Angelina (not in the tabloids!)

I have a list of things I have yet to discuss on my blog, but when I saw this clip on the MSNBC Africa page, I HAD to write about it. As much as I hate the amount of attention most American's give to movie stars these days, I feel Angelina Jolie deserves it. Well in this instance anyway. If I see another tabloid magazine cover with her, Jennifer Anniston, Brad Pitt and some outlandish claim on it, I swear.

Anyway, as easy as it is to dislike someone so beautiful and famous, I am envious of Jolie. Not only is she an independent woman who doesn't like to follow the rules, (I wish I could posses more of these two qualities sometime) but also she does something I dream to do. She travels to Darfur and tries to help and most importantly listen to speak on Dafurians behalf. Not that I could ever compare to Angelina Jolie, but I hope that one day I can be as courageous as her and write something that makes a difference. Hopefully the conflict in Darfur will be long over by the time I reach that point in my career.

This particular story is about her travels to Chad, which I felt appropriate and relative to this past weeks post. She was visiting refugees from the Darfur region.

While Jolie is limited in what she can do, I give her credit for going there and trying to get involved as much as possible.

Here are some of the quotes from the article:

"“It’s always hard to see decent people, families, living in such difficult conditions,” said Jolie, who reached the 26,000-person Oure-Cassoni camp after crossing a Saharan sandstorm.

“What is most upsetting is how long it is taking the international community to answer this crisis,” she said in a statement released Wednesday by the Geneva-based U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees."

I think that voicing an opinion like this from such a well known movie star can do more than a, for example, UNICEF person stating this in a press conference. First of all, a UNICEF person probably would never have a press conference. Unfortunately this is the way or society works. Teachers and aid workers tend to get paid the least amount of money and attention when they are doing some of the most marvelous things in the world.

There was also a video with this clip, which I found to be, well horrible; there was no voice over, it was all natural sound. I did not get a story from the video, except that Jolie was in Africa. I also didn't like how they had a link to her career. I would have like the story to have focused a little more on what she actually did there. In general the story lacked some real news. The photos below are from the video. I realize they aren't of great quality, but the video wasn't exceptional either.

Ann Curry (Blog)

As promised, I said I was going to discuss Ann Curry's blog. Though, like all her other things, it's from a few months ago, I really enjoy the perspective. I have read a few of her posts and I like the ability to get more of a personal level. While you can read all her news stories, I think that this is equally as insightful. It gives the reader the experience Curry had to go through, which is, in my opinion, news worthy. It helps emphasize what's being said so "professionally" in news reports.

Journalistically I think this brings up an interesting point as well. Journalists are always debating the significance of blogs and how that they some how discredit the news content of what's being discussed. I think this is a perfect example where a blog is being news worthy. Not only that, but it is bringing an aspect, her personal experience, of news that is not being reported anywhere else within this MSNBC website.

I especially wanted to highlight the links she has to other useful websites.

The following is her list (also pictured above):

"Additional information on how you can help:

• STAND: Students Taking Action Now: Darfur
• Africare
• Mercy Corps
• Christian Children's Fund
• Doctors without Borders
• Genocide Intervention Network
• Save Darfur
• Human Rights Watch
• The U.N. Refugee Agency
• World Food Programme
• UNMIS: U.N. Mission in Sudan
• Oxfam International
• International Rescue Committee
• Concern Worldwide US
• United States Fund for UNICEF
• International Medical Corps"

I plan to take more time discussing each one of these websites individually.

more on Chad

Though I am not finished with discussing some of Ann Curry's work, I wanted to expand more on what I wrote yesterday about Chad. Curry's work is all from November of last year. While that's not too long ago, I wanted to see if anything had changed. This is an article from the Boston Herald today that discussed the violence spreading into Chad and the possibility of the UN asserting force.

