out or gaining support. Sometimes it might just be through talks at the water cooler in my office, but I hope that they dialogue keeps going when they leave me. Survivor connects me to something I might not have previously understood or even cared about. Without awareness, discussions, and sometimes arguments, the problems aren’t disclosed to the general public in a manner which we understand. Without knowing a problem exists, how can it ever be solved. No matter how the message gets out there, it needs to get out there and people relate to different groups. Some people relate and understand their professors, award-winning actors/actresses like Brad Pitt, entrepreneurs and businessmen like Bill Gates or Warren Buffett, or Grammy award winning musicians. I, however, can relate the best to the cast of my favorite reality show, Survivor.

— Kimberly

http://www.realityblurred.com/realitytv/archives/survivor_palau/2009_Jul_02_cast_fast_darfur

I understand how some people may think we are doing this just for a ‘look at me’ point of view. I mean we were just contestants on a reality show, who do we think we are?
But I also know that other people are seeing that with a small pebble we are trying to make a big wave. I know me in my spoiled life not eating for 3 days does nothing for the pain and suffering for the people in Darfur and what they are going through. I know it isn’t like I am passing out medical supplies (their president has put a stop to that) to the children that are displaced (THOUGH I WOULD LOVE TO PLEASE SOMEONE READING THIS HELP MAKE THAT HAPPEN AND ALL 5 OF US WOULD BE ON A PLANE). I know to some what we are doing is silly. But to me..it is a beginning. If it wasn’t for Mia I would have known anything about these peoples plight. And education of the problem is a start but this article is sooooo right…where does it finish?

— Coby

No school today, because in the summer the custodians work four-tens, Monday through Thursday, and the school is locked on Friday. So this morning I went out and ran about 3 miles. The run went fine, and in fact my time was a little better than the last run. Felt great to be carrying a little less fat! I weighed myself again after the run, and was 131.8. Boy, I would like to get to the low side of 130 again. So there will be good effects from skipping food for a couple days.

My dad used to tell a story about an old farmer who was so poor he couldn’t afford to feed his horse through the winter. He decided to train the horse not to eat. Had him almost trained, but then he died.

Guess that’s the way it works in Darfur. We have it so good here, we don’t know what it’s like to struggle to survive. Instead of trying to find a little bit of something, anything, to eat, we walk around in the midst of plenty, with dozens of menu options. Our struggle is to choose. Maybe we should more often struggle to refuse. “My country ’tis of thee, Land of OBESITY, of thee I sing.” — Whoops! Singing again, and I’m off the island!

Smiles,
Wanda

So often we look at charity events as raising money, attending a benefit full of festivities, writing a check, or wearing an organization’s t-shirt. While all of those are great and any help should be welcomed, what we are forgetting is that as long as we stay silent and don’t inform the world at large, no one will do anything. We can not idly sit back and assume the person next to us, an elected official or even a higher power alone can or will save those struggling to survive. It is up to us to voice our opinions, raise awareness and demand that rulers take care of their people and contribute to mankind. It must start somewhere and the people of Darfur need our help. We need to be their cheerleaders.

I’m asked frequently what it was like to do the show, Survivor, and if I did it for fame? What most people don’t know is I did the show to test my abilities and to travel - the money would have been icing on the cake. (Remember, I’m hungry right now….) I’d been studying the early communities of Africa in graduate school when I met a previous contestant. Being a fan of endurance activities, risk taking, psychology of mankind, experiencing new things and traveling the world, I thought “wow, this is the perfect opportunity!” During my studies, I’d been fascinated by the necessity of fire and how we are able to progress once our basic needs have been met. (Fire, water, shelter, hunting, etc) Little did I understand that within weeks of studying that topic, I’d be living it. Where am I going with this point, you may ask? It’s quite simple. While fasting I’ve been reminded that what I experienced while out on the island is what thousands experience on a daily basis. Without shelter to rest in and clean water to drink, the odds for survival are stacked against anyone. It is only when basic needs are met that man can prosper. It’s no wonder evil dictators around the world starve their people. Starving people are generally submissive and pose no threat. With this in mind, it’s easy to understand why said leaders turn food and water from aid organizations away or hide it from their people. Once their basic needs are met, they’ll have the energy and clarity to realize who has done this to them and the strength to stop the cycle. That’s why it is up to each and every one of us to not allow what is happening in Darfur to continue. Empowering the people of Darfur is a necessity. They aren’t just blank names and empty faces of the world. It’s quite possible that within the 300,000 people that have already died, a child that could have cured cancer and a future world leader died as well.

It’s up to all of us to work together and demand change. You might think “I am too old/young to do anything,” or “no one takes me seriously” — but those thoughts are preposterous. It’s about finding within you what your strengths are and what you bring to the table. There is a whole world out there that can balance your weaknesses - you just need to be aware of them and ask. All one truly needs is a good heart, the desire for change/end to injustice and the voice to seek help in creating a game plan to make the world a better place.

I’ll leave everyone with one of my favorite quotes to ponder.

“You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” Mahatma Gandhi

— Kimberly

I was advised against fasting at this time as this is the “holiday weekend” but my “survivor brother” Coby Archa reminded me the people we’re doing this for don’t have the option of eating like that and after all, we are “Survivors” and we make no excuses so I forged ahead.

I was a contestant on the second season of Survivor “The Australian Outback” and we went almost 3 days without food. We were given a large bag of rice but it rained 22 of the 42 days out there and we often couldn’t get a fire going to cook the rice so we often ate off the land. Although I’m no stranger to being hungry, this will still be no easy task but I journey ahead in appreciation of the fight we’re battling here against hunger.

Day one 8am (8 hours into the fast)

A little history on 47-year old self is that I work out a lot to try and stay ahead of father-time and am an avid researcher of nutrition. As a result I eat 6-7 smaller meals a day vs. the traditional 3 (b’fast lunch and dinner). I’m usually up around 3am and within minutes am eating a healthy portion of steel cut oats with added protein and fresh fruit. Today I fasted. Mentally it was a challenge but physically it was not an issue.

Understand that although missing one meal may seem trite, when it’s a habit it throws you out of your routine and you never stop thinking about it. I’d be eating my second meal about now. It’s a recovery day for me from a hard workout yesterday so I don’t think a workout will be in my day. Mentally, I’d love to bite into something, physically still no issues.

— Mike

— Coby

Well — I’ve been up seven hours now and have consumed three cups of plain hot water today, and nothing more.

I keep thinking, “I need to get myself something to eat!” and then I keep thinking, “No! I said I wasn’t doing that today!”

Here’s a surprising incident: I’m teaching summer school, and this 9th grader named Mike has a correspondence school packet of stuff he has to do and I have to help him with if he has questions. So part of his assignment is to use the word fast in two sentences, once as a verb, and once as an adverb. He says to me, “Mrs. Shirk, what’s fast as a verb? Is it like fast forward a tape?” Wow! He really didn’t know what it meant to fast. I explained it to him. He follows up, “Do you ever fast?” I said, “Mike, did you happen to notice that fifteen minutes ago I poured hot water from that hot pot (it was a chilly morning here in the mountains of Pennsylvania) into my cup, and I didn’t add hot chocolate or a tea bag or instant coffee or anything? I’m just drinking plain water. That’s because I’m fasting today!” Then I explained to him all about Darfur, and why some people are fasting, etc. Quite the amazing coincidence that the word fast just happened to come up in one kid’s work today and we had a chance to talk about it!

I almost never have headaches, but I have a little bit of a headache right now, which I think some food would cure. But that won’t happen. I’m hanging in there so far!

Wanda

Wanda always has had a heart for the suffering of the less fortunate. In fact, her Survivor audition tape, which was in the format of a TV newscast, included this segment: (Wanda jumps out of tent-hammock):

“Financial news is next. Check out my home away from home. No, it’s not the Hilton or the Holiday Inn. I know how to live cheap. I believe we should live simply so that others can simply live, and I’ve always practiced what I learned as a kid, to give at least 10% of everything I earn to help the less fortunate.

(Picks up ukelele and sings:)
With a million bucks to share, I’d help people everywhere
In third world countries where they’re suffering.
There are people who are poor, and I want to help them more,

And so to you my energies I bring!
Yes, Wanda wants to be on CBS TV –
She will help to make your show a lot of fun!
She has personality, and she’s clever as can be –
That’s the reason why you ought to pick ME!”

Wanda has supported World Vision and Children International kids for twenty years, and donations for Care, Oxfam, Doctors Without Borders, and several other organizations come automatically out of her checking account every month. Participating in this three-day fast will be another way of showing support for what she believes in, a life lived for others.

Wanda has been a high school English teacher for 32 years.. She has a son and a daughter and has had 25 foster children and three foreign exchange students (from Germany, Ukraine, and Norway) live with her over past years. She is chairman of the Potter County Planning Commission, vice president of the local fire company auxiliary, a trustee of the local library, vice president of the Keystone Trails Association, a board member of the Susquehannock Trail Club, and former president of the Potter County Foster Parent Association. The school yearbook was dedicated to her in 1998 and 2009.

Mike’s story is incredibly inspirational about how his hands were miraculously healed and life’s lessons he learned in the Outback. Mike talks about how stripped of everything familiar to him including food, shelter, electronics, cell phones, pagers, family and friends, he was able to see so much more clearly the life he was missing out on. Mike is determined to reach peoples souls with a very encouraging and endearing message of family, priorities, and life’s lessons. Mike uses humor, exciting stories, dramatic videos from the Outback and combines them into an adventure story. His popularity has only increased since the show aired in 2001 as his “post-survivor” events have landed him in the national headlines on seven different occasions as he has survived a burning building, a plane crash, being pepper sprayed by activists and a potential US Senate race.

Mike has always been the exception to the rule and has been described as adventurous, a thrill-seeker, and a risk taker. One of four children born just 5 years apart, Mike and family suffered the loss of his father to cancer when he was only four. But with the support of a wonderful mother and God’s blessing, he was overcame that and was successful in school, sports and business career.

Besides motivational speaking and a book he is co-authoring with Steven Covey, Ken Blanchard and Brian Tracy called “Discovering Your Inner Strength) (due out this summer), his career has consisted of office equipment sales where he was ranked #1 nationally 6 years in a row of 3,500 employees, surgical and operating room equipment sales with a billion dollar company where he was ranked 2nd nationally , and serving as a barefoot water-ski instructor. Michael also co-founded a software publishing and distribution company in 1992 where he currently serves as president. Through creative distribution and downloads, his company has produced over 25 million CD’s….more than Brittany Spears and N’sync combined!

Mike has spoken almost 2,000 times to over 8 million people at live events and over one billion people through television, radio and print media. He speaks all over the world at schools, churches, camps, corporate events, stadium events and has made a lifetime commitment to sharing motivational and inspirational messages. Mike has several messages including; Breaking the “I Can’t” Attitude, “How To Motivated in an Unmotivated World”, “Leadership & What makes Great Leaders” “Several Customized Sales Training Programs”, “How to Have a Genuine Relationship with Your Family”, “Destructive Behaviors and How to Avoid them Permanently”

Originally from Farmington Hills, Michigan, Skupin currently lives in White Lake, Michigan with his wife Karen and their 7 children. Michael (20), Kalyn (18), Brandon (13), Emily (12), Jaclyn (11), Leo (7) and Kristie (3).

Dr. Scout Cloud Lee is a master of “LIVING YOUR DREAMS”. She is a breathtakingly, inspirational, motivational entertainer…a type of

“Moti-Edu-Tainer”. She is a speaker, author, story-teller par excellent, corporate executive and corporate trainer, song-writer, singer, musician, and artist…and she has a story to tell. Scout is a CHEERLEADER FOR THE 21st CENTURY who knows all about “pulling herself up by the bootstraps”. She has survived divorce, bankruptcy, artificial knee and shoulder replacements, terminal cancer, the near loss of her greatest love, and 38 days on the CBS hit show, Survivor. She has now become a Master of Celebration and a stunning feminine model of “LIVING YOUR DREAMS”.

One of her books, THE CIRCLE IS SACRED, openly presents ancient wisdoms and contemporary spirituality as a vital part of RESPIRITING ORGANIZATIONS in the new millennium. A more recent book, SWORN TO FUN: Celebrate Every Little Thing, is a collection of profound TOOLS for Re-creating our life and our world on a daily basis. She has five completed books currently being pitched, the latest of which is a formula for co-creating with God. It is called, THE FORMULA: Playing With God. Scout is a female Will Rogers, presenting her truths in a riveting, yet simple, spell-binding, down-home way.

