If you want to do something positive for the people of the Congo, join the Heart of Diamonds team at the NY Run for Congo Women on Saturday, September 26. It will be held on Roosevelt Island in New York at 8:30 AM at Firefighter's Field. Registration is only $25 and funds raised go to support the work of Women for Women International in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
This four-star charity helps women provide for their families by teaching them skills they need to end the cycle of poverty and suffering. It advances funds to help them start businesses and teaches them to protect themselves against the terror around them. Even if you can't participate that day, donations of any size are very welcome and--what's more--your contribution will be matched by a wonderful supporter of Women for Women International who has pledged an additional $100,000 for that purpose!
Today in the DRC, people are struggling to maintain peace and rebuild their lives after one of the deadliest wars in all of history. As many as 6,000,000 people have died as a direct result of the ongoing conflict. Perhaps even worse than the loss of life is the staggering number of women and children who have been tortured, mutilated, and sexually violated by forces vying for control of the Congo's mineral wealth. As you may have learned from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent trip to the DRC, rape as a weapon of terror in Congo has reached epic proportions. The women of the DRC desperately need our help right now.
Won't you please join us? Invite your friends, too. Even if you can't participate that day, your contribution will do a world of good for women in the Congo. When you sign up for the run, don't forget to join the Heart of Diamonds team. And when you're there, pick up some raffle tickets for a chance to win some great prizes including autographed copies of Heart of Diamonds.
Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds a romantic thriller about blood diamonds in the Congo.
Showing posts with label Run for Congo Women. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Run for Congo Women. Show all posts
Women For Women International Weighs In On Clinton Visit
Among the important commentators about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo was Zainib Salbi, founder and CEO of Women for Women International. Her appearance on Jim Lehrer's PBS NewsHour added welcome depth to the coverage of Clinton's visit.
I'll be sponsoring a team in the New York Women for Women International Run for Congo Women on September 26. Last year, my wife and I were happy to raise a significant amount for the group's efforts to help Congolese women rebuild their lives. I hope you'll join us in supporting the cause this year. Even if you can't run, a small donation can make a big difference in the life of a women in the Congo.
Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds a romantic thriller about blood diamonds in the Congo.
I'll be sponsoring a team in the New York Women for Women International Run for Congo Women on September 26. Last year, my wife and I were happy to raise a significant amount for the group's efforts to help Congolese women rebuild their lives. I hope you'll join us in supporting the cause this year. Even if you can't run, a small donation can make a big difference in the life of a women in the Congo.
Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds a romantic thriller about blood diamonds in the Congo.
Maryland Stands Up (and Runs) For Congo
Word about the current situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo is spreading throughout Maryland, with film showings, panel discussions, and a Run For Congo Women drawing attention to the people victimized by the struggle for the DRC's resources.
At Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, students gathered recently to see a film about rape in the Congo and hear a panel of experts discuss the war there. Towson University, Loyola College, and Howard Community College also hosted events. Makeda Crane, a member of The Baltimore Sun's editorial staff who recently visited Congo, filed a report on the events.
April 11, you can help the cause by joining the Run for Congo Women in Frederick, MD, to be held at the William R. Talley Rec Center. Registration opens at 7:15 and the run begins at 8:30 AM. While I can't be there in person, I sent autographed copies of Heart of Diamonds to be auctioned off as part of the events fund raising efforts. I'll be doing the same for other Run for Congo Women events throughout the year. The runs support Women For Women International, which helps victims of violence put their lives back together in Congo and other conflict-torn regions of the world.
Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds a romantic thriller about blood diamonds in the Congo.
At Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, students gathered recently to see a film about rape in the Congo and hear a panel of experts discuss the war there. Towson University, Loyola College, and Howard Community College also hosted events. Makeda Crane, a member of The Baltimore Sun's editorial staff who recently visited Congo, filed a report on the events.
April 11, you can help the cause by joining the Run for Congo Women in Frederick, MD, to be held at the William R. Talley Rec Center. Registration opens at 7:15 and the run begins at 8:30 AM. While I can't be there in person, I sent autographed copies of Heart of Diamonds to be auctioned off as part of the events fund raising efforts. I'll be doing the same for other Run for Congo Women events throughout the year. The runs support Women For Women International, which helps victims of violence put their lives back together in Congo and other conflict-torn regions of the world.
Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds a romantic thriller about blood diamonds in the Congo.
A Great Day For Congo Women
Today was a great day at Roosevelt Island in New York, where hundreds of people gathered to run, walk, and otherwise offer support for women in the Congo who have been victimized by the endless war that forms the setting for Heart of Diamonds. It was the NY Run for Congo Women, a fundraiser for Women For Women International.
This four-star charity helps women provide for their families by teaching them skills they need to end the cycle of poverty and suffering, providing funds to help them start businesses, and teaching them to protect themselves against the terror around them.
(from left: me, my son Jeremy, my wife Nora, and our friends Sacha, Art, and Connie)
I'd like to thank everyone who joined the Heart of Diamonds team and showed your solidarity with the women of the Congo. Six of us were able to appear, but dozens others supported us with generous donations and heart-felt good wishes. When all was said and done, we raised nearly $1,000 -- a nice portion of the $15,000 raised by the event.
I also had the pleasure of meeting Lisa Jackson, whose documentary film, The Greatest Silence: Rape In The Congo aired on HBO earlier this year and won a special prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. We chatted before the run, then in a nice bit of serendipity, the Outreach Coordinator for Jackson Films, Joseph Mbangu, won a copy of Heart of Diamonds in the raffle afterward!
Thanks again to all the donors and well-wishers who supported this great cause.
Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds
This four-star charity helps women provide for their families by teaching them skills they need to end the cycle of poverty and suffering, providing funds to help them start businesses, and teaching them to protect themselves against the terror around them.
(from left: me, my son Jeremy, my wife Nora, and our friends Sacha, Art, and Connie)
I'd like to thank everyone who joined the Heart of Diamonds team and showed your solidarity with the women of the Congo. Six of us were able to appear, but dozens others supported us with generous donations and heart-felt good wishes. When all was said and done, we raised nearly $1,000 -- a nice portion of the $15,000 raised by the event.
I also had the pleasure of meeting Lisa Jackson, whose documentary film, The Greatest Silence: Rape In The Congo aired on HBO earlier this year and won a special prize at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. We chatted before the run, then in a nice bit of serendipity, the Outreach Coordinator for Jackson Films, Joseph Mbangu, won a copy of Heart of Diamonds in the raffle afterward!
Thanks again to all the donors and well-wishers who supported this great cause.
Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds
Tags: romantic thriller, Congo, blood diamonds
Vote For Congo Women -- Today!
Now is the time to cast your vote for women in the Congo and other victims of war and violence in the Sudan, Iraq, Afghanistan, and other war-torn countries. If you haven't already, please go to American Express Member Projects and vote to Help Women and Children Survivors of War Rebuild.
The cause is in the top 25 and just a few votes shy of making into the top 5 finalists--who will share $2.5 million in funding from American Express.
With funding from Members Project, Women for Women International can provide even more tangible financial support, job skills training, rights awareness training and social networks for women rebuilding their lives and the lives of their children.
These are extremely vulnerable populations who may be widows, refugees, victims of rape and torture and at the same time the sole source of support for their families. But perhaps most importantly, these women are already the ones who have been rebuilding after war...time and time again.
This is the cause I'm supporting with the Heart of Diamonds Team at the NY Run for Congo Women on October 4. You can help, too, with just a few clicks of the mouse--but you must act now to have your vote count by the September 29 deadline.
Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds
The cause is in the top 25 and just a few votes shy of making into the top 5 finalists--who will share $2.5 million in funding from American Express.
With funding from Members Project, Women for Women International can provide even more tangible financial support, job skills training, rights awareness training and social networks for women rebuilding their lives and the lives of their children.
These are extremely vulnerable populations who may be widows, refugees, victims of rape and torture and at the same time the sole source of support for their families. But perhaps most importantly, these women are already the ones who have been rebuilding after war...time and time again.
This is the cause I'm supporting with the Heart of Diamonds Team at the NY Run for Congo Women on October 4. You can help, too, with just a few clicks of the mouse--but you must act now to have your vote count by the September 29 deadline.
Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds
Tags: romantic thriller, Congo, blood diamonds
Congo Rape Unimaginable
Forty-five women report being raped every day in South Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to a report issued by the Scottish Catholic International Aid Fund. Estimates of non-reported rapes are triple that number. That's why I'm sponsoring the Heart of Diamonds team in the NY Run for Congo Women on October 4. The world needs to know.