Due to the confusion and complications between the two governments, I think it is clearly made apparent in this article that the UN or the United States needs to do something. When two countries are clashing and can't stop the violence within their own borders the rest of the world needs to see that something is done to end the thousands of atrocities occurring. The UN was created for this specific purpose. And if we, the US, felt we needed to invade Iraq, I think there is ten-fold the reason to interfere in Darfur and Chad.

An excerpt from the article I want to focus people's attention on follows:

"Tens of thousands of Darfur refugees live in scorching, wind-beaten camps on Chad’s side of the border, competing with Chadian villagers over scarce water and firewood. Various rebel groups and militias roam the vast region....
...More than 200,000 people have died since ethnic African tribesmen in Darfur took up arms four years ago, complaining of discrimination by the Arab-dominated Sudanese government. The U.N. blames the Sudanese government’s counterinsurgency for the bulk of the atrocities. Of the 2.5 million people who have fled their homes, 230,000 have ended up in refugee camps inside Chad"

The first thing I would like to point out is the description of the people living on the border. As I was reading that I was thinking, what if we don't do anything? What happens if this is what borders of the surrounding countries pictured above start to look like? What happens if this violence spreads through out all of this area in Africa? Will we do something then? And how bad and how many borders have to look like this for us to do something?

I know it is more complicated than this, but it can also be this simple. These are simple questions that aren't answered. Maybe it's because I'm naive and too young, but I don't understand why we don't do something more. Especially, when we are interjecting in Iraq.

I included the second paragraph only to get some more statistical input on the violence.

Ann Curry (Chad)

I have been looking through all of Ann Curry's links and have found some very useful information. Including this blog, which I will talk more about in my next post. For today, I wanted to talk about a specific article I found titled "Darfur's violence and sorrow spreads to Chad." I know I made mention of Chad in a previous post.

The article is about what Curry saw in Chad, but I feel it is also a good example of what's going on in Darfur. The Q & A type article starts out kind of slow. It's basically saying what's happening is bad and sad. But then she starts to discuss in a little more detail and gives examples of what she has been seeing.

Curry sums up the violence in one story of a 17-year old girl who was gang raped. The images I think of that she describes make me queasy. At 17 I couldn't get enough of boys. I can't imagine what this girl feels towards men now; let alone what she feels in general.

My favorite section from the article was the following two paragraphs. I love how she worded it and related the situation.

"This is a different kind of ugliness that mirrors what we saw in Rwanda and what we saw in Kosovo and Bosnia. It is evocative of the hatred we saw during the Holocaust.

That’s why so many American Jews and other religious leaders have been pushing to get the U.S. government and the world to do more to stop this kind of shame. There is a sense in America that when people say “never again” that it should stand for something. So, they are pushing hard to do something about it."

I still think there should be more photos because they tell the best stories, but this article was very moving.

Ann Curry

As I mentioned yesterday, I wanted to talk more about the msnbc.com section on Darfur. They are a series of reports from correspondent Ann Curry. They aired back in November. The photos on the right are images from the video that I took and found very impactful on my own mind. The video tells the story with many more photos like these.

I really like this video because it explained a few of the things I have already mentioned. It discusses the displaced children, which is a piece of the Invisible Children story I mentioned. It also talked about the Janjaweed and how the children fear them. I think the video really puts to life what I've been trying to convey and inform on.

Also, to take a journalistic side note, in my journalism 3 class we have been discussing the difference between a written article and video. The words to this video are written out with out any pictures. I first read the article and then watched the video, and the video had 10 times more of an impact.

I think it's so hard to relate to these children. I think back to when I was 13, just entering my teen years and how awkward everything was. However, I'd rather have it be awkward than deal with what they deal with. My nightmares at 13 were of imaginary fears. The horrors they fear in their dreams are real. That's something I don't think I could handle at age 19, let alone six years ago.

MSNBC

I personally love MSNBC.com. Mostly because while I was bored in the computer lab for many of my journalism classes, I would surf their website. The have fun things like SuDoKu, your horoscope and the week in pictures. They always have great pictures. As a matter of fact, I get most of my world news from those pictures. They have little captions that give the bigger story to what is being shown.