How we individually participate in the creation of our lives is at the core of Scout’s work, play, and music. Scout walks her talk! She picked up a hammer and built her own hogan-style home, ranch house, cabins, and ceremonial village. She is internationally known for a communication technology known as “THE EXCELLENCE PRINCIPLE”, and corporate trainings called “THE CHALLENGE OF EXCELLENCE” and “TRACKING PEAK PERFORMANCE”. Some of her steady clients include The United States Postal Service, The Federal Aviation Administration, The Department of Transportation, Ford Motor Company, Kimberly-Clark, The Chickasaw Nation, Johnson and Johnson, and The Institute for Management Studies. Her basis of appeal extends from keynoting IBM International and corporate training in Washington, D.C. to writing and performing music globally.

In the last few years, Scout has added her own original “Global Gypsy Rock and Country Funk Music” and cowgirl poetry to her motivational shows. Her music is UP-BEAT and TOE-TAPPIN’…and deeply moving in it’s message. Scout’s latest CD’s, MOUNTAIN MOVIN’ MEDICINE , LOVE MEDICINE, HOME

ON THE RANCH, AND CLOUD 9 are joyful statements of the truth of her “medicine” for the 21st Century. To experience Scout is to come away knowing that “Dreams Really Do Come True”.

Scout is more than an expert on LIVING YOUR DREAMS. She is a person with charisma and that special ability to walk on stage and grab any audience until all you can hear is the sound of the audience breathing. She is a MOTIVATIONAL MASTER with stage presence, courage, charisma, and a moving message for our New Millennium. She is simply spellbinding as she weaves together original stories, songs, challenges to move us all into the middle of our deepest desires. She’s FUN!

Some of Scout’s favorite topics include: Pumped Up and Powerful, Survive and Thrive, Celebrating Differences Differently, The Change That Changes Changing, and The Formula: For Getting What You Really, Really, Really Want. Scout’s fees are on a sliding scale ranging from $1,200 to 5,000 per day, plus expenses.

On this community. I am honored to be a part of the community fasting in solidarity. I am humbled to be fasting in solidarity with those in the region of Darfur for whom fasting is not an option. As I begin, I am so aware of the differences. As my wife lies in bed asleep beside me, I have no thought of our security. No soldier with guns will burst through our door. We actually have a door. A refrigerator is around the corner, even though I choose to avoid it. What is going through the mind of Adam, or Dajhima, or Amouna as they rise to a new day as mine is ending? Yet, perhaps our desires for our children are very similar. Our longing for peace, the same.

Why I fast. I fast for peace. Yet, do I really know the whys? A very wise man once asked me why the company I founded gives away half its profits. I gave him my standard 2 minute answer to the question. He pondered, and then said, “So you don’t really know why you do this.” I have never forgotten the wisdom of his observation. Sometimes we think we know, but do we really? So instead of trying to answer this question, I thought I’d give my history with respect to genocide. This is not world history, it is simply my personal history:

Armenia. I was not alive. I feel no responsibility. Yet somehow, I am connected.

First nations, e.g. the trail of tears. The United States is my country. I associate with the people group we call Americans. I am proud of some of our values and traditions. Others make me cringe or recoil. We have our own genocide. Some day an American president will call it what it was and symbolically ask forgiveness. Could it be the current president? Will this happen in my lifetime? Did my ancestors take part? Have I? Yes, for every thought of prejudice, for any thought that borders ignorance approaching hatred, I have taken part.

The Holocaust. As a boy in 8th grade history class I first learned about genocide. I was incredulous. I could understand how nations could fight over a border dispute or control or power or “preemptively.” But I had no concept of people killing another person nor being purposefully cruel to another human being because of race, skin color, physical features, or religion. For my Jewish friends, this was not new history; for me it was an awakening. One from which I could not go back or hide. I can’t explain why, but the injustice of it, the cruelty, would not leave my consciousness. I didn’t choose genocide as a cause; it chose me as a life commitment. I believe it started at age 13. Although only a couple of decades in prior history, this genocide still had the aspect of ancient history. I believed “never again.” I was so glad we had the example that would cause us to never let it happen again.

Cambodia. I was 19. This was the first genocide on my watch and it felt that way. But I felt utter powerlessness. Fully distraught. It was half a world away. It might as well have been another planet.

Rwanda. I was distracted in starting a new company. The father of young children. Yet I can close my eyes and still see the images of the first report I read of a plane going down with two African presidents. Then more images on the news. The world was now a much smaller place. This was on my watch, and in my back yard. I was not powerless, but I failed the Rwandan people. The Interahamwe played the Western and outside world and won, long enough to take the life of 1 in 8 Rwandans. Afterwards, I knew I was one with Rwandans. I had failed my own people.

Darfur. I know and have met Darfuris. This is the first genocide declared a genocide by a currently serving American president. I no longer feel powerless. I am not ignorant of the atrocities. I commit to acting. I am not alone.

I have read most, if not all, of the journals submitted by Darfur Fast for Life participants, and so many mention how our experience cannot come close to that of the displaced because we know when and where our next meal will come. It is absolutely true. They, on the other hand, run during the night and hide during the day. Some are ambushed at water points, janjaweed knowing that their targets will be driven by thirst to where water might be found.

Through one day of fasting, I am experiencing a little headache–but no fear or uncertainty. I have full bottles of water and snacks that I can eat anytime, if I wish. I have never in my life had to wonder IF I’ll have a next meal or next drink of water. One of our consistent problems back home is having to decide WHERE to go eat: should it be mexican; middle eastern; a turkey burger at Fatburger; fish tacos at Sharkeyz; the local Redondo Beach Cafe; GoodStuff’s healthy meals on the strand; huge plates at all-you-can-eat The Wok Mongolian BBQ; and so many more. Now I’m really wanting to eat, but not tuna and nuts, our staple food in Chad.

It is now dark in Guereda, the little town we are in. Thinking about the people that are just a few miles away living in refugee camp Kounoungou, I know that for them, during the escape, the darkness gave them some security. They would restart their walk towards the west and the Chad border–hungry, thirsty, afraid. I wonder if the parents would lie to their children and tell them, “It’s OK, we will soon find food and water,” even though many never did and were left in the desert. I think I would lie to my children, and probably to myself.

Peace,
Gabriel

While we were in this camp we were invited to the distribution tent where rations from the World Food Program were being handed out. The women patiently stood in a long line and as they wove through a giant tent they collected their share of grain (sorghum or wheat), legumes, salt, and oil for cooking. Each amount was carefully measured out and then poured into well worn bags or jugs then placed on the women’s head and she would walk back to the tiny little square of land in the camp where a plastic tarp was the roof of her and her children’s home. They told us that the women would mix the grain and legumes and oil and make something like a cake that would be the family meal, twice per day.

Today I ate something like the equivalent of those rations. A handful of rice and beans in the morning and the same for a small dinner. All told this was just about 1000 calories. Refugee rations will keep someone alive, but it will also keep someone from ever reaching their potential as a person. At that level, children will not grow to the size they are meant to be, the brain doesn’t develop to the level that it could, and no one is never really satisfied. Of course, it is a much better alternative than eating nothing at all.

We know that one of the most effective tactics used against the millions of refugees and internally displaced people within Darfur is attacks against humanitarian groups who bring in these life giving supplies. It is a despicable act of cowardice against defenseless women and children and those that would aid the innocent. The thing that struck me about that camp was not that the people I met were in imminent danger, but how very vulnerable they were. There is no where to go from these camps. If the food does not make it in to the camps, it is only a matter of days before people are starving. Recently reports have been trickling out of Chad that in addition to back and forth attacks by Chad and Sudanese governments, there have been attacks on refugee camps containing these tens of thousands of women and children.

I am grateful that today I got my rations, I hope our political leaders can find a way for the millions of innocents to at least get theirs.

- Joey

When this fast was first mentioned to me I really didn’t see much merit in my participation. I have spoken out about the suffering in Darfur for a number of years. I have felt an activist’s frustration in pouring your heart in an issue to see little. and sometimes even negative, progress. I have also seen some of the most brilliant and caring individuals who have spent their life trying to end these atrocities against our fellow man. As a now former athlete in a small sport, my media star does not burn quite as brightly as it once did, so I was not sure that my fasting would really have any impact in the world other than me being somewhat cranky (I am renowned amongst my family and friends as being INTOLERABLE to be around when I haven’t eaten). But over the last few days I have begun to think about this fast differently.

I sent out notes to friends and family and told them I would be participating in a fast for Darfur, leading up to my 30th birthday. Almost instantly word began to trickle in from athletes, friends, people who followed me as a speedskater but that I have not met, that they would be joining with me as I fast. Each of these people are willing to make a sacrifice for people they have never met, simply because they feel it is the right thing to do! There are many terrible things that happen in this world, and the murdering in Darfur must end, but I constantly find my faith in people renewed. This fast itself may not help to end suffering, but I guarantee it will make us more aware of the injustices around us. Once people become truly aware, then the world begins to change.

These people in Darfur, our brothers and sisters, can be saved - lets keep up the fight.

Joey

PS - Apologies for any spelling/grammatical mistakes, I’m not the most careful editor even when my head is totally clear!

Yesterday afternoon, Rabbi David Saperstein, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, attended a meeting at the State Department, where U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan Scott Gration expressed his appreciation and encouragement for all those participating in the fast.

Rabbi Saperstein began a three-day, water-only fast on the evening of Monday, June 15th, and invited rabbis of all four major streams of American Judaism (Reform, Reconstructionist, Conservative and Orthodox) to join him for the final stretch of his fast. Participants include rabbis from the United States, Canada, Israel, Mexico and England; a full list is included below.

On April 27th, Rabbi Saperstein was arrested in his third act of civil disobedience calling attention to the situation in Darfur, this time with longtime civil rights activist Rep. John Lewis, other members of Congress and leaders of Darfur advocacy groups. He now joins a long line of politicians, celebrities and activists in carrying on a water-only fast begun that day by actress Mia Farrow to call for the restoration of humanitarian aid to the people of Darfur. On May 9th, Farrow’s doctor ordered her to end her hunger strike due to serious health risks; since then, others have carried on the fast for her. More information about the chain of fasters can be found at www.fastdarfur.org.

Speaking to the importance of the fast, Rabbi Saperstein issued the following statement: “Activists around the world have committed to continuously pounding the drumbeat for Darfur. U.S. Special Envoy Scott Gration is working hard to negotiate a restoration of the humanitarian aid and to restart a just peace process, and recent reports indicate that he is making progress in his negotiations. Yet negotiations about returning aid groups have not yet achieved real results, so beginning last night, the stomachs of 80 of our Jewish leaders go hungry to draw attention to those dying in Darfur, urging the restoration of aid to the people of Sudan.

“Fasting is a traditional part of Judaism, usually accompanying the memory of a great tragedy or deep repentance. But here we must do a fast as a protest and as an emblem of solidarity with the individuals in the camps, sharing the plight of too many in Darfur –water but too little food. Let us do everything possible to ensure that this will be the last fast necessary to draw attention to the urgent need for both relief and long-lasting peace in Sudan.”

It has been more than three months since Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir expelled humanitarian aid groups from the country. Despite assurances that Sudan will allow international NGOs into the country and close existing humanitarian gaps, the situation has worsened. Aid groups report that efforts to send aid to those who need it are unsustainable and insufficient. The onset of the rainy season will likely lead to mass migration and water-borne disease epidemics in internally displaced persons camps, putting, as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon predicted, more than 1 million people at life-threatening risk.

Follow along with live updates of the fast at Twitter.com/theRAC, and visit the RACblog for blog posts from Rabbi Saperstein and participating rabbis.

