Robert Witham

Darfur is home to unimaginable horrors, human rights abuses, and genocide. Amnesty International describes the situation in Darfur as “one of the world’s worst human rights and humanitarian catastrophes” [link]. Civilians have been suffered terrible human rights violations at the hand of the Sudan government and the government-sponsored Janjawid militia. This situation has been ongoing since 2003.

The conflict in Darfur, Sudan, has led to some of the worst human rights abuses imaginable, including systematic and widespread murder, rape, abduction and displacement. Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed by both deliberate and indiscriminate attacks, and over 2.5 million civilians have been displaced.
Amnesty International USA

Many organizations have undertaken the cause of Darfur victims and refugees. Reebok Human Rights Foundation and the International Crisis Group partnered with mtvU to launch the Darfur Digital Activist Contest. The contest sought to join student activism and modern technology in an attempt to stop the genocide in Darfur. The result was Darfur is Dying, a viral, online video game designed to promote awareness and increase action to end the Darfur genocide.

Darfur is Dying is a narrative-based simulation where the user, from the perspective of a displaced Darfurian, negotiates forces that threaten the survival of his or her refugee camp. It offers a faint glimpse of what it’s like for the more than 2.5 million who have been internally displaced by the crisis in Sudan.
Darfur is Dying Site

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Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama do not talk much about issues like homelessness (at least not publicly). Nonetheless, there are more people that will be impacted by this election than just the wealthy and the middle class. The poor, including those experiencing homelessness, will also be impacted heavily by this nation’s choice for a president on November 4th.

I suppose it is easy to forget the poor during the excitement and busyness of the election season. After all, everyone has an agenda and an interest that they hope to see realized with their preferred candidate.

But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.
Jesus of Nazareth - Luke 14.13 NRSV

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I stumbled across an interesting article at Coffee and Conversation that explores the connection between coffee and poverty. The article was published on October 15 in connection with Blog Action Day (an event I intended to participate in, but…).

The US is one of the largest coffee consumers in the world and therefore has the opportunity to positively impact poverty in coffee growing regions. Coffee farmers are typically paid only 5 - 10 percent of the retail price of coffee and are often exploited by some of the larger coffee distributors.

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