Posts with the tag Save Darfur
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The event started with a really great routine from the Jessie White Tumblers--they fly high! And IL Secretary of State Jessie White himself was there, in a jump suit, starting the whole event off with a heartfelt message of peace and the power of youth and individual citizens to make a difference.
We had really great speakers from communities affected by genocide, including Holocaust, Armenian, Cambodian, Bosnia, & Southern Sudan with Luol Deng of the Chicago Bulls. His presence drew in a lot of media. Here's a radio story & see below for more links (http://podcast.wbbm780.com/wbbm/725950.mp3).
We had a very moving speaker from Darfur, Fatima Haroun, who has spoken at other rallies on the east coast. State elected officials were on hand, including the author of the IL divestment law, Senator Jacqueline Collins, and her colleague in the House, IL Rep. Greg Harris, who shared a portion of a message from Senator Durbin, who could not be with us because he was going to Sudan! Ben Prochazka from national Save Darfur HQ in DC came and offered his "Why China & What To Do" message.
We had an Olympic Torch Procession, with Luol Deng holding the torch at the start of the procession and the other speakers following, surrounded by children holding colorful flags, evoking the colorful garments of the women of Darfur. When the procession returned to the stage, Deng handed the torch off. As each of the speakers addressed the crowd, a refugee from Darfur or Southern Sudan stood with her/him and held the torch. Deng was the last speaker. He did not introduce himself as a basketball player but as a fellow refugee. He handed the torch to Mohamed Abdelrhman Kauda, the President of the IL Darfur Association, who accepted it and thanked the community for their support.
Our own Steve Dishler closed the ceremony with words from US politician Edward Everett: "I am only one, but I am one. I can't do everything, but I can do something. The something I ought to do, I can do. And by the grace of God, I will."
We had great music by recently signed artists Trevor Menear and his band. He did a cut for "Instant Karma" called "John Sinclair." (Check him out on myspace or itunes or youtube.) We handed out his CD sampler, got over 200 signatures on letters to Hu Jintao, got signatures on our banner that will be in DC for the final leg of the torch relay, Instant Karma posters, Human Rights Watch info sheets, Team Darfur sweatbands, official event t-shirts, etc., and collected lots of donations (an unintended result of the giveaways).
It was great to have the crowd lining up for ice cream, signing and collecting stuff all at once while the Trevor Menear band played a rockin' set. It felt festive and hopeful.
ADDITIONAL MEDIA COVERAGE
Here are some of the news reports that mentioned the Chicago event(though I could not find our own NBC-5 coverage). The use of the wire services really helped & the presence of Luol Deng made the story spread across the country.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/2007-10-22-notes_N.htm
http://www.wgnradio.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=37327&Itemid=49
http://www.morrisdailyherald.com/articles/2007/10/22/state_news/751zdarfur.txt
http://www.wnct.com/midatlantic/nct/sports.apx.-content-articles-NCT-2007-10-21-0014.html
http://podcast.wbbm780.com/wbbm/725950.mp3
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-22rowboldnamesoct22,1,5164877.story
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/sports/20071022_Deng_and_Darfur.html
http://www.juf.org/news/local.aspx?id=27562
We had really great speakers from communities affected by genocide, including Holocaust, Armenian, Cambodian, Bosnia, & Southern Sudan with Luol Deng of the Chicago Bulls. His presence drew in a lot of media. Here's a radio story & see below for more links (http://podcast.wbbm780.com/wbbm/725950.mp3).
We had a very moving speaker from Darfur, Fatima Haroun, who has spoken at other rallies on the east coast. State elected officials were on hand, including the author of the IL divestment law, Senator Jacqueline Collins, and her colleague in the House, IL Rep. Greg Harris, who shared a portion of a message from Senator Durbin, who could not be with us because he was going to Sudan! Ben Prochazka from national Save Darfur HQ in DC came and offered his "Why China & What To Do" message.
We had an Olympic Torch Procession, with Luol Deng holding the torch at the start of the procession and the other speakers following, surrounded by children holding colorful flags, evoking the colorful garments of the women of Darfur. When the procession returned to the stage, Deng handed the torch off. As each of the speakers addressed the crowd, a refugee from Darfur or Southern Sudan stood with her/him and held the torch. Deng was the last speaker. He did not introduce himself as a basketball player but as a fellow refugee. He handed the torch to Mohamed Abdelrhman Kauda, the President of the IL Darfur Association, who accepted it and thanked the community for their support.
