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Writes from Darfur
January 28th 2008 2:56pm
Katie-Jay Scott is craving chocolate—badly. And not just any kind of chocolate. Dark, fair-trade chocolate—the kind that blends in exotic flavors like lavender, mint or orange. And only Portland's got 'em. She finished her last stash of ginger-dark chocolate on Jan. 21 and is kicking herself for not bringing more.
Scott is currently posted in Darfur, Sudan, where she documents the lives of refugee families to show and motivate Portlanders to help. She is an integral part of the Stop Genocide Now volunteer group based in California. As the head of the Portland branch of Stop Genocide Now, Scott is hoping to connect Portland communities with those in Darfur.
“Stalin once said, ‘One death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic,’" Scott says. "[Stop Genocide Now] personalizes the genocide in Darfur, making it easier for people to wrap their minds around the atrocities through meeting individuals and hearing their stories," says Scott.
Scott has been working with Stop Genocide Now as a volunteer since June 2007 and became the organization's second paid full-time member in September.
Scott and S.G.N. co-founder Gabriel Stauring are interviewing children and women in the Darfur refugee camps. They film and edit videos, photograph and blog posts and share them on S.G.N's website. This project is called i-ACT, or interactive activism—where people connect to Darfur refugees on a personal level through videos and blog posts.
Already students at Crossler Middle School in Salem have replied to Scott after reading her blog and watching the YouTube videos. A teacher in Canby routinely shares Scott’s blog posts with her students. In March, Scott and her SGN co-workers will return to Darfur and begin the i-ACT Rhythm and Hope Tour with singer Macy Gray.
WW will be posting some of Scott's most recent posts from Darfur, including video footage and photos. For more information on Stop Genocide Now, please visit its website.
Here's a video of a visit to the refugee camp's school earlier this month vvvvvvvvvvvvvvv:
To support Stop Genocide Now, click here.
Kev,
I really think they were trying to personalize the story to draw you into it, not minimalise it.
It's a dark subject and using something familiar to draw ordinary folks in, is smart journalism. Drinking coffee and reading something that difficult isn't for the meek. The fact that we are sooo far away makes it easy to be indifferent, and just turn the page.
Lighten up.
KTJ and her friends are now stuck in N'djamena, Chad in their hotel. They have been shot at, when the hotel was briefly attacked, but are being protected by French troops in the hotel and seem to be safe for now. See the posts at Stop Genocide Now - link in article above.
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That is the most infelicitous opening graf imaginable for a story about the suffering in Darfur, and makes Ms. Scott sound much more frivolous than she surely must be.