The explosion of violent sexual assaults in the DRC over the last ten years is directly related to the endless conflict in the eastern provinces. The fighting involves Congolese forces, neighboring countries including Rwanda, and over 20 independent militias, rebel groups, and criminal gangs. Rape has been used by nearly all of them as a tool of war in the fight to control territory and natural resources.
The near-total lack of law enforcement and a working judicial system in the region has led to virtual impunity for perpetrators of rape and other war crimes.
SCIAF’s new report, Ending Mass Rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo, points out that many victims die from injuries suffered during the brutal attacks, which often involve horrible physical abuse and mutilation. Rape survivors often have to walk miles to reach primitive health care facilities that are seldom able to cope with the massive injuries they have suffered. Transmission of HIV/AIDS and damage to the victims' reproductive systems is common.
The Heart of Diamonds team at the NY Run for Congo Women on October 4 will raise funds for Women For Women International, an organization that helps women provide for their families by teaching them skills they need to end the cycle of poverty and suffering, providing funds to help them start businesses, and teaching them to protect themselves against the terror around them.
You can help by registering to run or making a donation at www.active.com/donate/runforcongony/DDonels1. Thanks for helping us tell the world about the plight of women in the Congo.
Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds
The explosion of violent sexual assaults in the DRC over the last ten years is directly related to the endless conflict in the eastern provinces. The fighting involves Congolese forces, neighboring countries including Rwanda, and over 20 independent militias, rebel groups, and criminal gangs. Rape has been used by nearly all of them as a tool of war in the fight to control territory and natural resources.
The near-total lack of law enforcement and a working judicial system in the region has led to virtual impunity for perpetrators of rape and other war crimes.
SCIAF’s new report, Ending Mass Rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo, points out that many victims die from injuries suffered during the brutal attacks, which often involve horrible physical abuse and mutilation. Rape survivors often have to walk miles to reach primitive health care facilities that are seldom able to cope with the massive injuries they have suffered. Transmission of HIV/AIDS and damage to the victims' reproductive systems is common.
The Heart of Diamonds team at the NY Run for Congo Women on October 4 will raise funds for Women For Women International, an organization that helps women provide for their families by teaching them skills they need to end the cycle of poverty and suffering, providing funds to help them start businesses, and teaching them to protect themselves against the terror around them.
You can help by registering to run or making a donation at www.active.com/donate/runforcongony/DDonels1. Thanks for helping us tell the world about the plight of women in the Congo.
Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds
Tags: romantic thriller, Congo, blood diamonds
Join The Heart Of Diamonds Team At NY Run For Congo Women
The horrible abuse of women in the ongoing war in the Congo is one of the themes in Heart of Diamonds. Rape as a weapon of terror has reached epic proportions. Despite the Goma peace accords, literally thousands of women are still being victimized by the military and criminal gangs operating in many regions. The women of the DRC desperately need our help.
That's why I'm sponsoring a team to run or walk in the NY Run for Congo Women at Roosevelt Island on October 4. Proceeds from the event will go to support Women for Women International's program in Congo. This four-star charity helps women provide for their families by teaching them skills they need to end the cycle of poverty and suffering, providing funds to help them start businesses, and teaching them to protect themselves against the terror around them.
I urge you to show your solidarity with the women of the Congo by joining this event or even just making a small contribution. Registration is only $20. When you register, please join the Heart of Diamonds group to get a free team shirt at Roosevelt Island. And bring along your copy of Heart of Diamonds, so I can autograph it!
Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds
That's why I'm sponsoring a team to run or walk in the NY Run for Congo Women at Roosevelt Island on October 4. Proceeds from the event will go to support Women for Women International's program in Congo. This four-star charity helps women provide for their families by teaching them skills they need to end the cycle of poverty and suffering, providing funds to help them start businesses, and teaching them to protect themselves against the terror around them.
I urge you to show your solidarity with the women of the Congo by joining this event or even just making a small contribution. Registration is only $20. When you register, please join the Heart of Diamonds group to get a free team shirt at Roosevelt Island. And bring along your copy of Heart of Diamonds, so I can autograph it!
Dave Donelson, author of Heart of Diamonds
Tags: romantic thriller, Congo, blood diamonds
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