They also have world sections, including one for Africa. In this Africa section there is another section dedicated to Darfur. I am going to be looking around this section and discussing it more in my next few posts.

For today, I wanted to mention the slide show they have as part of that section. It's on the right hand side of the Africa page a little ways down. I could not directly link to it, but it is off the Africa page mentioned above. I found the pictures to be so moving and emotional. My favorite is photo number 10. There is a big tree with many displaced people under it. The tree reminds me of the tree from the Lion King, the tree of life. It's a symbol I relate with Africa. The fact that all these displaced people are using the tree for shelter is such a powerful and symbolic picture to me.

The caption says they are in a Chadian village and I wanted to point out, that Chad borders Sudan to the left, and as I mentioned before Darfur is the western region in Sudan. Many of the displaced move out to these areas, where they are still not always safe.

Sending in the check..

I finally got my change in the form of a money order. I am sending out the check with a letter I wrote immediately following this blog post. Pictured above are my letter and the check. I wanted to share with everyone my letter, so that's what the following excerpt is.

"To the Save Darfur Coalition,

My name is Melissa Leiter. I am a sophomore journalism major at Northeastern University in Boston, Mass. As a journalist I want to travel to countries suffering from social and political atrocities and write about them. I want to bring awareness to the world on a level that people can understand. I feel that the Save Darfur Coalition does the same thing.

Starting in mid-January, I started my own fundraiser for your group. I had all my friends and family collect their spare change until Valentine’s Day. On Valentine’s Day I collected everyone’s change and rolled it and cashed it into this check. I am sure you can find a better use for my friend’s and family’s change than they or I can. I was very impressed at the total I received and how much the people in my life were more willing to donate due to the cause.

I also have a blog for an online journalism class I’m taking. My blog is called, “Darfur is Dying.” I frequently post about your website and about the updates the Save Darfur Coalition sends me. The perspective of my blog is that of a college student’s who wants to be more involved in what’s happening. I think it’s too bad that reports about Darfur aren’t reaching us through the media channels that college students get. I find that often college students can be more willing to get involved and would be more willing to help out, if half of them only knew where Darfur was and what was going on there.

Anyway, I hope that my check helps out and that you find good use for it. I will continue to look forward to your e-mails!"

Again, big thanks to everyone who donated!

Designers for Darfur

I am not a very fashionable person, but have always found the industry fascinating. Recently I found it to be very impressive. Designers for Darfur is a group of sponsors, including the Save Darfur Coalition and Ebay, that are donating 100 percent of the profits to help put an end to the crisis in Darfur.

On Feb. 9, there was a fashion show that demonstrated specially designed clothes in red, green, yellow, black and any other color related to Africa. The clothes are now being auctioned off on Ebay. I think the clothes are GORGEOUS! New York Magazine has a posted slide show of the clothes as well.

To get in touch with Designers for Darfur you can visit their website. Also, as pictured above, you can check out their MySpace. I’d like to point out how MySpace can be a great website. So many people are so quick to judge the website and say it takes away people’s privacy. But I think it is important in instances like this to see how beneficial it can be! Their MySpace gives people information about the show, where to go to get the clothes and how much press coverage the show got.

Plan B

Like a few other issues in congress, the president has created a “plan b“ for action in Darfur. The Washington Post has a good article that describes in more detail “plan b.” Though it’s disappointing “plan a” didn’t work I am glad that our government is attempting to end the genocide in congress.

Except that they’re not. I recently received an update from the Save Darfur Coalition and was informed that the launch date for plan b keeps being pushed back.

This is an excerpt from the e-mail I received:

“Adding to the frustration, despite the continuing mass-displacement and attacks, Special Envoy Andrew Natsios claimed last week that genocide is no longer occurring in Darfur.”

I read that and was extremely disappointed at the ludicrousness of it. I could not believe that someone who is supposed to be knowledgeable could say that and feel it was correct. I was also amazed that comments like this one can actually stand within our government.