Partial list of rabbis fasting for Darfur:


· Rabbi David Saperstein, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (Washington, DC)


· Rabbi Alan Henkin, Union for Reform Judaism Congregational Support Center – West (Northridge, CA)


· Rabbi Alan Lachtman, Temple Beth David (Temple City, CA)


· Rabbi Alyssa Ralston, Congregation Rodef Sholom (San Rafael, CA)


· Rabbi Avi Schulman, Temple Beth Torah (Freemont, CA)


· Rabbi Arthur Gross-Schaefer, Loyal Marymount University Hillel (Los Angeles, CA)


· Rabbi Camille Angel, Congregation Sha’ar Zahav (San Francisco, CA)


· Rabbi Douglas Kohn, Congregation Emanu El (San Bernadino, CA)


· Rabbi Eve Ben-Ora, Jewish Community Center San Francisco (San Francisco, CA)


· Rabbi Haim Asa, Temple Beth Tikvah (Fullerton, CA)


· Rabbi Hillel Cohn, Congregation Emanu El (San Bernadino, CA)


· Rabbi Jonathan Kupetz, Temple Beth Israel (Pomona, CA)


· Rabbi Marty Lawson, Temple Emanu-El (San Diego, CA)


· Rabbi Linda Bertenthal, Union for Reform Judaism (Encino, CA)


· Rabbi Roberto Graetz, Temple Isaiah (Lafayette, CA)


· Rabbi Steven Rueben, Kehillat Israel Reconstructionist Congregation (Pacific Palisades, CA)


· Rabbi Elisheva Salamo, Keddem Congregation (Palo Alto, CA)


· Rabbi Pam Frydman Baugh, OHALAH: Association of Rabbis for Jewish Renewal (San Francisco, CA)


· Rabbi Karen Bender, Temple Judea (Tarzana, CA)


· Rabbi Leah Lewis, Leo Baeck Temple (Los Angeles, CA)


· Rabbi Stanley Kessler, Beth El Temple (West Hartford, CT)


· Rabbi Charles Feinberg, Adas Israel Congregation (Washington, DC)


· Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld, Ohev Sholom (Washington, DC)


· Rabbi David Oler, Congregation Beth Or (Deerfield, IL)


· Rabbi David Young, Temple Sinai of North Dade (North Miami Beach, FL)


· Rabbi Isaac Serotta, Lakeside Congregation (Highland Park, IL)


· Rabbi Laurence Edwards, Congregation Or Chadash (Chicago, IL)


· Rabbi Michael Zedek, Emanuel Congregation (Chicago, IL)


· Rabbi Eric Siroka (Temple Beth El, South Bend, IN)


· Rabbi Susan Silverman (Israel)


· Rabbi Alexandria Shuval-Weiner, The Temple-Congregation B’nai Jehudah (Overland Park, KS)


· Rabbi Debbie Stiel, Temple Beth Sholom (Topeka KS)


· Rabbi Debra Kassoff, Temple Emanu-El (Marblehead, MA)


· Rabbi Jonathan Kraus, Beth El Temple Center (Belmont, MA)


· Rabbi Raphael Kanter, Tifereth Israel Congregation (New Bedford, MA)


· Rabbi Shoshana Perry, Congregation Shalom (N. Chelmsford, MA)


· Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt, Congregation B’nai Tzedek (Potomac, MD)


· Rabbi Susan Shankman, Washington Hebrew Congregation (Potomac, MD)


· Rabbi Phil Posner (Ajijic, Mexico)


· Rabbi Adam Spilker, Mount Zion Temple (St Paul, MN)


· Rabbi Jared Saks, Temple Israel (Minneapolis, MN)


· Rabbi Alan Cohen, Congregation Beth Shalom in Kansas City (Kansas City, MO)


· Rabbi James Stone Goodman, Congregation Neve Shalom (Creve Coeur, MO) and Central Reform Congregation (St. Louis, MO)


· Rabbi Batsheva Appel, Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life (Jackson, MS)


· Rabbi Batsheva Meiri, Congregation Beth Hatephila (Asheville, NC)


· Rabbi Bradley Bleefeld, Temple Beth Hillel-Beth Abraham of Carmel (Vineland, NJ)


· Rabbi David Nesson, Morristown Jewish Center (Morristown, NJ)


· Rabbi Debra Hachen, Temple Beth El of Northern Valley (Closter, NJ)


· Rabbi Geri Chaikin, Temple Shaari Emeth (Manlapan, NJ)


· Rabbi Rabbi Kim S. Geringer, Temple Sha’arey Ha-Yam (Barnegat, NJ)


· Marcus Burstein, Temple Har Shalom (Warren, NJ)


· Rabbi Michael Goldstein, Temple Beth Torah (Ocean, NJ)


· Rabbi Michael Pont, Temple Beth Ahm (Aberdeen, NJ)


· Rabbi Gerald M. Kane, Temple Beth-El (Las Cruces, NM)


· Rabbi Avi Weiss, Hebrew Institute of Riverdale (Bronx, NY)


· Rabbi Barbara Goldman-Wartell (Temple Concord, Binghamton, NY)


· Rabbi Deborah R. Prinz (Central Conference of American Rabbis (New York City, NY)


· Rabbi Jennifer Jaech, Temple Israel of Northern Westchester (Croton-on-Hudson, NY)


· Rabbi Josh Davidson, Temple Beth El North Westchester (Chappaqua, NY)


· Rabbi Marim Charry (Great Neck, NY)


· Rabbi Mark Hurvitz, Davka.org (New York City, NY)


· Rabbi Paula Drill, Orangetown Jewish Center (Orangeburg, NY)


· Rabbi Paula Winnig, Temple Sinai of Long Island (Lawrence, NY)


· Rabbi Theodore Tsuroka, Temple Isaiah of Great Neck (Great Neck, NY)


· Rabbi Yocheved Mintz, Valley Outreach Synagogue (Las Vegas, NV)


· Rabbi Eddie Sukol (The Shul, Pepper Pike, OH)


· Rabbi Frank Muller, Congregation Rodef Shalom (Youngstown, OH)


· Rabbi Stephen Wise, Shaarei-Beth El Congregation (Oakville, ON)


· Rabbi Jack Paskoff, Congregation Shaarai Shomayim (Lancaster, PA)


· Rabbi Merryl Crean, Martins Run Senior Residential Community (Media, PA)


· Rabbi Michael Holzman, Congregation Rodeph Shalom (Philadelphia, PA)


· Rabbi Robert Rubin, Adath Israel (Merion Station, PA)


· Rabbi Shawn Zevit, Jewish Reconstructionist Federation (Jenkintown, PA)


· Rabbi Brian Zimmerman, URJ Congregational Support Center – South (Dallas, TX)


· Rabbi Nancy Kasten (Dallas, TX)


· Rabbi Jonathan Wittenberg, New North London Synagogue (Finchley, London, UK)


· Rabbi Gilah Dror, Rodef Sholom Temple (Hampton, VA)


· Rabbi Jeffrey Saxe, Temple Rodef Shalom (Falls Church, VA)


· Rabbi Jonathan Brown, Beth El Congregation (Winchester, VA)


· Rabbi Rosalind Gold, Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation (Reston, VA)

Maria Bello’s Fast for Darfur from fastdarfur on Vimeo.

I’m hungry and a bit bitchy today. Couldn’t sleep last night as empty stomach makes for noisy head. Noisy with petty concerns and vivid memories of times I have let down the people I love most. Funny, how when we are not “stuffing” our emotions with food, we are faced with icky feelings that we’d rather not look at.


I tried my best to focus on the suffering people of Darfur. I read Gabriel’s blog and watched the videos from the last 4 days in the camp. And he wrote me about Achta, his friend who had lost two babies, one during their escape from Darfur and one at the camp. He was going to see her because she just had a new baby and she named it after him!


And I emailed my Darfuri friend who has inspired me to do the fast. She has gone through so much and still would do anything to help her people. She reminded me that there is a straw that breaks the camel’s back, like in Iran right now. Enough tiny voices speak up for enough time that they will eventually become a loud chorus and that chorus will eventually drown out the evil and the change will come.


Now at work, I am slowly but surely feeling better. Hypoglycemia is a real thing. It can make one crazy. But so can seeing your husband killed with a machete in front of you or your baby impaled with a sword and thrown on a fire.


With that thought, maybe I’ll keep going for another day….


Peace

It is amazing when you have made a decision to fast how quickly it appears that food is everywhere; not even actual food—that I anticipated—but photos of food, articles about eating… as I go through my day and absorb just how much food is around us, I now think about Darfur, in a tangible reminder of the daily suffering experienced on the other side of the world as we concern ourselves with restaurants, dieting and organic produce.

Every day I receive a variety of Darfur-related emails which I scan, read and delete as a matter of course. But today I am downloading each and reading it through carefully to keep front-and-center what I am doing and why. This fast is reminding me of the people on whose behalf we are organized and organizing that they may some day soon resume their lives.

Ruth Messinger on Vimeo.

AJWS President Asks Jewish Community to Fast with Her for Darfur
Ruth Messinger to Jewish Community: Let our hunger instruct us to listen and act!


To express solidarity with the people of Darfur, Ruth Messinger, president of American Jewish World Service (AJWS), will fast on the 15th and 16th of June and has invited the American Jewish community to fast with her for at least one of the two days.


Messinger’s fast is part of the Darfur Fast for Life “fasting chain,” involving numerous congressmen and women, activists and entertainers who have agreed to fast in successive two-day blocks. The AJWS president says she is fasting so she can try to appreciate how it feels to be hungry and how difficult it is to function under those circumstances. AJWS has circulated a petition, along with a videotaped statement, to more than 70,000 supporters encouraging them to sign a pledge to join her.


“Each day, in Darfur, mothers and fathers look into the suffering eyes of their children knowing, like all parents, that they would sacrifice anything for their children not to suffer, but also knowing that there is nothing they can do as long as they remain in limbo,” Messinger said in her videotaped statement. “A person can suffer no greater indignity than not being able to feed his or her children or prevent dehydration that is often deadly.


“As difficult as it may be for us to function at a high level, during our fasts, this type of hunger is an everyday reality for hundreds of millions of people worldwide; it prevents children from learning and adults from working productively to sustain economies; but just as importantly, it undermines the very kind of belief in a better future that is the lifeline for the world’s most vulnerable.


“For those of us fasting for Darfur, our hunger is a choice and a temporary state… But there are hundreds of millions worldwide - in Darfur and elsewhere - who feel powerless. They are crying, and we must hear them. Fast with me and let our hunger instruct us to listen. Fast with me and let our hunger instruct us to act.”


To view Messinger’s entire statement and sign the petition, please visit ajws.org/darfurfast.


About American Jewish World Service


American Jewish World Service (AJWS) is an international development organization motivated by Judaism’s imperative to pursue justice. AJWS is dedicated to alleviating poverty, hunger and disease among the people of the developing world regardless of race, religion or nationality. Through grants to grassroots organizations, volunteer service, advocacy and education, AJWS fosters civil society, sustainable development and human rights for all people, while promoting the values and responsibilities of global citizenship within the Jewish community.


SOURCE American Jewish World Service

I have learned a lot from this attempt to fast, much of it about myself and my own limitations, and none of that is appropriate for this blog. Suffice to say, however, I am grateful for the opportunity the fast gave me for some much needed reflection on the role of food in my life, and on my flaws both large and small.

But, this is truly not about me.

Here is what this IS about: the difficulties of being thrust against your will from the only home you’ve ever known, of having had to walk for many miles and days across an unforgiving landscape, of having to contend with fear and physical pain at every step–not only your own but those of the people you love most in the world— the strain of having to try to protect your children from your own position of powerlessness, of the constant gnawing anxiety and uncertainty that comes with not knowing what tomorrow might hold for you, or where you will lay your head in a week, whether or not you will ever be able to go back to your home and the home of your ancestors, and whether this nightmare will last for a week–a year–a decade–a generation–or forever.

And all this you do while contending with a pain in your stomach. The cure for this pain is simple, and one you know well. But the cure is far off and not in your power.

All this you do knowing that your children feel the same pain you do, perhaps worse.

All this you try to do with the spirit of love and generosity required of you as a parent. And even perhaps with a sense of humor or optimism. It may sound impossible, yet in the people I have known who have suffered exactly all of these things, I have seen great humor and optimism and while these things have always astounded me, I now view them with newfound awe and respect.
I failed with none of these millstones around my neck. Would I be one of the bodies littering the road on the walk to the camp? How, then would my children have fared, and who would have cared for them in my absence? How many people and personalities were “selected out” along the way?

I have now come to see the camps as not only overflowing with the men and women I see, but also with the ghosts of the ones like me who never got there. I am riddled with weaknesses I never really needed to reflect upon because the circumstances of my life have never brought me into contention with them. I am buoyed by luxuries and comforts so prevalent I cannot even see them. I am lucky beyond measure. I thank God for my blessings.

And I recommit to do my best by these women and men–they deserve food in their bellies, roofs over their heads and peace for their families.

Mohamed Suleiman

This weekend, I am going to re-join the fast, water-only, for two days. It is important that the chain not be broken. We continue to fast — in solidarity with those who are being denied humanitarian aid in Darfur, who are being terrorized, bombed, and marginalized by their own government’s consent, all while those in power continue to make strong pronouncements against Khartoum yet refuse to exercise the real leadership necessary to stop the killing in Sudan. President Obama’s most recent trip to Cairo and Buchenwald is the latest example of this pattern of behavior. Strong words are a start, but they will not be sufficient to bring lasting peace to the people of Sudan.

When will this chain of fasters end? When we see the global powers work seriously together to end the devastation in Sudan, when we see humanitarian aid not simply restored but not needed because Darfuris are back in their villages, planting their crops and grazing their animals. When the government of Sudan changes their behavior and works to improve the lives of all their citizens — north, south, east, west — and does not simply act in ways that servers only to centralize and preserve its own power.

