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George F White LLP, DL13
Call 01388 531052 | Contact agent | See all 6 branches
About George F White LLP
The George F White Group is a firm of chartered surveyors and estate agents who operate throughout Northumberland & Borders, County Durham, Tyne & Wear, Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire. We have offices in Alnwick, Newcastle, Wolsingham, Barnard Castle, Bedale, Shiptonthorpe and London. The George F White Group provides a range of professional services across the residential, commercial, agricultural and leisure sectors which include: Property Agency & Acquisitions; Property Management; Planning & Development; Landlord/Tenant; Plant, Machinery & Livestock; Strategic Business Management; Grants & Subsidies; Valuations; Compulsory Purchase & Compensation; Project Delivery; Waste, Minerals & Energy; Expert Witness & Dispute Resolution as well as specialist teams dealing with renewable energy. Established in 1979 The George F White Group is a vibrant and energetic business where growth is driven by applying the basic principle of maximising value for clients. Our culture is founded upon excellence, honesty and enthusiasm. Our clients expect us to combine this culture with the ability to successfully meet a challenge, think outside the box and be proactive.


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I'm running 10.5.8, just bought a sonos sound system. what do i need to do to upgrade to run the sonos software?
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- Nov 24, 2012
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How do I upgrade from OSX 10.4.11 to 10.5.8?
I'm running a PowerPC MacMini and need to upgrade for the iPhone
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- Aug 8, 2010
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mac os x 10.5.8 need upgrading?
I have mac os x 10.5.8 and there is no more software updates. Is it a good idea to upgrade to mac os x 10.6 snow leopard? will everything on my computer still run?
thanks- Asked by Andrew W
- Jan 25, 2011
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I an running 10.5.8 and I have an Iphone 5, will this purchase be sufficient in upgrading my software in order to be compatible with my Iphone 5?
I need to upgrade my itunes to 11.0.3, but my computer Model Identifier: MacBook5,2. which only upgrades to 10.5.8, and I need 10.6 or higher I believe. my question is, respectively, do I need to upgrade my software only or is there a hardware upgrade involved as well? will the $20 snow leopard disk be sufficient?
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- May 30, 2013
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If I have Mac OS X 10.5.8 do I need Snow Leopard and Lion to make the new iPhone 4S and my Mac run iCloud?
I just got the iphone 4S and took it in to the Apple store for set-up. The store is over an hour away from my home so I'm quite surprised they didn't tell me I needed these software updates to run iCloud.
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I'm running 10.5.8.... can i upgrade to snow leopard?
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- Dec 23, 2009
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what software/upgrade modifies my i mac OS X 10.5.8 to run windows also
I had a mac 9.1 . IT OPENED BOTH FILES FOR SCHOOL (WINDOWS&MAC). NOW I MOVED TO A CITY THAT DOES NOT SELL ANYTHING BUT WINDOWS. I RECENTLY BOUGHT ¡MAC OSX 10.5.8 . WHAT SOFTWARE CAN I INSIALL SO I CAN OPEN WINDOWS & MAC
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- Nov 6, 2009
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Can I just download snow leopard instead of having it sent to me on disc? I am running 10.5.8 and need to upgrade to use my ipad mini
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- Apr 27, 2013
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is snow leopard compatible with my current software running on 10.5.8?
I need to be able to run Quicken 2007 in particular.
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I'm confused. Have a Mac OS X 10.5.8. want to upgrade to 10.6 BUT it says I have to running Leopard. I don't see that anywhere on my MAC
I am not very computer software savvy - so how do I know if I even have the basic Leopard or Lion or whatever animal it is that you need to even begin to upgrade to 10/6 or better?
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- Jul 18, 2012
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I currently have a MacBook with Mac OS X Version 10.5.6, is there any way to just upgrade to 10.5.8 so I can download and run Safari 4?
I plan to eventually make the switch to Snow Leopard, but I'm really just looking for a quick fix right now. I got a new iPod Touch and I need safari 4 for it to let me sync my pictures.
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- Dec 24, 2009
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I am running 10.5.8 and want to upgrade to Lion in july but i need Snow leopard to download. Can i skip snow leopard and just get Lion?
I am running 10.5.8 and want to upgrade to Lion.
Anyone knows if i need to purchased Snow Leopard first ?
or buying Lion would skip that step ?- Asked by Florian V
- Jul 29, 2011
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I have a MacBook running 10.5.8 and an IMax running 10.5.8, Do I need to buy 2 discs ?
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i just got a 5th gen ipod. I am currently running 10.5.8. What do I need to do to be able to use it?
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I have mac OSx 10.5.8 can I buy any upgrades I would like to run lion. Can someone tell me what I need to do?
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I am running on 10.5.8 and have 2 GB of memory. do i need more memory to upgrade to snow leopard
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I am running 10.5.8 and want to upgrade to Lion but i need Snow Leopard. Can i skip the snow leopard to get the lion?
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subset: commoncrawl