The Save Darfur Coalition is doing the following:
“Enact and enforce stronger sanctions;
Prepare and oversee the deployment of international peacekeeping forces
Implement the U.N. authorized no-fly zone;
Fully fund the United States' share of peacekeeping and humanitarian aid; and
Develop a military contingency plan to respond to the potential collapse of security and humanitarian aid networks in Darfur.”

The organization also has an electronic request on their website that allows people to demonstrate their concern with the government’s lack of action.

and the total is...

$155.95!!! Not too much more than yesterday, but that is the final amount. I lugged all my change over to the bank today to get a mail order check, however, unknown to me, the Bank of America on Huntington Ave. closes at four on Fridays. I will be getting the check and mailing it on Tuesday as originally planned. I am sending the check with a letter about the fundraiser I did and the experience I had while doing it. I will be sending it to the SaveDarfur fund.

I encourage other people to donate to their cause.

I was thinking about donating to UNICEF, but I wanted the money to go for the whole cause. The entire issue in Darfur, that is. I believe getting involved on the political level is how the most change will be brought about.

so far so good!

The change is still coming in, but so far I have 145 dollars and nine cents! I am so impressed and amazed at the generosity of my friends and family and how much effort they actually put into this little fundraiser of mine. I still know of a few people who are planning on donating, however it's been a busy week for many of my friends and I have not had the opportunity to get their change. I can't believe my goal was only 50 dollars. I seriously underestimated people.

Thank you to: my family~ mom, dad, grandma & grandpa, Janet, Lisa and Dale
and all my friends~ Kate O, Kait, Jenna, Anna, Martina, Megan, Sam and everyone else!

I plan to send the check out on Tuesday. (Monday is President's day) I will post the total amount and discuss the foundation I send the check to.

(The above pictures give you an idea how much change I had to roll! also the picture with the dollar hearts are from my aunt Lisa and uncle Dale, so cute!)

more donations!

I am planning on being pretty busy tomorrow, but I want to make sure I mention everyone who helps donate and how much I collect. My goal is 50 dollars!

So far two generous contributors, other than my parents, have given me six dollars! My grandfather sent me five dollars with their Valentine package! Also, my teacher, who, other than my family, is probably the only one who has read everyone of my blog posts, donated a dollar! Thanks Professor Matson! : )

Sudan on Wall Street

Today I received a Valentine's Day package from my grandparents. My grandma had noticed this article in the Wall Street Journal and sent it to me, along with their wonderful letter and gift! : ) I have tried to photograph the pictures in the paper, I found them affective, though not depicting some of the atrocities I think we should be shown. I think pictures of the atrocities happening in Darfur would be more affective. Sure they would be gruesome, but that's REALLY happening. Most people don't have a problem letting their kids play shoot-em-up video games and watch violent movies anyway.

Back to the point of this post, the article in the Journal was entitled 'Mutual Funds and Sudan.' I was shocked when I read the title; I never guessed these words would be in a sentence together. The following are some of the quotes from the article that I would like to bring attention to:

"...Sudan is home to investments by large international companies that are fixtures in many Americans' mutual funds and retirement plans.
In recent months, an array of efforts have been launched to press companies, pension plans - and now, mutual funds- not to do business in Sudan. The goal is to urge Sudan's government to find an end to the violence.

...Through its mutual funds, Boston-based Fidelity is the largest U.S. holder of American depositary shares in PetroChina Co., a Chinese oil giant with Sudanese projects.

...U.S. companies have been prohibited from doing business in Sudan since 1997, but it is not illegal for an American firm to own shares in a foreign company doing business there."

Activists are working hard to get Fidelity Investments to divest from this investment. The article discusses many major US companies and several states that are divesting and forcing investments out of Sudan. I think these quotes summarize what Wall Street is doing to help Sudan.

