How to Help.

I'm coming out of seclusion long enought to say that, if you are horror-stricken by the events of the past weeks and months and years and would like to help:

1) you can send a donation to the American Jewish World Service. The AJWS is working in Darfur and Burma.

To urge Congress to increase economic pressure on the Burmese military regime - which is preventing desperately-needed aid from reaching the people - go here.

To urge Congress to provide funding for peacekeeping in Darfur - in the SIXTH YEAR of the genocide - go here.

2) you can make a donation to the Red Cross to aid survivors of the Chinese earthquake.

3) you can organize to help women of the Congo. Anxious Black Woman has posted a list of businesses profiting off of the rape and abuse of women there, as well as of companies that do business with those who profit off the rape and abuse of Congolese women. The second list has some very familiar names on it, including Wal-Mart, Best Buy, and several computer manufacturers. As she says, "So, basically, as you can see, we're all implicated in this DRC conflict...Somehow, as democratic citizens, we must yield our power through our dollars and our votes."

In case you're missing that - when we purchase computers and cell phones and televisions and cameras, we are directly supporting rape and torture of Congolese women.

What are we going to do about that?

ABW also links to a petition put together by Tasha at Sowing Circle - please take a look.

Finally, you can donate to CARE, which has staff in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is working to help survivors.