We will stop when the Obama Administration takes leadership and helps fully coalesce the international commitment to peace in Sudan. I encourage you to visit the “Is this Hope?” campaign to learn more — http://www.isthishope.com/

I really liked what Omer Ismael, of Enough!, said “today we support the people of Darfur, tomorrow we support the people of Congo, the people of Uganda, then support the many other peoples of the world who are going through different difficult experiences…”

How do we continue to build a global movement, an “ecosystem of change” as Peter Gabriel says, where those who have a voice can ensure that we collectively protect and nurture those whose voices are being silenced?

Feeling much gratitude for all the fasters who have come before me and who will fast after me.

Peace, p

Nikki Dryden Darfur Fast for Life from fastdarfur on Vimeo.

Day 4

I am on Day 4 of 5 of my Refugee Rations-only diet. While I feel lucky to be eating even the smallest amounts of food, the diet is bland and I find myself craving salt, flavoring, and anything that seems alive: fruit, vegetables, specifically something green or orange. In fact I crave anything but the beige rice, oatmeal, and lentils that I have been eating for the last four days.

When I am not thinking about food, I am thinking about how my body feels. As an athlete I am very in tune with my body. Although I am no longer in elite shape, I still take cues from my body to tell me when I am overstressed, overworked, or not well. I take happiness in feeling energetic and strong. However today I feel none of these things. My mind wanders easily and I keep forgetting what I am doing. I can’t concentrate, I don’t want to work, and I am functioning at half speed. Am I just tired from work? Or is it really a lack of food that makes me fall into bed as if I have just finished a day of double work-outs, with 4 hours of swim practice.

Then I think of the internally displaced people in Darfur and the refugees who have fled to neighboring countries. Last year when I worked for the Australian Government as a refugee visa officer I interviewed over 300 refugees from across Africa in 3 months. I heard story after story of torture and persecution. But more often than not, I heard stories of life in the refugee camps. Some were still in harms way, suffering violence and discrimination and even persecution within the camps. Still others would refuse to stay there, saying it was better to live in the dangerous neighborhoods of Nairobi where more than one of the women I interviewed was raped, than to live in a refugee camp.

Whether it is fear of violence, insufficient nutrition, poor sanitation or lack of opportunity, I have heard many stories of what life is like in a refugee camp. Today I go to sleep feeling exhausted and hungry, but I am safe. I have a roof over my head, clothes on my body, a family whose location I know, and the physical ability and secure environment to do whatever I need to do to survive. I wish only that every refugee from Darfur could feel this way tonight too.

And then it hit me on my drive home from the store…I am sooooo unbelievably lucky that I have these food choices to consider. Not only do I have a choice about whether or not my OJ is organic when I first break my fast, but I get to choose to break it. The refugees of Darfur do not have a choice AT ALL. They have no say in when their next meal will be, much less what it will consist of. They have no choice but to live in fear of starvation and violence. I pray tonight, as I bless the food that will soon nourish my body, that someone somewhere reads this and the many other blogs, videos, and testimonials from the people of Darfur; I pray that someone will do something about it. And do something now before more needless lives are lost to this genocide.

Hello friends,

Shannon and I broke fast on day 38, while in Morocco with The Elders. Her last blog was very moving and the feeling is mutual. But I promise to post a longer blog soon. Please know how much gratitude I feel for everyone who has fasted and has supported Darfur Fast for Life. I have no plans to end my commitment to peace in all of Sudan and will fast again in a heartbeat if it would bring more action and attention.

Sending you much aloha and ubuntu,

Pam

Since the launch of the Darfur Fast for Life on March 27 by actress and activist Mia Farrow, numerous prominent activists and leaders have joined the thousands of concerned citizens who are part of this fasting chain, including musician Peter Gabriel, Representatives Donald Payne (D-NJ) and Ilena Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), British mogul Richard Branson, and filmmaker and philanthropist Abigail Disney.

Here, members of the Enough team speak out about why they personally felt compelled to join the Darfur Fast for Life…

“Fasting for a day was a great personal reminder of what we, as activists, are fighting for. While this simple sacrifice on my part is trivial in comparison to the situation millions face every day in Darfur, I wanted to take this action to be a part of a campaign, along with thousands of others, who continue to speak out and act despite the relative inaction of the international community.  We have a responsibility to keep up our fight in any and every way possible until the people of Sudan see peace.”  John B.

“I wanted to be part of this fast because I feel like the public is getting complacent about the suffering in Darfur. I got involved in Darfur advocacy during my junior year of college, five years ago, and I find it appalling that the acute suffering continues. Now, with the expulsion of the major aid agencies in the region, the situation even threatens to worsen as the rainy season arrives this year. At this critical moment, it is important for us to do our job as activists: to keep Darfur in the news and weighing on the public’s conscience.” Laura

“The Darfur Fast for Life has helped bring renewed attention to the suffering of people in Darfur. I wanted to take part because, as President Obama said, the genocide in Darfur is a ‘stain on our souls.’ After six years of death, hunger, illness, and devastation, our leaders need to act, but they won’t do it without our constant pressure. I wanted to be part of this collective voice calling for a sustainable and comprehensive peace in Sudan.” Summer

For information about how to join the Darfur Fast for Life, click here.

Backing up, the first day was uncomfortable. I was hungry but my mind seemed to be in a consistent state, unlike the ups and downs I have experienced today. Today I started out full of energy, then totally tanked and was hit with headaches. And now this evening I have a burning energy I cannot explain. It feels like I just had a double espresso, but my body has not had any caffeine in over 48 hours. I cannot sleep, and I am drawn to the fastdarfur.org website to read the blogs of those who have experienced “day 2″ before me. Instead I land on the profiles and videos of the child refugees. I listen as one boy speaks about eating meat and drinking milk back home in Darfur and I cannot begin to imagine how deep and simple his desire for food and a normal life are at this very minute.

Being displaced is inconceivable to me but I can tell, for lack of a better term, it just sucks. I know that is not the most poetic way to say it, but this is surely the way it seems and it is so infuriating to think that so many people are displaced at this very moment (robbed of their lifestyle, their health and so much more) and we as a nation have every power to change that, but we are not. We are sitting on the sidelines.

I am not sure if my participation in this fast will make a difference to anyone that can do anything about it, but I know that 3 days is worth trying, and I would go 30 more if I knew it would change things, even for just one of the children’s profiles I have just read.

“Last weekend you upheld your promise to Michele to take her to dinner and Broadway performance in New York. What about your promise to the Darfuri people?” -Alysha Atma, Stop Genocide Now

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - The group Stop Genocide Now reports that one of the refugee camps in Chad has been bombed.

“Not only is Al-bashir embolden enough to starve his own people by expelling the aid organizations he is now bombing them, AGAIN,” they report.

The group’s Alysha Atma says people have the opportunity to use their voices for those that so desperately need it, and she is begging for the world’s assistance in reducing the rampant violence there.

The group has drafted an open letter to U.S. President Barack Obama seeking intervention and assistance:

Dear President Obama

During your campaign you said that you would listen, that all voices would be heard. Did that mean only those voices closest to you at that moment? I am yelling and many of my friends and family are yelling, LOUDLY, for Darfur. We asking that you now use your voice, to reach back into those fundamentals that ran your campaign on, to STAND UP and YELL for Darfur.

I listened to you and believed in you, that you would be the change. You said that if we did not act for Darfur it would be a stain on humanity. Darfur is bleeding and those still fighting for peace believed in you and trusted you to YELL LOUDLY for them.

I know that I am not the only one asking this of you, 600 people from 33 countries are fasting for Darfur. Fasting in solidarity for Darfur, standing together to act because we believe those in positions of authority who know what is right and just, could and should do more to alleviate their suffering and bring peace, protection, and justice to the people of Sudan.We fast for Darfur’s courageous people —because we yearn for a world where human rights are respected and a life of dignity is the legacy for every man, woman and child.

Al-Bashir believes he is stronger rather than weaker or isolated–after blatantly starving his own people, he now feels emboldened to even bomb refugee camp areas. I cannot imagine what our friends at camp Oure Cassoni might be going through, as Sudanese aircrafts repeatedly bomb that border area.

Last weekend you upheld your promise to Michele to take her to dinner and Broadway performance in New York. What about your promise to the Darfuri people? What about your promise to the American people about what is right and just in the International community? What about your promise to me to use your voice for those that need it, to stand for change? How many must starve and die in refugee camps? How many must run and hide from the bombs being droped on the only 20% of villages left in Darfur? When will NEVER AGAIN mean NEVER AGAIN?

I am using my voice, I need yours….

Sincerely

Alysha Atma

Stop Genocide Now

stopgenocidenow.org

fastdarfur.org

Email: alysha@iactivism.org

Email: oregon@fastdarfur.org

Skype: Alysha.Atma

Phone: 503-901-8103

Stop Genocide Now (SGN) is a grassroots community dedicated to working to protect populations in grave danger of violence, death and displacement resulting from genocide. Through active education, advocacy and policy change SGN resolves to change the way the world responds to genocide. SGN is currently focused on creating awareness and action to stop the genocide in Darfur and deal appropriately with its aftermath. All of our projects focus on and utilize the strength and power in grassroots connectivity.

The thing about this task is how much it makes you realize what a center of a family that food is. As a mother, I take a lot of pleasure in feeding my children and in watching them grow. And so the act of cooking for them is such an honor really; it is one of my favorite things about being a mother. There is a kind of conjuring that happens around the family meal, when everyone has gathered and set aside for a moment what they were doing, and come back into a kind of sacred circle, to share stories and thoughts, to break bread and to enjoy the gift we all are to one another. And so when I fast like this, I come to appreciate how difficult it must be for these mothers not to be able to feed their children the food they learned from their own mothers to make. How difficult it must be not to teach their own daughters as well. Something so much more than mere nutrition is at stake here.

So I am really missing this part of my life. And of course I am missing actually liking the stuff I am putting in my mouth. I am missing feeling stuffed at the end of a meal, missing taking one extra bite not because I need it but because it’s there and it’s just so good. I’m missing stopping into a little place for a bite to eat without thinking about it.
I was so discouraged when I woke up this morning. I was really close to just giving up. But I picked up the paper and found the most extraordinary piece by Bob Herbert. It was as though he’d read my mind and written this piece just for me. It recreated my resolve by reminding me of the gravity of what I am doing. Do check it out. It’s amazing. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/30/opinion/30herbert.html

For Immediate Release
May 29, 2009

Contact
Eileen White Read, 202.741.6376
eread@enoughproject.org

RELEASE: The Enough Project Joins Darfur Fast for Life

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Executives and staff of the Enough Project at the Center for American Progress have joined in the Darfur Fast for Life fasting chain begun by actress/activist Mia Farrow to call attention to the continuing suffering of the people of Sudan. Enough staff and leadership join more than 500 people in 33 countries who have fasted for one day or more, consuming only water or the 1,000 calories-per-day rations that are fed to residents of refugee camps.

“The Darfur Fast for Life is a powerful message that the situation on the ground in Sudan remains simply unacceptable and demands a much stronger response from our political leaders than we have seen to date,” said Enough Project executive director, John Norris.

Since the Darfur Fast for Life project began on April 27, it has attracted members of Congress including the Congressional Black Caucus and Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL); prominent philanthropists and entrepreneurs including film producer Abigail Disney, Sir Richard Branson of Virgin America, and Pam Omidyar of Humanity United; and nonprofit leaders including Jane Wales of the World Affairs Council and Ruth Messinger of the American Jewish World Service. Individuals from the music world have joined, including singers Peter Gabriel and Jon Foreman and record producer David Hodges, along with a three-time Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer, Josh Davis.

Enough Project Adviser, Omer Ismail, noted, “The commitment of people from 33 different countries to the fast is remarkable, and demonstrates the tremendous grassroots support for a comprehensive solution not just to Darfur, but Sudan’s multiple conflicts.”

Darfur Fast for Life is asking the Obama administration to ensure the return of 13 humanitarian aid agencies that were expelled from Sudan on March 5, following the International Criminal Court’s issuance of an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The group’s website, www.fastdarfur.org, also directs visitors to an April 30 letter to President Barack Obama from the Enough Project, the Save Darfur Coalition, and the Genocide Intervention Network containing detailed policy and strategic recommendations. The letter, President Obama and Sudan: A Blueprint for Peace, asks for commencement of a formal Darfur peace process; full implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the governments of southern Sudan and Khartoum; and negotiations leading to agreements for peace in Chad and eastern Sudan.

