Right now, I-ACT and UNHCR are teaming up to bring live feed from the camps in Chad onto our computer screens. Click through this link to hear from refugees in Chad and elsewhere around the world talk about their concerns and their hopes.

www.refugeedaylive.org

World Refugee Day is a time to honor the survivors who have been forced from their homes by violence. It is also a day to take action to support their wish for peace. Take action today for the people of Darfur!

Rabbi David Saperstein, from  the Religious Action Center, explains why he’s fasting for Darfur a second time.

Today I find myself once again fasting for Darfur. My first fast for Darfur, which I did only a few days after being arrested with Representative John Lewis, four other members of Congress, and leaders of Darfur advocacy groups, was undertaken to underline the urgency of the suffering in the internally displaced persons camps in Darfur after President Bashir had expelled over a dozen aid groups from the region.

Rabbis from around the world will join him on his last day.  Read the entire post over at the Religous Action Center Blog.

Update:  Rabbi Saperstein reports that over 70 Rabbis from around the world will be joining him tonight on his fast.  He also just met with General Gration, Special Envoy to Sudan, who has stated that the efforts of outside groups, the U.S. and the International Community has helped restore aid to the levels that they were before the 13 aid groups were expelled.  Rabbi Saperstein’s blog can be read here.

It’s difficult to find adequate words to express the sadness and sorrow I felt on hearing the news of yesterday’s shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.  The sadness and sorrow only deepened when I saw Stephen Johns’s picture flashed on the TV screen and learned that he had died from being shot by an anti-Semitic racist.  I thought of the many times that he greeted me during my years at the Museum with a smile and twinkling eyes.  I learned from a colleague at the Museum that he left behind an infant child.  Even after nine years working at the Holocaust Museum and almost a year and a half working here at Save Darfur, I still can’t fathom the hatred and anger that motivated the killer.  My heart goes out to Stephen’s family.  It’s a touching tribute that the Museum closed today to mourn Stephen’s death and to honor his sacrifice.  As important a tribute will be for the Museum to reopen tomorrow and continue its vital mission of alerting people to the perils of hatred and prejudice, whether those perils manifest themselves on the other side of the world in a place like Darfur or, heartbreakingly, within the Museum’s own walls.

The Darfur Heroes program, started in 2007 by the coalition, highlights individuals and groups who play a  crucial role in helping end the violence in Darfur through awareness-raising and other efforts. This month, the coalition is honoring students at Atlanta’s Galloway School who organized a Darfur benefit concert with Collective Soul, raising more than $40,000 for Darfur advocacy. Check out their story below:

Our names are Katherine McKerrow and Megan Maziar and we are recent graduates of The Galloway School in Atlanta, Georgia. This year we had the pleasure of co-chairing the Collective Soul Benefit Concert for Darfur. Not only did our event bring over 2,300 people together to learn about the crisis in Darfur, but also, with the help of many, we were able to donate an incredible $40,000! Planning the concert was not always an easy or flawless process, but we truly enjoyed every moment of the journey.

In 2006, our teacher Lexi Hunter Fields started a class called Facing History. A significant aspect of the curriculum is to raise awareness about issues that are not just affecting our small community, but also the world community. Throughout the year, we studied atrocious genocides such as The Holocaust, and the genocides that took place in Rwanda and Cambodia. We concluded the year by learning about the current conflict in Darfur, in which the government is murdering or displacing thousands of innocent civilians. As soon as our class began to understand exactly what was taking place in Darfur we knew that we had to take a stand. We decided that raising money for Darfur would go a long way, but raising awareness is what would truly make a difference. Then the idea of a benefit concert came up and it seemed like the perfect way to get both adults AND students involved in the Darfur cause.

So…in the spring of 2007, the first concert kicked off. It was held at The Roxy, a small theater in Atlanta and we raised a few thousand dollars. Local Atlanta bands served as the entertainment and people were able to sign petitions and watch an informational slide show about Darfur. The next year we put together the same type of concert and once again raised a few thousand dollars. Although we were thrilled with the success of the first two concerts, we just knew that The Concert for Darfur had more potential and it being our senior year we really wanted to blow it out of the water! Luckily, Katherine and her family ran into Ed Roland, lead singer of Collective Soul, at a Darfur event.

From there everything seemed to fall into place. Before we knew it we were sitting around a table with some of the most influential people in the Atlanta music scene talking about nothing other than DARFUR! Ed Roland agreed that he and Collective Soul would headline the event and that they would play a full ninety-minute set. Peter Conlan donated The Tabernacle, an amazing concert venue in downtown Atlanta, and Jeff Dauler, co-host and executive producer of Q-100’s “The Bert Show,” the hottest morning radio show in Atlanta, volunteered to be the evenings emcee. In addition to Collective Soul’s performance, we decided that the night would also feature three up-and-coming local bands, which would be judged and ultimately selected by Roland and Jeff Dauler.

Of course, we very quickly realized that in order to sell out a huge venue like The Tabernacle, we needed some help! So, we created the Darfur Student Board that was comprised of 20 students from 16 different metro Atlanta-area high schools. These students helped to raise awareness about Darfur in their individual schools and encouraged the students in their school to attend the concert. Finally, at 7:00 pm on March 27, 2009, The Collective Soul Benefit Concert for Darfur kicked off! Over 2,300 attendees signed post cards for Obama and sported Darfur t-shirts and wristbands while rocking out to some amazing music! Jerry Fowler, president of The Save Darfur Coalition, even recorded a special informational video for us that we showed on the big screens before Collective Soul came on.  The Galloway Save Darfur Corporation raised over $40,000 that night and educated hundreds of people in the Atlanta community. The Collective Soul Benefit Concert for Darfur was an experience that will not only endure in our hearts and minds, but also in those of the people who attended. Additionally, The Save Darfur Coalition awarded us with a trip to Washington, DC this week! We will have the opportunity to meet other students involved with Darfur advocacy and to lobby congress. What an incredible ride it has been!

Yesterday, in his Cairo address to the Muslim world, President Obama called the slaughter of innocents in Darfur “a stain on our collective conscience.” But his failure to call for a joint push for peace was a glaring omission from a speech intended to outline shared challenges that America and the Muslim world must confront together.

In response to his speech, the Save Darfur Coalition, Enough Project, and Genocide Intervention Network have released this statement.

As Jerry Fowler, President of the Save Darfur Coalition, points out, “President Obama missed an important opportunity in his Cairo speech to the Muslim world by not reiterating his commitment to lead for peace in Sudan, where 2.7 million Muslim civilians have been driven from their homes and hundreds of thousands have perished because of violence orchestrated by the government. President Obama could have asked all governments in the region to join him in offering a choice to Khartoum between concrete progress toward peace, which will result in improved relations, or continued obstructionism and use of violence, which will lead to increased isolation.”

Read or watch Obama’s Cairo speech and tell us what you think.

You can also take action by calling the White House at 1-800-GENOCIDE.  Tell the person that answers the phone that you:

1. Are concerned the President did not address the plight of 2.7 million Muslim civilians driven from their homes in Darfur in his Cairo speech.
2. Want President Obama to be personally engaged in bringing peace to Darfur and all of Sudan.
3. Want President Obama to ask governments in the region and around the world to join him in offering Khartoum a choice: concrete progress towards peace resulting in improved relations, or continued obstructionism and use of violence leading to increased isolation.

President Obama should have said more and he should have demonstrated more leadership for peace in Sudan.