Our own Steve Dishler closed the ceremony with words from US politician Edward Everett: "I am only one, but I am one. I can't do everything, but I can do something. The something I ought to do, I can do. And by the grace of God, I will."
We had great music by recently signed artists Trevor Menear and his band. He did a cut for "Instant Karma" called "John Sinclair." (Check him out on myspace or itunes or youtube.) We handed out his CD sampler, got over 200 signatures on letters to Hu Jintao, got signatures on our banner that will be in DC for the final leg of the torch relay, Instant Karma posters, Human Rights Watch info sheets, Team Darfur sweatbands, official event t-shirts, etc., and collected lots of donations (an unintended result of the giveaways).
It was great to have the crowd lining up for ice cream, signing and collecting stuff all at once while the Trevor Menear band played a rockin' set. It felt festive and hopeful.
ADDITIONAL MEDIA COVERAGE
Here are some of the news reports that mentioned the Chicago event(though I could not find our own NBC-5 coverage). The use of the wire services really helped & the presence of Luol Deng made the story spread across the country.
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/basketball/nba/2007-10-22-notes_N.htm
http://www.wgnradio.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=37327&Itemid=49
http://www.morrisdailyherald.com/articles/2007/10/22/state_news/751zdarfur.txt
http://www.wnct.com/midatlantic/nct/sports.apx.-content-articles-NCT-2007-10-21-0014.html
http://podcast.wbbm780.com/wbbm/725950.mp3
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/chi-22rowboldnamesoct22,1,5164877.story
http://www.philly.com/dailynews/sports/20071022_Deng_and_Darfur.html
http://www.juf.org/news/local.aspx?id=27562
Howdy all fellow concerned San Franciscans. I am glad to be a part of this coalition, and to be taking action in something everyone in this country and the international community need to realize as a grave problem. The state of life for Darfuris is appaling, and I hope my joining this group will in any way help increase awareness of the problems in Darfur to other people. I plan on informing all of my friends and sending out emails to get people involved, and I also plan on attending the Torch event next month. While the situation is desperate indeed, there is always hope for the future, and I believe it is never too late to make a difference. I look forward to a safe, peaceful Darfur!
-Phil
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Today at my school we hosted a seminar about Darfur. It was about three hours long and we attempted to educate the students in our school about the going ons in Darfur.
We opened up by introducing ourselves and the current situation is Darfur. We went through some pictures, explained militant groups and what's going on with the governments and the UN, gave a few testimonials, and answered questions. We then proceeded into smaller discussion groups where we asked question, answered questions, and gave some facts and interesting information about the people of Darfur.
Of course, you have the really ignorant people who fall asleep and really could careless. I don't know about you, but this makes me angry beyond belief. But one thing that really irks me is when people say "Well, there's people suffering in our own country, why don't we help them?" Why can't we help both? Why do we only have to donate to one person. But anyway, continuing on. The discussions went well and we told everyone that their homework was to tell their family and two friends about the situation.
I will continue to update about our progress as time goes on.
-Brittie
We opened up by introducing ourselves and the current situation is Darfur. We went through some pictures, explained militant groups and what's going on with the governments and the UN, gave a few testimonials, and answered questions. We then proceeded into smaller discussion groups where we asked question, answered questions, and gave some facts and interesting information about the people of Darfur.
Of course, you have the really ignorant people who fall asleep and really could careless. I don't know about you, but this makes me angry beyond belief. But one thing that really irks me is when people say "Well, there's people suffering in our own country, why don't we help them?" Why can't we help both? Why do we only have to donate to one person. But anyway, continuing on. The discussions went well and we told everyone that their homework was to tell their family and two friends about the situation.
I will continue to update about our progress as time goes on.
-Brittie
FLYERS! (Save As; no hotlinking!) SaveDarfur.Org provides us with free blogging, so the least we can do is not eat bandwidth. :)
Info on flyers courtesy of DarfurDarfur.Org and SaveDarfur.Org
Go to this link for flyers:!
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Info on flyers courtesy of DarfurDarfur.Org and SaveDarfur.Org
Go to this link for flyers:!
Link Read More »
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