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You're watching...
Singer-songwriter-producer Devin Townsend on 'Red Eye'
Musician's career encapsulated in 'Epicloud' album
Feb 21, 2013
You're watching...
Musician's career encapsulated in 'Epicloud' album
Feb 21, 2013
Also in this playlist...
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Review it will go out I -- another -- -- that's the latest video from the music legend Devin Townsend it's got lucky animals is from the fantastic album by what you got you half.
To buy his album it's called -- allowed came out of September.
It's the fifteenth studio album from -- -- in the fifth album -- -- Devin Townsend project series but topics he's -- the Canadian.
He's been here for most of the -- so -- -- him like a piece of -- high with some really -- -- is to visit the UI.
Heard that you probably in like two like 20022000.
Streets -- that Mike -- stand it -- -- Mike Patton.
Message boards -- rooms talk about strapping young lad DeVon Townsend and got to find.
But I didn't know where to start and that's the thing that like -- like right.
I've been following you like -- like go big there's so much great stuff that you do I sound like it.
Really pathetic Stanton.
How do you takes how would you tell somebody to star -- not that he's never listen to yourself before.
Have a club will be good start I think -- -- actually because I think it's after twenty some odd years of doing this having a record that.
Sort of in my mind encapsulates at all and you put it to a friend of -- that makes a little more sense of how -- it's been I -- I think it's cool record and -- ever go out there and you'll -- -- it's it's it's like.
It's like he took.
And you put -- to amuse blender with a bit of hearts.
And -- -- queen on her but yeah a lot of but it really is like it's like every if any.
Every song has a hook a rift in a melody and a chorus.
And it's -- it's it is I think the best album I've heard in bulk lot really means a lot support has -- really actually very cool so thank -- But just to be jackass -- that's my trip I heard a description of my music today that was perfect it was like.
It was like a candy covered nursery rhyme -- -- -- And I thought that was actually what -- That's really gonna put up -- -- what do you -- about because I don't really know.
I don't even know either I -- -- -- I've been on auto pilot for so long and you know I think that emotionally on some level I just have a hard time relating to -- Reality in terms of interactive you know being so guarded some music is just.
Always been the outlet that has been easy to let it -- but you know you I mean you started out.
As a singer for Steve by -- -- how -- -- 1919.
How did that go.
I was good I -- you know -- -- -- he's a great friend and at ninety and I guess my.
Impression of what I thought it was going to be when I moved to LA vs what it was led me to do bunch of horrible things to -- but he's.
It was it's a good learning curve right.
Yeah I -- LA yeah I think UK LA you'll never go back I'll know their two weeks ago that happens to people don't know if you have memories in Los Angeles that usually end up with somebody in the trunk -- it has to be buried in Malibu with noted here because I didn't -- the lack of rain -- -- them from Vancouver it's really comes down of that it's like mighty mighty good music is attached to the -- all right I gotta -- we're running out of time -- any advice for aspiring musicians.
Were to happen to better people.
It's tough I don't know thoughts -- which is I think it's good to keep a perspective that no matter how things are going there's always some who's got a better words and ignorance of them.
He is doctor Keith apple I'm -- since then that --
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[Beowulf] Security issues
Many of your questions may have already been answered in earlier discussions or in the FAQ. The search results page will indicate current discussions as well as past list serves, articles, and papers.
Marian Marinov mm at yuhu.bizSat Oct 25 20:17:27 PDT 2008
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On Friday 24 October 2008 20:15:10 Leif Nixon wrote: > "B. Vincent Diepeveen" <diep at xs4all.nl> writes: > > Now you post here a big story on how your Rocks got hacked. Do i > > conclude it correctly the > > problem is that you ran a default Rocks kernel? > > The basic problem seems to be bad account hygiene. > > That's a hard problem. Users will forever be borrowing each other's > accounts, making it difficult to contain security breaches. But if you build a good infrastructure jailing the users within one directory with access to files that do not affect the underlaing OS you will have better chance of leaving such attacks out of your systems. A scheme like that is when all of your users are chrooted to their home folders with the OS for each user mounted from a read-only image. This way it becomes harder for attackers to penetrate the OS security. Also a good security addition will be adding SELinux, RSBAC or GRSecurity to the kernel and actually using any of these. Regards Marian Marinov Head of System Operations at Siteground.com
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text:
About BeeAitch
Exactly. "To Serve and Protect."
"people shouldn't be able to tag you in a photo at all"
Because of pirvacy in your coutrie?
"How about no more IOC bullshit?"
"First off, it's 2 million, not 20 million that Berry wants."
Oh, well, that's much better!
"There is no obligation in copyright to share, any more than there is an obligation to share your house with anyone who might show up looking for a place to sleep at a reasonable price."
Analogy fail: real property =/= imaginary property (hint: that's why it's called imaginary property, because it's not real. But you either already know this and choose to ignore it or you are incredibly thick.)
Care to try again?
MIB reference?
"The labels tend to be creative with the books so that there is hardly anything left to distribute for royalties. They also tend to classify things that may not have been covered in the original contract however they feel is in their favor. I doubt that digital downloads were covered much in the Def Leppard's original contract."
I realize you're being polite, but 'tend to' really should be replaced with 'in the majority of cases' or something along those lines. :)
"I just immediately went and bought them on GPlay."
From GMacGuffin's comment above.
Btw, capitals ignored on purpose. :D
"A lot of christians are nice people once you get to know them."
And a lot of christians belong to groups like the Westboro baptist church: i.e not nice people (and not very christian, imho).
No one has complained *yet*.
The fact that if they do, this man could face jail time is the issue being discussed, not whether or not anyone has complained *yet*.
Methinks you are the one that owns a man of straw.
"Not true. Christians are not uniting to persecute."
'No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!'
But technology gives me the right to copy it, whether you like it or not. Too bad, so sad.
I'll put 9001 (over 9000) internet points on 3, starting Monday, July 9, 2012.
To be fair, it's hard to keep digging when you haven't shored up what was dug before, and it keeps collapsing on you. I'm not surprised he had to take a break.
I fully expect he'll return to digging once he's had a brief respite.
If you need a fix Steve Gibson might be just the thing. ;)
Face it, you're guilty. you freeloading, motherfucking pirate.
Now pay us*!
*"us" being the MPAA, RIAA, ASCAP, etc ad nauseam...
"As an artists[sic] I am so touch[sic]..."
We can definitely tell you're "touched"...
Last time I checked, London wasn't in the USA.
Going to google this right now...
+1 insightful, +1 funny!
This is truly one of the best comments I've read in a while!
"The site isn't a tool..."
...but you are.


