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Halima Hassan Adam, 21, cradled her newborn baby in her arms as she sat disconsolately outside their former home, now just a pile of singed straw. The young mother bent down and searched the ground, hoping to save a few beans that had been crushed in the attack.
"This was the only home we had," she said. "Now since yesterday, we have had no food or water. I am so scared.
"The world is not doing enough to protect us. We are so tired. Can someone please come help us?"
Dear Sudan is a grassroots, community-based campaign whose goals are to aid the 2.5 million displaced Sudanese and to end the genocide in Darfur. 5,000 refugees die each month in camps in Sudan and Chad. Elie Wiesel has called Darfur the “world capital of suffering.”
Dear Sudan began in Petaluma, California with the formation of an interfaith task force to respond to the refugee crisis in Sudan.
Dear Sudan was launched in 2004 with the publication of the following letter in the Petaluma Argus-Courier:
Dear Sudan,
We see your suffering, dying people. We refuse to turn away from genocide. We care enough to feed 55,000 refugees in Sudan for one day. That is the population of our community. We trust that other communities will do the same. We strive to ensure that hundreds of thousands of Sudanese refugees who face death by starvation and disease will not have to die. We know what it is like to be mothers and fathers, children and grandparents, friends and community. We also know that even though you are far away, you are just like us, mothers and fathers, children and grandparents, friends and community. We are making a small contribution so that you may live another day. You may never know our names, and we may never know your names, but we are one.
Love, Petaluma
WHAT CAN I DO?
The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and Week of Compassion Ask You to Join the
Dear Sudan Campaign - www.dearsudan.org
Dear Sudan is growing! Today, more and more local Dear Sudan campaigns are arising, including in Marin County, Contra Costa County, and Santa Rosa, California and in British Columbia,. As communities of compassion, we can face this tragedy together and bring hope to the people of Sudan.
Dear Sudan is a simple idea. A community raises enough funds to feed for one day the number of Sudanese refugees equivalent to its own population. Each Sudanese refugee requires only 16 cents per day for food provided through a program run by Church World Service. For example, Dear Sudan, Love Petaluma raised enough money to feed 55,000 refugees in Sudan for one day – the population of Petaluma ($8,800).
Dear Sudan urges action to end the genocide in Darfur. Hundreds are dying in Sudan every day as the world waits. Urge your Members of Congress to support legislation that would help end the genocide in Sudan.
Your gifts to Week of Compassion support the Dear Sudan campaign. Give as you are able.
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