Enough’s Co-founder John Prendergast, who was an early participant in the fast in addition to joining this weekend’s fast, noted that “as activists, we must, of course, press our government do everything it can to address these crises of the day. But we must also keep our eyes on the longer-term prize: a peaceful, democratic Sudan. That should be President Obama’s top priority and his administration should work assiduously to achieve that objective.”

Earlier this month, Ms. Farrow met with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who released a statement saying, “As the administration and our special envoy develop a new policy, we must consider how we can get Khartoum to change its behavior.”

Members of the Congressional Black Caucus appeared with Ms. Farrow in a press conference to announce that they were joining the fast with the “hope that our fasting will compel decision makers to act more decisively to put an end to the suffering of millions of innocent men, women and children in Darfur. We must do all we can until the violence, suffering, and displacement have ended,” said Representative Donald M. Payne (D-NJ), a board member of the caucus, at a Capitol Hill news conference.

The CBC’s chair, Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA), added that while “the president is very focused on addressing the genocide in Darfur, … we want to make sure that Special Representative Gration [has] the type of tools and assistance that is required to address this humanitarian crisis that is of enormous proportions, one which we have not seen in many of our lifetimes.”

“Perhaps most importantly,” said Ms. Omidyar in a blog about her fast, “the United States must shed the failed policies of the status quo and begin anew in leading a coordinated and comprehensive international effort to build a roadmap for sustainable peace in Sudan. This process must include Sudan’s key economic and political partners, including China, Russia, and Egypt. The U.N. Security Council, meanwhile, must strengthen the Sudan sanctions committee, focus on better enforcement of the arms embargo, and begin to hold accountable those responsible for violating the sanctions regime. Until the international community shows better coordination on Sudan policy, progress is unlikely to be made.”

Visit the Enough Project’s blog, Enough Said, for updates on this issue.

Blake Mycoskie - TOMS Shoes - Darfur Fast for Life from fastdarfur on Vimeo.

The situation in Darfur is serious. I do not want my participation to be about me, but a signal to anyone following that I believe this effort to stop the injustice going on is worth disrupting your life for. I want to feel the pain they feel, even if for just a few days, and in only a fraction of what they feel considering I am still free, sleeping in a bed and supported by loved ones. I hope that my experience will change me, and that I will come out of my fast a more aware being. And lastly, it is my plea to anyone reading this to do something, anything in support of ending the genocide and injustice going on in Darfur.

Gabriel - Darfur Fast for Life from fastdarfur on Vimeo.

I believe in the power of community and the power of one, both contradictory to each other and yet can move together in a very powerful way. I feel a responsibility to use my place, freedoms and connections here in the US to stand up and yell for those who need my voice and actions. The people of Darfur have strength that I could not even begin to comprehend, they have traveled distances, have gone without food, water, shelter and safety for days and weeks at a time. I have a responsibility as a fellow human to put our common humanity before anything else. Everyone deserves to look towards tomorrow, to dream of a safe future and to have a peaceful present.

How did you come to this view?

I came to this view because that is my heart, mind and soul. I believe in our common humanity and that geographic location shouldn’t dictate if my family dies because of religion, race, creed or ancestry or most importantly human greed. I agree absolutely with knowledge comes responsibility, that one must choose. We as Americans have the freedom to make choices everyday, from the type of toothbrush we use to the news we watch, the books we read and most importantly to stand for others who may not have the ability or choice. I believe in that power of choice, the power of knowledge, we again can choose to educate ourselves further on issues or simply walk away. I choose not to walk away but to act with the knowledge that I have, knowing that I have opportunities, a voice and connection to others who own the same. I continue to look because I continue to act, I don’t always like what I see and at times I feel helpless. I believe however that as we all love and have compassion, can breath and feel that we have a responsibility to reach into that commonality and bring to the surface a loud response when others are in such desperate need.

Among friends here at our Elders meeting I filled my plate at the buffet with a hard-boiled egg, a piece of beef, asparagus and oddly enough, beans and rice (the plate looked out of balance with out the beans and rice). As I sat down to eat I was overwhelmed with emotion. Emotion I couldn’t understand but my eyes filled with tears and I had to sit for several moments and regain composure before eating. With incredible depth of insight Pam reached out and held my hand. It was hard to eat, I am still not sure why but it was and I didn’t eat much. I chose to sit at a table that continued discussions from our earlier board meeting about Zimbabwe. As I sat and ate, others around the table recounted the horror stories of what is now Zimbabwe. 4 to 5 Million People in need of aid; life expectancy which was once in the 50’s and 60’s now down to 36. A completely broken down and unsafe water system; water has to be trucked in. A healthcare system (if you can call it a system without implying any type of order) that runs at 1/3 capacity. And so on, and so on.

The celebratory feast I might have dreamed about during my fast was not that. It was drenched in emotion and new notice of yet another despicable tragedy on our globe. I have learned much about myself, much about my heart, much about my strengths and even more about my weaknesses. The reasons I began the fast were not the same reasons I continued it and are now not the same reasons I end it. I am left hungrier for change than food but more realistic about the hurdles that lie ahead. I am empty on one hand and recharged on the other.

This fast was deeply personal and it remains that. I must wake up to every new day with the courage to fight harder. I must fight at home and abroad. I must model for my young boys what really counts in the world and that they must have respect for all of mankind. I must be increasingly fervent in my prayers for a miracle, because a miracle is what it will take.

Much love and gratefulness for all who listened and heard, Shannon

We finished up dinner, and I got to see Gabo within minutes. He was shaken, not just his body—but his emotions also. I told him that he did the right thing by ducking under the table; that the homes here are strong and flexible, and nothing will happen to him. I wanted to tell him, but could not, that if anything ever happened I would come and protect him and make sure that he was OK—no matter where I was, I would come and see that he was safe. I could not tell him that because it would not be true. I cannot stop a quake, and I cannot know for sure that I would be physically there, on a moment’s notice, when needed.

A hollow feeling came over me, knowing that I could not completely protect my son. It was so strange. I already knew that, I guess, but I had not felt it like that.

As I’m fasting these days, I’m using it as a time to reflect about my time visiting the survivors from Darfur. I’ve heard so many stories, hours and hours. Their escape from their village, their walking across the desert with no food or water, and their loss—so many lives, it all is with me. I am thinking about the parents from Darfur and how they must feel, not knowing if they can protect their children.

I am fasting in solidarity with all those people I’ve met in the camps, and with their families in Darfur, and all the lives that are no longer there. I am also fasting in solidarity with Gabo and Mimi—my kids. This is their world.

View Congress Fast Map in a larger map

Congressman John Lewis Joins Darfur Fast for Life from fastdarfur on Vimeo.

Tell me - I forget,
Show me - I remember,
Involve me - I understand.

This goes a long way toward capturing what we are trying to do with Darfur Fast for Life. It’s about getting people more involved. It is no longer about sitting passively at one’s computer and collecting e-mails. While that plays a role in any campaign, how do we convince the world that crimes against humanity, mass atrocities, and genocide are horrors that needs to be stopped immediately? How do we convince the world that even one death is one where we were too slow to act?

Here at home, Americans need to be more concerned about the peace, safety, and livelihoods of others on our planet. Today more than ever, the world is so very interconnected, with every nation dependent upon another. I’ve always believed that Americans have too much of everything. We use so much and waste so much. We rarely take stock of what we truly need. The fast definitely has brought that message home more, at least for me.

How do we get more people to care about the many wars devastating millions of lives around the world, even if most of us remain unaffected by them? How do we find ways to tell our leaders that war is no longer a way to resolve government quarrels? When will we come to realize that any war anywhere threatens our common humanity, even as it destroys lives, devastates both land and culture, and tears apart the fabric of society, with no means of repairing it?

I often wonder if part of the problem lies in the flaws of our modern democratic systems. How is it that, even as democracy has spread with unprecedented scope and scale, governments have come to respect the will of their citizens less and less? Some day the will of the people must come to trump to the seductions of power. We all must demand that of our leaders. We all have a voice that we can use to demand better behavior from those in power. When we do, we’ll be one step closer to seeing meaningful peace and progress on our planet.

Today I am fasting for Zanuba, my sister from Darfur. I am fasting for Zanuba, whose village was destroyed and whose eyes and ears witnessed atrocities no human being should ever witness. A day of hunger is such a small sacrifice for me, one that is made involuntarily by Zanuba and her family every day. But it is a reminder to me, in a small and physical way, that the pain of genocide is real and that it continues. We have fought to stop this genocide through rallies and marches, letters and phone calls, meetings and conferences – yet we still have not succeeded in bringing peace to Sudan, bringing aid back to the refugees and bringing justice to the perpetrators. How do we have the energy to continue to fight? Because as long as they suffer, we must continue. Why do we continue to fight? Because we must NOT STANDL IDLY BY. We must have hope, just as they have hope.

Today I am fasting for my brothers and sisters in Darfur.

(photo: Janice Kamenir-Reznik, Rachel Andres, Zanuba, and Tzivia Schwartz-Getzug)

Remarks on Darfur

Thursday, May 21, 2009

I met briefly this week with the actress and activist Mia Farrow, who has dedicated so much time lately – and even put her own health at risk – to raise awareness of the atrocities in Darfur.

Like Ms. Farrow, my good friend Pam Omidyar – the Founder and Chair of the Board of Humanity United – has also fasted for more than a month in solidarity with the Darfurian refugees.

Mia Farrow and Pam Omidyar enjoy liberty and wealth. They do not need to do this. But through their actions, they both so generously speak for those the world ignores.

The terrible situation in Darfur deteriorates with each passing day. But we don’t hear much about it. It has long since faded from the front pages in the face of everything else going on in our economy and the two wars we wage in the Middle East.

We cannot ignore this crisis. The United States has officially and appropriately recognized that what is happening in Darfur is genocide. For the more than 2.4 million people who have been displaced against their will, we cannot look the other way and cannot stand idly by.

Most of the people of Darfur depend on international aid to survive day-to-day. The United Nations has agreed to send 26,000 peacekeepers to Darfur, but they face an uphill fight – they have struggled to get the resources they need to ensure the safety of those who live in Darfur and to end this crisis.

Making matters worse, when the International Criminal Court recently issued a warrant to arrest the President of Sudan – President Bashir – for war crimes and crimes against humanity, he responded by expelling 13 non-governmental organizations that had been distributing food and medicine to the people in Darfur.

Because of its economic investments, China has unique leverage with Sudan. It is important that China uses that influence to help the people of Darfur.

I appreciate the work of Major General Jonathan Scott Gration – the President’s special envoy to Sudan – but we must do more to put Darfur at the forefront of our foreign-policy agenda. And we must be clear about our objectives.

The Sudanese government has repeatedly proven untrustworthy at the negotiating table. As the administration and our special envoy develop a new policy, we must consider how we can get Khartoum to change its behavior.

There have been too many people in too many camps for too many years – and the world has been silent for far too long.

We have no excuse do anything short of all we can do to ensure aid groups are on the ground in Darfur, and that they can do their jobs – to ensure a political process is in place, and that it can work – and to help save the lives of millions.

David Hodges fasting for Darfur from fastdarfur on Vimeo.

Josh Davis - Day 3 Darfur Fast For Life from fastdarfur on Vimeo.

He was on CBS4 Denver on Sunday May 17 announcing his fast and talking about the current situation in Darfur.

Watch the video - http://cbs4denver.com/video/?id=57171@kcnc.dayport.com

Josh Davis - Day 2 - Darfur Fast for Life from fastdarfur on Vimeo.

Once again,the Congressional Black Caucus led by Congressman Donald Payne STEPPED UP !!!
Several members of the CBC spoke, some had even traveled to Darfur. Some had been arrested last month -protesting outside the Sudanese Embassy.

The sun was shining and the sky was clear blue. The press conference was held on the steps of the Cannon Terrace Hill-on Independence Avenue- with the Capitol buildings behind us. Congressman Payne-who has long participated in non-violent protests, has been honorably arrested three times. He read out the names of those who will fast in solidarity with the people of Darfur and as a symbol of their commitment to end the suffering and slaughter of innocents. I had the great privilege of standing with the Caucus which included John Lewis, my long-time hero !!

Darfuris, Omer Ismael and Mohammed Yahya spoke wonderfully and movingly about Darfuri’s need for justice. We did not bring them peace, protection or an end to their misery -but we did support justice through the ICC. Both men said they represent Darfuris in the millions who would rather die than forfeit justice.

That my (very personal) decision to fast has led to such a moment in DC is more meaningful than I can say.

