International Book Bank helping Duk County, Sudan

The IBB is working with our friend, John Dau, to send two cartons of books to Duk County, where John and Joseph spent the first 10 years of their lives. These books will constitute the first library for the county. They need to raise money to ship the books more than they need books, but I think they will take either.

Ben Affleck reports on the Congo

Ben Affleck has made 3 trips to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the past year; footage and commentary from his trips aired last night on Nightline. Affleck was pretty careful in framing his report--called it fact finding, educating himself before acting, claimed no particular expertise. He provided some nice commentary about the people he met in a refugee camp: teachers, business owners, everyday people who were forced to flee their homes because of instability and violence. This point can't be stressed enough. Africa obviously has a lower standard of living than the rest of the world based on a variety of measures, but where there is peace, there are schools and clinics and food; people are generally happy. Where there is war, there is chaos, instability, starvation, disease.

Reasonably interesting posts in response. Not a lot of celebrity hating, a few "take care of America first," comments, lots of good rebuttals to those comments, a few insightful comments from Congolese.

One more WRD Video: Give a hand

I missed this UNHCR video, even though it seems to have emerged as the most viewed video made in support of World Refugee Day.

WRD gets a short Forum story

The World Refugee Day celebration in Fargo got a brief story in the Fargo Forum. Not as much coverage as the "soda vs pop" debate, but a little coverage is a start.

Photos from recent speaking events

I have posted a photo set to Flickr, most pictures taken at the World Refugee Day event on Friday, June 20th, a few from Joseph's speaking engagement in Winnipeg, Tuesday June 10th.

Map: Sudan Aid Projects

I've been working on a Google Map of aid projects in southern Sudan, attempting to illustrate where in Sudan various American foundations are building schools, clinics, orphan centers, and other aid projects. This map is by no means comprehensive, and would benefit from further additions and probably some refinement of the pin placement.


View Larger Map

World Refugee Day: Angelina Jolie Video

Angelina Jolie has become the highest profile spokesperson for the UNHCR, and her short video address for World Refugee Day surprised me. Her image is not the first image, and I did not recognize her voice, but I was immediately struck by the weightiness, the resonance, of her voice. She does make an appearance, as her image and star power are obviously important to the UNHCR's campaigns, but this video illustrated for me one of the ways in which voice is just as powerful as image.