i-ACT 2007: gabriel's return to africa

Gabriel Stauring is one of those folks I find myself admiring more and more as time goes by. He's now chronicling his third trip to the Darfur region of Africa over at the i-ACT page on StopGenocideNow.org.

When I first encountered Gabriel in the omidyar.net online community, we were both just beginning to learn about the atrocities committed in the Darfur region of Sudan. Since then, Gabriel's been a man on a mission, c-founding StopGenocideNow.org and dedicating the lionshare of his waking moments to raising awareness about what's happening in Africa on top of acting as a Family Consultant, providing in-home therapy for abused children and their families.

I've had the privilege of meeting Gabriel face-to-face once, and he's got all the hallmark qualities of a strong, silent leader: humility, approachability, drive and charisma. And I admire how he's using technology to support his work:

i-ACT is Interactive ACTivism:

• We use technology to reject the standard excuse of inaction - ignorance
• We debunk the myth that ordinary people cannot stop genocide
• We replace statistics with names, faces and stories

The age of bystanders should long have passed - we have entered an age of knowledge which empowers us to protect. Join us as an upstander. Become an i-ACTivist.

The first time I heard Gabriel was headed to Darfur, I was concerned his passion to do something about the situation was blinding him to the very real possibility something bad would happen to him. Instead, through his blogging and v-logging what was happening on the ground there in Darfur, he provided a glimpse for me and thousands of others the humanity effected by this seemingly-far-away atrocity. He made it more real for me than ever before, and I know now it's because it was Gabriel who was sharing his experience, not some unknown-yet-credentialed reporter parachuting in to capture 90 seconds of news.

When I heard Gabriel was going back to Darfur, my fear for his safety didn't materialize like it had the first time. Instead, I found myself hoping that what he'd see was measured improvement since the prior year. As he (and his travel companion Stacy) posted: things weren't much better, and in some cases, things were worse.

And now, less than a year since he was last in Darfur, he's back again. Please join me bearing witness to the story Gabriel has to share. He's posting daily at i-ACT3. Become an upstander with me. Tell five friends of Gabriel's work. Ask them to do the same.

Let's remove the excuse of ignorance from standing in the way of progress for this important cause. Stop Genocide Now.