Earlier I met with Senator Harry Reid. He promised to bring up Darfur in the Senate. He wanted to know what could be DONE. The vagaries of “more” and “priority” really don’t fly. So I said, ‘ China’ and our need to support the ICC-( this is the time for a change ) He took notes. His chief of staff seemed very on-board!

US Envoy to Sudan, Scott Gration is leaving for Beijing tomorrow. He should bring the message that China has a constructive role to play- not only in getting the aid agencies back into Darfur with unrestricted access to populations, but in the vigorous pursuit of a legitimate and comprehensive peace process; also in reconsidering China’s arms sales to Khartoum. The US gov holds key cards but China has the full deck.

Darfur remains a stain on Beijing’s reputation as a preeminent emerging power. They should use their considerable influence to bring about an end to the anguish that currently defines Darfur– and by extension, them.

Since my first visit to Darfur in 2004, countless people have told me their stories of terror and pain and loss. They hoped I would return to my country and tell ‘the world’ what they have endured and what they are facing still. And they always express the hope that if the world only knew what is happening in Darfur, surely someday, someone will care enough to save them.

Over and over again I have promised them I would do my utmost to tell ‘the world’ what is happening in Darfur. And I have tried. Every day I try- but their suffering continues. Rations of hope are now more meager in Darfur than rations of food.

But today, on the steps of one of our nations greatest buildings, in the company of some of our most powerful and respected leaders, Darfuri voices were heard.

I am at the airport heading home. I will sleep soundly tonight. Tomorrow we must try harder.

– Mia Farrow

John Prendergast Joins Darfur Fast for Life from fastdarfur on Vimeo.

The reason I have chosen to fast is to join Mia Farrow and others around the world who are ready to win a battle for humanity and the Darfuri people! I am grateful for those who have waged this war by taking action by calling their leaders, traveling to Darfur, and reaching out and asking more to join this effort.

I am not so arrogant to think that I was able to win Olympic medals and reach my potential athletically, academically even spiritually on my own. I had a community who came together to create opportunities for me to succeed. They rallied around me and came to my aid. We, too, can do this for the Darfuris.

I have never attempted to weaken my body to accomplish a goal for international awareness. Most of my life has been spent strengthening my body to gain international recognition . This small act of fasting has humbled me.

Honestly, my initial thought this evening was when will this be over! As I clicked on the video of Adam, the father of six in the refugee camp in Chad, I couldn’t help but think that he, too, might be asking when will this be over?

As he looked at me through the computer screen, I wish I could say in two days! However, you and I both know that when I end my fast in two days Adam will still be asking, “When will this be over!”

We must find him an answer! We must stay united! When I travel The United States speaking to young people, I often share this quote:

A human can go 40 days without food…four days without water…four minutes without air…but you cannot last four seconds without hope!

I can make it another two days without food but how much longer will the Darfuris make it if they loose hope? Let’s give them that hope!

Call your leaders!
1-800-GENOCIDE (1-800-436-6243)

Completed my commitment of one day on water and four on camp rations. I broke fast tonight with a pear, the best I ever tasted.

I was hungry.
I was hungry. No, still understand nothing of true hunger. A refrigerator full of food has been around the corner all week. My brother hungers.
I slept. In a bed. In a secure home. No worries of soldiers with guns or gunships with bombs. My sister sleeps not.
I dreamt. Free from nightmares of violence, images of war. My brother dreams of a home, a village in ashes, a brother lost.
I had the luxury to work. My sister earns no wage and has no choice of work.
I talked with blood relatives by phone. I know exactly where they are. My brother knows the lingering silence following separation by violent death and forced dispersion. He longs to know where his aunts and uncles and cousins are, if they live, if they are safe.
None of my daughters went hungry today. None made the choice of whether to risk rape to gather firewood. My sister makes impossible choices.
Yet sure and certain hope endures. The laughter of a child is one language. Love is indistinguishable.
Never again. Never now.

– John

There was good news out of the Hague today: Abu Garda, the head of the United Resistance Front faction in Darfur, is heading to the Hague in response to a summons to appear, issued by the ICC. He is going voluntarily. I point now to both the Reuters article as well as a video showing the rebel leaders willingness to support international justice, even if it means they go in front of the ICC: http://sudanwatch.blogspot.com/2009/03/darfur-rebels-vow-full-icc-cooperation.html

I have been thinking a lot about Peter Gabriel’s video as I noted on my last blog. Many many people are deeply disappointed by the cancellation of the Mandate Darfur conference. It was a chance for the civil society community in Darfur to truly be a part of their own future and what should be their peace process.

The world is at a few tipping points that we need to stand behind fully: one is the call for a global justice system, that despite it’s growing pains, is working towards a truly fair system that is also a huge deterrent for committing mass atrocities. The second growing movement is one that civil society and the will of the people are more valued and protected than the notion of sovereignty. We have (as Peter Gabriel says), the UN to represent the governments of the world. What is emerging, what is crying out to emerge, is an ecosystem to represent the peoples of the world - how can we all work to nurture this ecosystem and not simply support it but fiercely defend and actively build it?

I wonder about the mothers of Darfur. Compassion means to “suffer with.” That was my desire when I began this fast. To suffer with the moms there in the camps. Who was I kidding? Impossible. I barely scratch the surface.

There is something incredibly dangerous about knowledge. In this case it is the same as notice. I’ve been there, seen the faces of those moms and their children. I have listened with my own ears to their cries for peace and security. I have held their hands and cried with them. I am on notice. It is happening. Every bit of it. As far away and foreign as we all want it to be, it is not. It takes less than a day to be there in their midst. As incredible technology affords my 3 year old a little touch screen gadget that fits in his pocket that will play any number of videos or games on his command in half a second, there they wait. Waiting there in the most prehistoric and tragic of conditions which fight their everyday efforts to stay alive and keep their families alive.

Knowledge = Notice.

Am I an accomplice?

david hodges

David Hodges Joins Darfur Fast for Life from fastdarfur on Vimeo.

Josh Davis - Darfur Fast for Life from fastdarfur on Vimeo.

We fast in solidarity with the people of Darfur because they do not have a choice. We fast as a personal expression of outrage at a world that has allowed the suffering of millions of innocent people. We fast because as we simply watched, Darfur’s defenseless people were forced into wretched camps where today they are facing starvation and disease. We fast because those in positions of authority who know what is right and just, could and should do more to alleviate their suffering and bring peace, protection, and justice to the people of Sudan.

We fast for Darfur’s courageous people —because we yearn for a world where human rights are respected and a life of dignity is the legacy for every man, woman and child.

As we fast to draw attention to this latest devastating situation in Darfur, we must also look for ways to press our leaders to develop a strategic vision for U.S. policy aimed at ENDING the cycle of war and famine in Darfur, rather than simply managing the genocidal consequences. What’s needed is for the U.S. to commit to leading the international effort to build a credible peace process in Darfur and to rebuild a viable mechanism to oversee the implementation of the North-South deal.

There will always be immediate crises to address. As activists, we must, of course, press our government do everything it can to address these crises of the day. But we must also keep our eyes on the longer-term prize: a peaceful, democratic Sudan. That should be President Obama’s top priority, and his envoy to Sudan, General Scott Gration, should organize U.S. efforts and work multilaterally to achieve this objective.

Gabriel, KTJ and the i-Act team go to Chad and speak with the refugees often - please view their videos and see directly what the people of Darfur are saying about their situation and about peace and justice: http://www.stopgenocidenow.org/

I am going on a month of eating meals similar to what the displaced people of Sudan have been eating for over five years - and while I know my mind is cloudy, my metabolism has crashed, and I have lost about 14 pounds, I really do not know what they are going through; for I have a clean and comfortable bed and I can go to sleep every night knowing my husband and children are safe. For the more than 2.7 million displaced Darfuris, they have lost their homes, their livelihoods, and many have lost their families as well.

We fast with the people of Darfur - we will continue to do so to call attention to this vast emergency until the world’s leaders decide to take meaningful action to alleviate suffering and bring real forms of peace and justice to Sudan. I also want it for the tens of millions of other people who have been forced to flee for their lives - to learn more about refugees around the world, please visit UNCHR’s website: http://www.unhcr.org/

We need the movement to get the political will - Let’s build the movement now. We will wait no longer for others to do it, we must do it ourselves.

Peter Gabriel - End of his 1st day of fasting for Darfur from fastdarfur on Vimeo.

Peter Gabriel - An Ecosystem of Change - Darfur Fast for Life from fastdarfur on Vimeo.

Peter Gabriel - Darfur Fast for Life from fastdarfur on Vimeo.

Sunday, May 17th at 5:30pm
RSVP Appreciated - oregon@fastdarfur.org
Children Welcome
Susan, Najam and Zamir’s House

Today, between 10 and 15 of our club members fasted for 24 hours. We wore armbands to school and told everyone about the reason for our fast as a way to raise awareness of the hungry refugees.

Mia Farrow’s Hunger strike for Darfur

Darfur Fast for Life

We fast in solidarity with the people of Darfur because they do not have a choice. We fast as a personal expression of outrage at a world that has allowed the suffering of millions of innocent people. We fast because as we simply watched, Darfur’s defenseless people were forced into wretched camps where today they are facing starvation and disease. We fast because those in positions of authority who know what is right and just, could and should do more to alleviate their suffering and bring peace, protection, and justice to the people of Sudan.

We fast for Darfur’s courageous people —because we yearn for a world where human rights are respected and a life of dignity is the legacy for every man, woman and child.

Adef’s food rations

Feeling exhausted. Today was easily the worst day yet, although our Humanity United board meeting discussions went well in the morning.

Even failed my daily soduku brain challenge (the scientist-geek-in-me way to test brain function on this fast). I hit a peak maybe a week into the fast, whipping through “hard” sodukus in record time. Tonight, I could barely do 20 percent of a medium one without giving up due to mistakes. Tried twice. I am checking in with my doctor tomorow. And in that sense, I am lucky. Seeing a doctor doesn’t require me to walk miles or wait for days like most displaced people must do.

I have been tremendously heartened by Congressman Donald Payne’s commitment to Sudan and his fasting with all of us. I’m grateful to the other fasters, as well, and my thoughts are with Peter Gabriel as he begins tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be day 27 for Shannon and me. We started earlier than others because of our impatience for change. We are still impatient. But there are millions of Darfuris who have been waiting for over 5 years for change. When will the world care enough about their health and safety to help them have it?

Gabriel says: “The people of Darfur have suffered horribly in the last six years and despite many campaigns, protests and the judgment of the International Criminal Court, there has been insufficient international response to stop the suffering. For that reason, I really hope that the Darfur Fast for Life campaign puts the plight of the Darfuris back on the world’s priority list. I also believe it is enormously important that there is sufficient international backing for the ICC to bring President Bashir to trial”.

Florida Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen will join Peter Gabriel May 14 for one day on water-only.

Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen stated: “I join the Darfur Fast for Life today in solidarity with the victims of genocide in Darfur. I have been to the camps for displaced Darfuris and witnessed first hand the suffering of the men, women and children whose lives have been shattered by this conflict. I know that conditions have only worsened following Sudanese regime’s callous decision to expel a number of the humanitarian organizations on which the displaced have come to rely for survival. I can only hope that this small gesture helps to raise awareness that even though Darfur may not be in the daily headlines, the genocide continues.”

UPDATES

• Jon Foreman’s blog on his last day of fasting - impossible to ignore
• Richard Branson has three new video blogs about his fast.
• Jon Foreman of Switchfoot held a live video conference with Conversant Life Wednesday morning. An archive of the video will be available shortly, please visit http://www.conversantlife.com/darfur later to view it.
• People from 25 different countries are now fasting together: Albania, Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Chad, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Romania, Senegal, Spain, Sudan, Thailand, UK, USA
• Najam from Portland, OR shares his fasting experience and advice - Ketone Analysis & Metabolic Phases
• Gretchen Steidle Wallace - Global Balance of Power
  
• Pam Omidyar - Day 26 of fast
• Shannon Sedgwick Davis - Day 27 of her fast
• Gabriel Stauring A Growing Community - for Leila

I’ve just received word that the sudanese forces carried out a bombing raid on North Darfur today. And then this: In an IDP camp in west Darfur they ran out of water completely. I feel tremendously sad. Frustrated by the injustices and and feeling ridiculously small in the face of it all.

Tonight I pass the baton to a hero of mine, peter gabriel who be fasting for the next three days. It’s a sobering thought, the luxury of being able to go back to food and while millions cannot.

I might be an idealist. I might not have a political mind. But I do know that something is off.

And I take a look at a nation of excess, (including my own) and I wonder why we as a nation aren’t involved in what many are calling the paramount international human-rights crisis — the Darfur genocide. Speaking of Darfur during his campaign, Obama said: “As president of the United States, I don’t intend to abandon people.” Yet he is. About genocide, he said, “We can’t say ‘never again’ and allow it to happen again.” But it is happening again.