As I continued reading I wanted to make mention of the following paragraph as well in order to add the links it gives:
"There are ways for investors to see if a mutual fund has Sudan-related investments. The site sudaninvestment.org
includes a feature, "The Sudan Screening Tool," which evaluates fund holdings based on criteria related to Darfur. Another site, investedinterests.com
, offers a similar tool that examines an array of issues, from Sudan to terrorism"

more change!

As everyone knows, Valentine's Day is this Wednesday. For the most part this week I will be discussing the people who donated their change, and how much I got.

My parents came to visit this weekend, and this is how much change they brought! (pictured above)

Assignment

As part of a class assignment for this week, I have been looking at other blogs about Darfur. There are lots! I found one to be particularly interesting. The Genocide Intervention Network

is a website dedicated to bringing awareness and stopping genocide. The GI- Net funds people of the world suffering from genocide by helping educate and bring an end to the atrocities they are facing. Their website's blog is VERY informative.

I like the blog especially because it focuses on the latest news from the region and stays surprisingly unbiased. The blog entitled "news briefs" gives updates on what's going on politically and physically in the Darfur region. The blog also has lots of links to more detailed stories of the news worthy events going on. The last post included some very interesting information about our president and his plans.

"On Tuesday, President George W. Bush announced that if Khartoum continues to refuse a UN peacekeeping operation in Darfur, he would initialize the first step in his "Plan B" for Darfur, in which the Treasury Department would block US commercial bank transactions, including oil revenues, connected to the government of Sudan. The Pentagon said military intervention in Darfur was not being planned.

The Genocide Intervention Network released a poll of US voters demonstrating significant majority support for greater US involvement in ending the genocide in Darfur. Meanwhile, Congress convened a hearing with Canadian Sen. Roméo Dallaire and actor Don Cheadle to discuss what steps the United States should take on Darfur."

I find it disappointing that a plan for military intervention is not even being discussed and that once again Bush is using a "plan B". In my opinion he never makes a strong enough "plan A" and always falls back on using oil as a controlling factor. On the other hand, I am glad the government is at least enacting on a plan to do something. I was also pleased that people are looking for greater involvement in Darfur.

I would also like to note, actor Don Cheadle is a friend of George Clooney. : ) Great guy.

UNICEF Donations

UNICEF stands for United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund. They are a group that has been dedicated for 60 years to saving children's lives all over the world. They have specifically done a lot of work in Africa. Their website is very informative and their services to children are worldwide.

In the letter they sent my grandfather, they were requesting money for their assistance of the children of Darfur. Their main objective is to battle malnutrition, provide safe water and sanitation, and provide vaccines and health care. They have set up feeding clinics and centers and health facilities in the area. The back of the letter was a list of possible donation amounts and what that can provide for the children of Darfur. I think it's amazing to see how far donations can go. Some of the donations were the following:

$25~ Can provide emergency health supplies to cover the basic health needs of more than 100 children for three months.

$35~ Can provide immunizations to protect two children for life against the six leading child-killing disease: measles, polio, diphtheria, whooping cough, tetanus, and tuberculosis.

$50~ Can immunize 50 children against measles for life.

$150~ Can provide 2,500 Oral Rehydration Salts packets to help save the lives of children suffering from diarrhea dehydration due to drinking contaminated water.


There are more amounts on the list and more things that they can provide, but I thought these were the most comparable to amounts I spend in my everyday life. For example, I could easily drop $150 on a shopping trip on Newbury or at the Prudential on clothes I don't really need. It's hard to compare the necessity of a new pair of shoes and some clothes to saving dehydrated, dying children. Wouldn't it be great if the latest "hot" trend was sending your money to those who actually could use it?

Letter

I believe there is nothing more important in life than family. Sometimes they are all you have. Recently I went to visit my grandparents. We had our typical Ricetta’s pizza lunch, it's as expected as a hug when I visit their home, and discussed what I've been doing in school. This is also fairly typical. I started discussing my blog with them, and they were very impressed, surprisingly. I didn't think this blog was that big of a deal to any one else other than me. Apparently they felt differently.

