We talked about how we felt this was an important thing to do, because if it was our mothers, or our grandmother, or us living in the camps struggling to provide for our family and always living in fear we would be very grateful that there was someone out there working so hard to help us.

Today, the Save Darfur Coalition honors one such leader, Dr. Mohammed Ahmed Abdallah.  Dr. Ahmed worked with survivors of violence and torture in Darfur, providing a safe space for women to speak about their experiences and with hope that their psychological and physical wounds could be healed.

To accompany our letters to Dr. Ahmed and the women and children of Darfur, my cousins and I drew things that made us happy – home, family, sports, our pets.

These are all things that we try never to take for granted, and for which we are especially grateful at this cold and gray time of year.  As we celebrated Thanksgiving, we realized how thankful we are not only for these things that make us happy and keep us safe, but that there are people out there dedicating and sometimes risking their lives to keep the women and children of Darfur happy and safe.  We wrote how much we hope that the women and children of Darfur soon have the opportunity to live in peace, without fear, and to enjoy these same simple but essential things that make us happy.

We hope you’ll join us today.  Write a letter to one of the 16 leaders in the fight against sexual violence in Sudan, or to one of your personal heroes in this effort.  Take a moment to tell the people on the front lines of this difficult cause how much their work means to you.  In this time of thanksgiving a simple “thanks” goes a long way.

The physicians called for a new comprehensive approach to end gender-based violence occurring inside and outside camps in Chad and Darfur and an end to impunity for the crime of rape

The briefing featured Dr Mohammed Ahmed Abdallah, formerly of the Amel Center for the Treatment & Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture in Darfur, Susannah Sirkin of Physicians for Human Rights and report authors and PHR Chad investigation medical team Dr Linda Piwowarczyk, Dr Julia VanRooyen, Dr Sondra Crosby.