With the U.S. budget deficit on track to rise to a record setting 1.84 trillion dollars in the current fiscal year, we remain uncommitted to Darfur. As a nation we are literally living on borrowed money, borrowing from the future to pay for the present. And yet, the staggering loss of human life in Darfur is not on our national priority list. With our budget we are declaring what is most important to our nation. In our excess we are abandoning Darfur.

Mother Theresa said this: “It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.” I am so convicted by her words.

I want to be a part of the solution. I want to laugh with those who laugh, weep with those who weep, and suffer with those who suffer. I have lost much of my childlike faith in the government, but I have a hope for justice still. Maybe God alone can bring about final justice, but in this life I feel we are called to pursue it with our flesh and blood. If Christ was best known for his death, “laying down his life for his friends” then shouldn’t his followers do likewise? serving and loving those in need? These are not things I can do on my own. I need your help. we all need a community to thrive in, to challenge us… to threaten us with abundant living.

This is our world. It’s what you and me and the millions of other souls on our planet make it. This is your darfur, my darfur… Our chance to act or pretend that we don’t care. Whatever your personal religious convictions may be, the tragedy in Darfur is impossible to ignore.

Today is Day 27 of my fast, there is grim news from Sudan. Reports of bombing by the Government of Sudan in Northern Darfur. Additionally, there is recent news from the ground that the refugee camp HasaHisa has completely run out of water. There is also grim news from Burma as a dear sister of peace is now being threatened with a return to a certain horrific captivity. It reminds me of her strength and enduring courage Aung San Suu Kyi has spent a lifetime separated from loved ones and from the life and authority that was rightfully hers all taken from her by evil persons.

We owe it to Aung San Suu Kyi to fight for peace, we owe it to sweet Arch Tutu, we owe it to ourselves because we are accountable for what happens on our watch.

Richard Branson - Day 3 - Darfur Fast for Life from fastdarfur on Vimeo.

Richard Branson - Day 2 - Darfur Fast for Life from fastdarfur on Vimeo.

Richard Branson - Day 1 - Darfur Fast for Life from fastdarfur on Vimeo.

Ketone Analysis for Informed Fasting from Njmalhq on Vimeo.

Ketone Analysis for Informed Fasting from Njmalhq on Vimeo.

Metabolic Phases During Fasting from Njmalhq on Vimeo.

May 11, 2009

Congressman Donald M. Payne, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health and an outspoken leader in working towards ending the suffering in Darfur and bringing lasting peace to Sudan, is joining Darfur Fast for Life. Hearing of Mia Farrow’s hunger strike and Sir Richard Branson taking the fast baton, Congressman Payne committed to fasting water-only for three days, staring Monday, May 11.

Congressman Payne will be joined in fasting by recording artist Jon Foreman. Foreman is the front-man for multi-platinum selling rock band Switchfoot and has been actively involved in advocacy and activism in many areas. He cares deeply about ending the suffering in Darfur. Over the years Jon Foreman and Switchfoot have used their voice to support many worthy causes: International Justice Mission, Habitat for Humanity, The Surfrider Foundation, Invisible Children, TWLOHA and numerous local charities.

Richard Branson — Darfur Fast for Life

Wednesday, May 13th @ 10:30 AM -11:00 AM PST (1:30 PM - 2:00 PM). LIVE Video interview with Jon Foreman of Switchfoot about his Fast for Darfur. MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!

Archive of the Live Video interview

Jon Foreman Fast for Darfur Interview from CJ Casciotta on Vimeo.

My first thought: I have access to clean water and a roof to sleep under. I have a bed. I have my guitar. In this fast I was hoping to join in solidarity with those who are fasting without an option; and yet the hunger I have right now is nothing compared to the despair of Darfur. Robbed of dignity, robbed of their homes, these refugees are on the run from brutal violence and rape, seeking out any form of hope. The smallest bit of hunger that I feel this morning cannot even be compared to the hunger that Darfur woke up with today: a hunger for dignity, a hunger for freedom, a hunger for so much more than simply food.

My second though was this: I need so much grace. I need so much patience. I need so many second chances. Even in this fast, I’m sure my motives are impure most the time. I might be drinking only water but it’s my mind and my heart that are corrupted and impure. I would like to think that I have it all together but I don’t- from the little things: I screw up the time and end up running late way too often- to the big things: I get overwhelmed at suffering and sorrow in the world and sometimes would rather turn the other way. And in my hopes to get things right I can be extremely judgmental of everyone everything around me. Dang it. I’m sorry all. God is so patient with me. My friends and family are so patient with me. I need to learn how to pass this grace along.

My third thought was along these lines: we are meant to live and love in community- to grow old together having shared laughter and pain and joy- to love each other through the painful spots. But we’re so bent and hurt that we drive each other away. We’ve been so broken and shattered (Speaking out of experience here!), that we are driven to break and shatter the ones around us. Call it our fallen nature, or look to Freud and call it our death urge… might as well call it the front page of the newspaper. The fact is: we are driven to pieces, destroying ourselves and those around us in the search for meaning. No life is meant to be lived alone. We know this and yet on a planet with millions of people we drive lonely cars and work lonely jobs. We start lonely wars and buy lonely houses.

My fourth thought: Everything on this capital planet is worth what we will pay for it. The “worth” of gold rises and falls according to public opinion. The housing market, meats and vegetables, vintage guitars, oil… The trouble is that people fall into this category as well. The value of human life and dignity… What’s it worth? Is it worth my time? Is it worth risking national security? Is it worth more than oil? Is it worth getting out of my comfort zone to help someone out? What we ascribe worth to is what we “worth-ship” - and what we worship is most evident with our time and money. Stock up treasures in heaven where moths and rust cannot destroy.

What’s the meaning of life? What’s worth living for? We live out those answers everyday in our choices. It’s a tremendous amount of power, (accompanied with fear and trembling). The staggering realization is this: you’ve been loaned the power to determine what’s “worth it” in your lifetime. Every hour of life affords a tremendous amount of spending power; choose wisely with your time, it’s one of your most valuable resources.

UPDATES

• Jon Foreman of Switchfoot held a live video conference with Conversant Life Wednesday morning. An archive of the video will be available shortly, please visit http://www.conversantlife.com/darfur later today to view it.
• Richard Branson has three new video blogs about his fast.
• People from 25 different countries are now fasting together: Albania, Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Chad, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Romania, Senegal, Spain, Sudan, Thailand, UK, USA
• Najam from Portland, OR shares his fasting experience and advice - Ketone Analysis & Metabolic Phases
• Congressman Donald M. Payne joins the fast
• Jon Foreman - There’s something broken with the system
• Gretchen Steidle Wallace - Global Balance of Power
  
• Pam Omidyar - Mother’s Day Thoughts
• Shannon Sedgwick Davis - Mother’s Day Thoughts
• Gabriel Stauring A Growing Community - for Leila
• Read comments from the community that is fasting in solidarity with Mia and the people of Darfur
• Follow Darfur Fast for Life on Twitter: @DarfurFast

Jon Foreman - Switchfoot - Darfur Fast for Life

This is kinda weird. I’m all for publicity — especially when artists are speaking up for the downtrodden in Africa — but when somebody’s fasting, it just doesn’t seem right to publicize — at least not during the fast. From Matthew 6:16

“And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get. 17 But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face. 18 Then no one will notice that you are fasting, except your Father, who knows what you do in private. And your Father, who sees everything, will reward you”

Please take this in the right spirit. You know I’m a big Switchfoot and Foreman fan, and not just because of their music. I’m passionate about a lot of the same things Jon is passionate about, and I have the utmost respect for him. But this seems like, well, not your typical publicity fodder.

Feel free to tell me to take hike!

———————————————————
here’s my response:

Hola friend,

thanks for your thoughtful email. I think understand your feelings about the publicity element of this fast. I have thought this through and would like to offer a few thoughts of my own.

First off, if the term “fast” throws you off, try a different term- maybe hunger protest. Or maybe this one: hunger strike.

The all-informative Wikipedia says this:

A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. A hunger strike cannot be effective if the fact that it is being undertaken is not publicized so as to be known by the people who are to be impressed, concerned or embarrassed by it.

Or maybe try this term instead: 30 hour famine.

The 24-hour famine, the 30-hour famine, and the 40-hour famine are all very public attempts (most often within the church), to raise awareness and join in with those who are starving. Literally starving. The Global Food Crisis is in year two… And none of my friends really knows about it; to do nothing at all feels wrong. These are well accepted forms of “fasting” within the church.

If none of those terms work, I understand. Don’t talk at all about my hunger strike if you don’t feel comfortable with it. But instead I ask that you would write a whole article about Darfur. Save every dot of ink and every scrap of page for the ones I’m trying to draw attention to. Fast with me (in public or private). Join in with those who need your help. This would be my ultimate goal…

I thought about matthew 6 before I began this fast and feel comfortable with my decision to make this fast public. Fasting is one of the only ways I could think of to enter into the suffering of darfur. Like I’ve said earlier- I honestly don’t have a better idea! If you or anyone else has any better ideas as to how to end the cycle of violence and despair I’m all ears. Or let me know how to support what your doing over there and I will try my best to lend my songs to the cause.

To bring it back to the specifics of this fast, Darfur remains the United Nations’ largest relief operation. More than 2.7 million civilians have been driven from their homes, and about 4.7 million rely on humanitarian aid to this day.

and that is why I cannot eat…

jon

Said Gabriel, “The people of Darfur have suffered horribly in the last six years and despite many campaigns,
protests and the judgment of the International Criminal Court, there has been insufficient international
response to stop the suffering. For that reason, I really hope that the Darfur Fast for Life campaign puts the
plight of the Darfuris back on the world’s priority list. I also believe it is enormously important that there is
sufficient international backing for the ICC to bring President Bashir to trial”

Gabriel began his solo career in 1975 after leaving the legendary rock band Genesis. Since then, he has
released eleven solo albums and written soundtracks for three films. In 1980 he founded WOMAD, World of
Music Arts and Dance, a music festival that introduced world music to 22 different countries and islands. In
1989, Gabriel conceived and co-founded Witness.org, and went on to co-found the Elders.org along with
Richard Branson, and launched by Nelson Mandela in July 2007. Gabriel has received several accolades
including, the Man of Peace award, presented by the Nobel Peace Laureates in 2007, the ‘Chevalier dans
l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres’ and the ‘Quadriga Award. He has also received various lifetime achievement
awards as well as BT’s digital Music Pioneer Award and Grammy awards for his music and video work.

Gabriel joins fasters from over 25 countries including Albania, Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Chad, France,
Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Philippines, Puerto Rico,
Romania, Senegal, Spain, Sudan, Thailand, UK and USA. Gabriel and others will continue to provide video
and blog posts throughout the Darfur Fast for Life at www.fastdarfur.org.

The Darfur Fast for Life | We are leaders, activists and citizens around the world who fast in solidarity with
the people of Darfur because they do not have a choice. We fast as a personal expression of outrage at a world
that has allowed the suffering of millions of innocent people. We fast because as we simply watched, Darfur’s
defenseless people were forced into wretched camps where today they are facing starvation and disease. We
fast because those in positions of authority who know what is right and just, could and should do more to
alleviate their suffering and bring peace, protection, and justice to the people of Sudan.

We fast for Darfur’s courageous people —because we yearn for a world where human rights are respected and
a life of dignity is the legacy for every man, woman and child.

UPDATES

• Peter Gabriel will begin a three day water-only fast on May 14
• Tomorrow @ 10:30 AM PST:  Participate in a LIVE Video interview with Jon Foreman of Switchfoot about his Fast for Darfur
• People from 25 different countries are now fasting together: Albania, Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Chad, France, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Romania, Senegal, Spain, Sudan, Thailand, UK, USA
• Congressman Donald M. Payne joins the fast
• Jon Foreman - There’s something broken with the system
• Gretchen Steidle Wallace - Global Balance of Power
  
• Pam Omidyar - Mother’s Day Thoughts
• Shannon Sedgwick Davis - Mother’s Day Thoughts
• Gabriel Stauring A Growing Community - for Leila
• Read comments from the community that is fasting in solidarity with Mia and the people of Darfur
• Follow Darfur Fast for Life on Twitter: @DarfurFast

The calendar is broken down by week, please select a week below to view:

–> This week: July 6 - 12 <–

Week 1: April 27 - May 3, 2009
Week 2: May 4 - 10, 2009
Week 3: May 11 - 17, 2009
Week 4: May 18 - 24, 2009
Week 5: May 25 - 31, 2009
Week 6: June 1 - 7, 2009
Week 7: June 8 - 14, 2009
Week 8: June 15 - 21, 2009
Week 9: June 22 - 28, 2009
Week 10: June 29 - July 5, 2009
Week 11: July 6 - 12, 2009
Week 12: July 13 - 19, 2009
Week 13: July 20 - 26, 2009
Week 14: July 27 - August 2, 2009
Week 15: August 3 - 9, 2009
Week 16: August 10 - 16, 2009
Week 17: August 17 - 23, 2009
Week 18: August 24 - 30, 2009
…

To join Darfur Fast for Life for one day or more, send an e-mail to join@fastdarfur.org with your name, date(s) fasting, hometown, and type of fasting you will participate in (water only or refugee rations). If you left a comment on this site please also email join@fastdarfur.org, as we might overlook your comment. Please be sure to check with your doctor, if you intend on doing any extended form of fasting.

