Darfur Peace and Development Organization

While searching today for information about what people in my city (Pasadena, CA) are doing to help people in Darfur, I found this story about a local high school student raising money for Darfur Peace and Development Organization (DPDO). Here's the beginning of the DPDO mission statement:

The mission of Darfur Peace and Development Organization, which is a 501 (c ) 3 nonprofit and nonsectarian organization, is to restore reconciliation where conflict exists in the Darfur region of Sudan through humanitarian aid and services to the needy people in the Darfur region, without regard to race, religion, sex or national origin. DPDO is an international organization of persons committed to working with indigenous people in Darfur to overcome hunger and poverty through integrated self-development and relief programs and where possible to encourage conflict resolutions as the preferred method rather than resorting to violence and terror. (link)

Check out some of their projects, especially the Schools Sponsorship project, which helps students "[play] a vital and pivotal role in rejecting the notion of passivity and inaction, responding to the desperate calls from children around the globe in Darfur to actively participate in building a better life for all." (link)

Music for Darfur: Instant Karma

The album Instant Karma: The Amnesty International Campaign to
Save Darfur came out yesterday. One of the project's organizers emailed us about it:

Artists as diverse as U2, Green Day, Christina Aguilera and REM interpret the very best of John Lennon's solo work, evoking the power of music to help soften our hearts and harden our resolve to stop the rape, murder and violence happening each and every day in Darfur.

Let visitors to your blog hear some of the music for themselves, while at the same time helping spread the word about this important campaign! Just go to http://www.amnestyusa.org/page.do?id=1031079, where you'll find a music player and code that you can copy and paste to embed the player into your blog or personal webpage.

You can also learn more about the campaign and the album (including how to order or download it) by visiting http:// www.instantkarma.org.

You can see one of the music player widgets for this album in our sidebar. To get one for your blog, click here.

BlogHers Act - Vote for Darfur!

BlogHer has unveiled a new community: BlogHers Act. They're asking their 11,000 members to choose one global issue to be the focus of a year-long campaign. Here's your chance to speak up for Darfur! Britt Bravo started the conversation on behalf of Darfur at BlogHer--if you'd like Darfur to be the global issue those 11,000 bloggers support for the next year, add your comment HERE. (BlogHer is a blogging community open to everyone--no member fees involved.)

new Darfur projects

(Photo by Maura Lanahan - Courtesy of IFC)

Actor Don Cheadle, who has written with John Prendergast the book Not On Our Watch, will be the guest on IFC's The Henry Rollins Show this Friday, June 8th, at 11 pm EDT. Cheadle will be talking about how he came to be involved in Darfur and what he's doing to fight the genocide there. He'll also be talking about his book which details not only his and Prendergast's involvement in Darfur, but also the involvement of others and how each of us can take action. Cheadle is also a partner in the group, Not On Our Watch, which is working to raise awareness of the situation in Darfur and to raise funds for International Rescue Committee for its work there.

On June 6th, Amnesty International launched Eyes on Darfur which contains satellite imagery of Darfur. Now each of us can be a witness to the horrors and devastation in Darfur through Eyes on Darfur's satellite images, first-hand accounts and videos. Don't wait for mainstream media to pick up a story on the genocide in Darfur--SEE FOR YOURSELF what's happening there RIGHT NOW.

And on June 12th, Warner Brothers will release a 2-disc CD, Instant Karma: The Campaign to Save Darfur featuring the music of John Lennon. Proceeds will benefit Amnesty International and the fight to stop the genocide in Darfur. The rights to Lennon's songs were donated by Yoko Ono who is donating publishing rights. Listen to some of the tracks and pre-order it at MTV's The Leak here. If you're on MySpace, you can add this project as a friend here. And Amnesty International lists some other ways you can get involved here.