“They are a population that has lost everything, and even hope is starting to fade. Darfur United gives them a sense of being part of something greater than being what they are now labeled: a refugee.” ~i-ACT Founder/Director Gabriel Stauring
Since 2005, the Founder and Director of i-ACT, Gabriel Stauring has visited Darfur 11 times, namely-the refugee camps along the Chad/Sudan border. The non-profit’s volunteer arm, Stop Genocide Now, has garnered international attention and now, i-ACT is essentially creating a soccer team made up of the best players from the refugee camps along the border.
The team is called Darfur United.
In addition to his numerous visits to Darfur, Stauring has spearheaded campaigns such as the 100-Day Fast for Darfur, Darfur Freedom Summer Vigils, Camp Darfur, Darfur Fast for Life, and is featured in ‘The Enough Moment’ by John Prendergast and Don Cheadle.
Athlebrities was thrilled to interview this amazing man about issues related to Darfur, the refugees in that area, how the beautiful game can change lives, and what we can do to help. I opted to run the interview, unedited, in its entirety because, quite frankly, every word is important. Continue reading →
Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith, Herschel Walker, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Sarah Silverman, Jason Alexander, Cedric the Entertainer, Brad Garret, Montel Williams and Nelly…this is just a partial list of celebrities and athletes who joined Ante Up For Africa tournament founders Don Cheadle, Annie Duke and Norman Epstein for their 2009 Ante Up For Africa poker tournament…(if you’re able to read this posting in time, ESPN will broadcast the entire tournament tonight)
Participant Sarah Silverman reminds us what its all about: “You learn about the holocaust in school and you’re like, well that can never happen today because we would never let that happen today,” she said from the red-carpet, “But it’s happening. There’s a genocide happening.”
From the ENOUGH PROJECT: The dire crisis in Darfur is entering its sixth year. The conflict has killed 400,000 people and forced more than 3 million Darfuris to flee their homes. The recent expulsion of key international humanitarian groups by the government of Sudan in response to the International Criminal Court’s issuance of an arrest warrant for President Omar al-Bashir has placed hundreds of thousands of the most needy at even greater risk and without access to medical care or reliable food supplies. President Bashir continues to utilize starvation as a weapon of war to silence his opponents and to distract the world from the key issues in Darfur. Now more than ever, there needs to be a dynamic international effort to move beyond simply treating the symptoms of Sudan’s crisis and focuses on ENDING it by forging a lasting and equitable peace for all of Sudan.
Ante Up For Africa has established itself as the premiere event to help end the crisis in Darfur, raising over $2 million since its inception in 2006 to help build a brighter future for the people of Sudan. “The greatest thing that you can do is educate the population about the problem,” said Annie Duke, “Because when some of those people who are then exposed to an issue that they might not have otherwise been exposed to find some passion in it, then they speak and our representatives listen and that’s really what creates the lasting change.”
Ante Up For Africa benefits two amazing organizations…‘The Enough Project’ and ‘Refugee International’s Sudan’ advocacy efforts…and they still need your help with another situation…our insatiable demand for electronics products such as cell phones and laptops is helping fuel a major conflict in Eastern Congo. This is the most dangerous place in the world to be a woman or girl, and the sexual violence there is often fueled by militias warring over conflict minerals, the ores that produce tin, tungsten, and tantalum—the 3 Ts— that end up being used in our electronic devices.
Check out the Enough Projects YouTube channel to view video posted by contestants who are raising awareness about the link between our cell phones and the violence in Congo. Oscar-nominated actor Ryan Gosling, actress Sonya Walger from ABC’s “Lost,” and Oscar-nominated director Wim Wenders selected the best three videos and are asking us to vote for winner. Voting ends September 8…so check it out soon.
The next Ante Up for Africa event will be October 29 at the San Manuel Casino. For more info, visit Ante Up for Africa.