My grandfather wrote me a letter that I received at the end of last week that was very surprising and touching. This is what he said:

"I thought you might be interested in the enclosed as a source or future help and awareness of the terrible situation in Darfur. I'm spreading the word about your blog and your own financial aid project, and of course we're saving our change to add to your Valentine gift!"

I put that last sentence in there just because I think it shows how great my grandfather is and how willingly he gets involved in seemingly minor things in my life.

So what was enclosed? The picture above depicts my grandfather's letter and a letter that he received from UNICEF. The letter was requesting money for the situation in Darfur. I found the opening paragraph to be very moving.

"Right now, approximately 1.8 million children - including more than 500,000 young boys and girls under the age of five - face a massive humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of western Sudan. Due to the continuing security crisis, children constantly face violence, sever food shortages and threats from disease"

I will discuss tomorrow more about UNICEF. I thought that was a good place to leave off. Since I've discussed family and Darfur in this post, I think it's important to reflect on those two things combined. To think of our childhoods, we realize most of us never had to face ANY of those things. Definitely not to the same extent. I know growing up in my family my biggest fears were bedtime, disappointing my dad, and not being able to go out for recess.

George Clooney

One Fine Day, Three Kings, The Perfect Storm and of course Batman and Robin, are some of my favorite George Clooney movies. I have a personal fondness and respect for older actors, especially handsome ones. Kate thinks this is weird and teases me about it every chance she can get.

Anyway, George Clooney is probably my favorite of all the older actors. He and his father, Nick, who is coincidentally a journalist, just visited Darfur! The Clooney family males are just amazing if you ask me!

Anyway this link shows some pictures and talks about their trip. They went back in April of 2006 and since then have given a voice to the people of Darfur. George spoke on behalf of the people of Darfur in seeking assistance at a UN meeting last year.

Clooney's in Darfur

Kate O

(pictured is a recent photo of Kate and I)

My roommate, Kate O'Neill, is pretty cool. She likes to have a good time just as much as any other college student. We’ve lived together since freshmen year and have had a lot of fun times. However, she is also very concerned and aware of what's going on in Africa. As an international affairs major, she has taken several courses that discuss world issues and has taken a course called Africa Today.

This morning I asked her to sum up her thought and opinion on the Darfur situation. She so kindly took a break from watching Lost, season 2 to comment. This is what she said:

"I don't know how a situation like the one going on in Darfur is happening. Why aren't drastic measures being taken to end the violence? I think it's sad that countries that have the means to help the people in Darfur aren't doing all they can. They don't care because it's not happening to their people, like it doesn't matter because it's happening in far away Africa. Somewhere where there's nothing to gain. But they're people too and deserve the world's attention just as much as anyone else."

Nicely put Kate O. I added this today because later when we are watching the Superbowl and cheering for the Bears (we are both from New England), we will still be typical college kids. But we have a voice too and want it to be heard.

Kate is also responsible for some of the change in the change bowl pictured several posts below. Thanks Kate!

Invisible Children

While the movie I’m going to discuss is not part of Darfur, it is a serious issue that’s happening in Uganda. Many people have probably heard of this movie or the movements that have stemmed from it.

Invisible Children is a documentary made a few years ago by three guys. They went to Africa in hopes of finding something to document, and the story they found was about children in Uganda trying to survive.

The general background to my knowledge is the following: The militias of the area have been fighting the government for almost two decades and have run out of people to fight for their cause. Instead, they capture children and mentally brainwash them in order to be “killing machines.” In order to avoid this from happening, thousands of children come into cities from the bush area and sleep in abandon places piled on top of each other with, if they’re lucky, a raggedy mat. These children face displacement from their homes, among other physically and emotionally tragic issues, similarly to the people in Darfur.

Though this is a whole other issue, the base of the problem stems from militia rebel groups acting mercilessly on their own people. The video is well worth watching and investing in. The three gentlemen that started this project are very active in spreading the word and taking action. I would encourage anyone to get more involved and informed on this matter as well as what’s happening in Darfur.