Providing a meal to our young is instinctual. As mothers, we all have to do it. You may hate to cook, you may love to cook, you may be the take-out queen, but no matter what, we have to feed our children. But what if this task is literally life-threatening? For a moment, please imagine the following story is yours.
Imagine you are a citizen, a woman, of Darfur, Sudan. Imagine the mad militiamen have killed most of your family. They have taken your boys and turned them into child soldiers, they have killed your brothers, your husband. They have raped your daughters. You have been chased you out of your homeland. You now live in a refugee camp with thousands of your townsmen, and many, many orphaned children.
Now imagine, despite your plight, you have found the courage and strength to take in several children orphaned by the violence in Darfur. They give you hope and a reason to see each new day. They may not be yours, but you feel obligated to love them, and care for them as if they were. Unfortunately, you have next to nothing, and provisions from relief agencies are scarce. The food you do receive is raw, and must be cooked. To cook anything, you need wood. And to find wood, you must leave the relative safety of the refugee camp. You must walk far to find what wood is left, as thousands of other refugees have picked the landscape clean.
You must do this, or the children you have devoted your existence to will suffer. You can not bare to hear their little voices cry out in pain. You know they could die of starvation. Every instinct in your body needs to find wood; needs to feed these innocent babies. But you are scared to start this search.
Why, you ask? Because searching for wood puts your life in danger. Bandits, Janjaweed Militiamen, are waiting for you or your fellow sisters to leave the safety of camp. You will be raped, tortured, beaten or branded if you are caught. You cannot fight back, you will be outnumbered. Who knows how long you will be gone, or if you will survive the walk back to camp.
This scenario sounds extreme, but I promise you it is not. Everyday, woman and young girls are raped, mutilated and beaten while searching for wood to cook food for their families. It is heartbreaking that such a necessary task can be interrupted by these brutal and senseless acts of violence.
Jewish World Watch, a member of the Save Darfur Coalition, has had enough. To answer the call for improved safety in several refugee camps in the neighboring country of Chad, they have developed The Solar Cooker Project. Their aim is to “empower and protect the woman of Darfur.” Imagine a contraption that is inexpensive to make, easy to carry, provides woman with job skills, and allows them to safely cook and provide for their families, all by using solar power? No wood necessary. The Solar Cooker Project and their partners KoZon, have linked arms to do just this. I urge you to click HERE to read more about these amazing devices and how they are empowering the woman of Darfur every day.
A $30.00 Solar Cooker Donation provides a family in Darfur with:
- 2 solar cookers.
- 2 pots
- 2 pot holders
- A years supply of plastic bags
- Skills training for refugee woman and girls
$30.00 is all it takes to help one family protect it’s woman! Thats all! My family will be going without movie rentals this month, and thats okay with us. Because as we eat our dinner each night, we will know that one more Darfurian woman is safe, and able to cook her family dinner as well.
Jewish World Watch has had enough.
And you know what? So have I. Have you?
I am with you sister. I am cancelling my Blockbuster Online account and am going to donate to The Solar Cooker Project. Thanks for the information! What a great article!
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