And yet, I have a tremendous amount of faith and belief in humanity. When it comes to folks outside of the power schemes I might even trust people too much. I am ruthlessly idealistic, hopelessly optimistic. I believe the best in people. That’s why I have to do something, because I feel that if people knew the truth, they would feel the same as I do. They would feel that something has to be done. They would care and things would change.

President Barack Obama last week requested a $1.5 billion emergency appropriation to deal with a flu outbreak that has killed 3 people in the US. I believe this action was in response to a nation experiencing “what could potentially be the biggest national emergency since Y2K” (genius comparison courtesy of glenn phillips.)

An estimated 300,000 folks have already died in Darfur and we do nothing… $0.00. And three people die of the flu and we spend $1.5 billion to figure things out. $1,500,000,000.00

I understand the need for precautionary measures but this feels like reactionary spending when I am reminded of the 2,500,000 people whose lives hang in the balance in displacement camps? What can be done for them? don’t tell me nothing.

Obama: “We can’t ignore the genocide in Darfur… We have to do everything in our power to make it stop. We have to act. Now.”

Nothing? Years and years go by… and still… nothing…

Our national inaction sends the simple message that a whole crowd of Sudanese souls are not worth as much as an American with the flu. “Surely this is not true!” we protest. And yet our actions speak louder than our words.

There’s something broken with the system.

We the people of the united states of america… We are the system. We are the media. We are the government. We are the twittering public. We the people of the united states of america… we own this place. We decide who is president. We pick the next american idol. Obama our leader, is in many ways a follower of his people. In a state where the vote of the populous determines the next face of the government, a politician must listen to his/her constituents to remain in power. I believe nothing was done for Darfur because Obama doesn’t think the public cares about Darfur.

Perhaps we can blame the media- perhaps the public doesn’t care because they are uninformed, or at least under-informed? Yes, but in many ways “the news” is simply a vendor trying to sell a product, we tell them (with our viewing, purchasing power) what product sells. Britney, Brangelina, or Bosnia. we choose the news.

And now for the staggering fact: you and I are the problem and the solution.

When I first went to the camps, I naively expected to find long cafeteria lines like a soup kitchen. I did not know that refugees received a monthly ration of food that they had to cook over a wood fire. Then I learned about the horrific risk of rape that women face as they leave the camps to collect the firewood they need to cook each day. I could not understand why the UN did not more proactively address the issue of cooking fuel. In some places we were told that women were walking up to 8 miles each way before they would find a stubby tree to take branches from for their fire. Early in the conflict, Médecins Sans Frontières estimated that 82% of rapes occurred during such daily chores. Periodically I hear about UN deliveries of firewood, but I do not know if they are regular or even still ongoing. I witnessed one of these monthly distributions in a camp in Eastern Chad. The women told me their small pile of wood could last 5-6 days – two weeks if they were really resourceful. The pile was about the size I could go through in a few hours on a camping trip.

There is an amazing program called the Solar Cooker Project sponsored by Jewish World Watch, which teaches women how to cook their food using the heat of the sun, reflected off a three-part piece of cardboard covered with a silver coating. And there is a wonderful group started by a high-school student called Teens 4 Peace, which have been manufacturing a small device that helps women know if their water has gotten hot enough using the solar cooker to purify the water. And yet, the women also told us they prefer the smoky taste to their food that they get from a wood fire. I can almost understand, but I’ve only been eating these same rations each meal for about two weeks now – not five or six years.

Even more staggering, we were told that there was enough of a market for firewood that women were still going off into the desert to collect it even if they had a solar cooker. I wonder what they buy with that money. The women I spoke with in the camps always asked for milk for their children. But to risk rape or murder by Janjaweed to collect a few pieces of firewood to sell…the need for their children must be so very great. just cannot fathom this. What will they cook on when the rains come and there is no solar option?

I first visited Darfuri refugee camps on the Chad-Sudan border in 2005. I thought it was going to be my only trip, since there was just no way this could go on for long. I am now getting ready to go on my 8th trip.

In one of those visits, I fell in love with a little girl called Leila. She is beautiful. Walking barefoot on burning-hot sand, she was always smiling and right next to me. I got to carry her for quite a while, as other children led us across the camp to see the market. I have Leila’s picture on my phone, always on the screen when it lights up.

This past Saturday, I was with my daughter at a religious celebration, her first communion. I am not exactly religious, but I felt such joy to be with my beautiful girl and see her growing so strong and witty and smart. We laugh so much. I can’t wait to see her life unfold.

As the ceremony was about to begin, I reached for my phone to turn off the sound, and little Leila, with her orange hair–a clear sign of malnutrition, looked at me smiling. I got really sad, thinking about her and her parents, wondering how much joy and how much hope they experience. The future of Leila is so much less certain than the future of my Noemi.

I arrived home in San Diego early this morning, back from a run of shows up the coast with Switchfoot. The sun is setting over the pacific and my hair is still wet from an evening surf. In the distance I can hear the whistle of the Amtrak from LA heading south. I’m grateful to be home, grateful to have a place to live, grateful to have been given another breath alive on this planet.

But today my thoughts are divided, split between two worlds. As the sun sets over California it begins to rise over Darfur. The same sun. The same planet. Can it be possible that right now, two and a half million people are waking up in camps and refugee camps having been driven from their homes by violent means? Under the same sun, could it be true that almost half a million people have died of starvation, violence, and disease over the past six years in Darfur? Is this true?!

And if this is true, why has the media remained almost completely silent on the issue? Why has our government maintained it’s current stance of inaction?

When presidential hopeful Obama was running for office he stated that “We can’t ignore the genocide in Darfur. The international community can’t turn a blind eye when children are being slaughtered and women are being raped. We have to do everything in our power to make it stop. We have to act. Now.”

Nothing has happened.

And yet the sun is still rising over Darfur. And the sun still rises over me. And the sun still rises over capital hill… the same sun.

Today we celebrate mother’s day with our moms and grandmothers. My thoughts drift overseas to the mother who is just now waking up, wondering whether she’ll be able to give her children anything to eat.

Tomorrow I begin a three day fast for Darfur. Why fast? Because quite frankly, I can’t think of a better idea. I reckon the best way to enter into the suffering of a group of people halfway around the world is to start with the basics. These folks are fasting without alternative, for three days I will fast with them.

Week 11: July 6 - 12, 2009

To join Darfur Fast for Life for one day or more, send an e-mail to join@fastdarfur.org with your name, date(s) fasting, hometown, and form of fasting you will participate in (water only or refugee rations).

Please be sure to check with your doctor, if you intend on doing any extended form of fasting.

To join Darfur Fast for Life for one day or more, send an e-mail to join@fastdarfur.org with your name, date(s) fasting, hometown, and form of fasting you will participate in (water only or refugee rations). Please be sure to check with your doctor, if you intend on doing any extended form of fasting.

I would encourage any of you in this fight to surround yourselves with friends and others who are like minded with you in this cause. I could never do this without a fantastic community of others who are in the fight. I am grateful for each of them and count myself blessed to have them in my life.

Pray for change.

May 8, 2009, 5:31 pm
Another Hope Dashed in Darfur
By Nicholas Kristof

One of the truly hopeful signs recently for Sudan was “Mandate Darfur,” the effort to get Sudanese civil society from Darfur to talk together in Addis Ababa and try to form common positions as a step toward reaching a negotiated solution. The effort was led by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, started by the Sudanese telecoms tycoon of the same name, and it should have been an effort to put Sudanese in charge of their own destiny. And ultimately the only way the madness in Darfur will end is if Sudanese themselves hammer out their differences (and Darfuris have ancient dispute-settlement methods to do just that) and reach a peace agreement.

Unfortunately, with the Addis Ababa conference about to take place, the Sudanese government has refused permission for key players to attend. As a result, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation regretfully cancelled the conference. The Foundation said:

Despite numerous attempts at engagement with the Sudanese government, including sending a delegation to Khartoum and inviting senior figures to address the conference, we were greatly disappointed that Sudanese security services harassed our delegates, confiscated passports and threatened the conference coordinators in Sudan. Ultimately, the government has refused to grant exit visas to the delegates making it impossible for the conference to proceed.

There’s a tendency for new arrivals on the scene — and I’m afraid this may include General Scott Gration, the Obama administration’s envoy — to talk to Sudanese officials, find them intelligent and reasonable, and think, “Hey, I can deal with these people.” It takes about 9 months to discover that they are lying through their teeth. I hope that this Sudanese government action to block a peace conference encourages the Obama administration to look with more skepticism on Sudanese promises and to work harder to bring about peace. This cancelled conference is truly a lost opportunity, but if there is enough of an international outcry — particularly from China and the Arab world — then it just might be reversed so that the peace process could take a step forward.

Richard Branson — Darfur Fast for Life

Richard Branson - Darfur Fast For Life 2

Fast is Over - May 08, 2009

This interference speaks to the lack of respect the Government of Sudan has for its own citizens and suggests that it does not really support meaningful peace. Mo Ibrahim and his foundation, along with others, are committed to supporting a real peace process. We’ve heard that one of their team has been detained as well.

I worry that the Government of Sudan is beginning to feel the pressure, and is doing all they can to close ranks. So we must all cry louder for peace. That’s one reason I’m so deeply touched by Richard Branson’s decision to take over fasting for Mia Farrow. Mia’s selfless commitment, at the serious risk to her own health, is deeply inspiring.

I have decided to continue my own fast despite an upcoming trip to Africa. I want to see more action by those in power. I will be in DC in June for World Refugee Day and will make my case on The Hill in person. I am calling and writing letters now. The silence of our leaders here in the United States is not acceptable. Nor is their inaction. Nor is the silence and inaction of the broader international community. Millions are suffering and it is so very clear the Government in Khartoum has no willingness to find a path towards peace. What will it take for us to give them no choice?

I am so in awe of the power of consciousness within a collective body to move and inspire others. I am wondering whether we have or will have other spiritual or religious leaders, political leaders, business leaders and cultural leaders joining this fast. And I am comforted by the growing support of grassroots citizens and even whole communities that are bringing new awareness of Darfur to their neighbors. I am also continually shocked that in this day and age of technology it is so very hard to mobilize enough people, enough voices, enough political influence, enough media and enough power to reach the tipping point to end a genocide. There is no excuse. I sit here observing this extraordinary paradigm of deepest personal action and greatest collective non-action and just pray that the former will shift the latter.

Week 10: June 29 - July 5, 2009

To join Darfur Fast for Life for one day or more, send an e-mail to join@fastdarfur.org with your name, date(s) fasting, hometown, and form of fasting you will participate in (water only or refugee rations).

Please be sure to check with your doctor, if you intend on doing any extended form of fasting.

To join Darfur Fast for Life for one day or more, send an e-mail to join@fastdarfur.org with your name, date(s) fasting, hometown, and form of fasting you will participate in (water only or refugee rations). Please be sure to check with your doctor, if you intend on doing any extended form of fasting.

Week 9: June 22 - 28, 2009

To join Darfur Fast for Life for one day or more, send an e-mail to join@fastdarfur.org with your name, date(s) fasting, hometown, and form of fasting you will participate in (water only or refugee rations).

Please be sure to check with your doctor, if you intend on doing any extended form of fasting.

To join Darfur Fast for Life for one day or more, send an e-mail to join@fastdarfur.org with your name, date(s) fasting, hometown, and form of fasting you will participate in (water only or refugee rations). Please be sure to check with your doctor, if you intend on doing any extended form of fasting.

Week 8: June 15 - 21, 2009

To join Darfur Fast for Life for one day or more, send an e-mail to join@fastdarfur.org with your name, date(s) fasting, hometown, and form of fasting you will participate in (water only or refugee rations).

Please be sure to check with your doctor, if you intend on doing any extended form of fasting.