text:
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Have a Whirlpool American style fridge freezer S25BR31-A/G
Lights on the front panel constantly flashing also a constant clicking sound. It seems best thing to do is change both boards I have the part number for the rear board but the part number for the front board is showing "no longer available"
The service and serial numbers are 858616615020 and 110249 011375
Has anyone got any ideas about the front board? Has it been updated possibly?[/b]


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My system:
Dual Xeon E5-2620
Dual Quadro 4000
Red Rocket
BM 3D Extreme
16Gb RAM
CS6 Production Suite with all patches including Adobe Labs Epic patch
When playing back Epic footage the all cores jump to 100% when viewing resolution is set to 1/2 and the image just stays frozen if set to full resolution playback. Enabling or disabling the Rocket card under Source Settings seems to have no effect. In CS5.5 the CPU would almost be idle during playback with the RR doing all of the heavy lifting. CS6 doesn't seem to be utilizing the RR at all. RedCine-X and Resolve are using the Rocket card without a problem (CPU load with RedCine-X is about 8%).
Might be related to: http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?83694-Premiere-CS6-anything-but-smooth-(6-0-1-made-it-worse!


text:
Posted: Dec 3, 2012 4:47 PM by The Associated Press
CULVER CITY, Calif. (AP) - Police say a human head and the decapitated body it belongs to have been found near a Culver City hospital.
Lt. Ron Iizuka says police were called to the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center at about 3 p.m. on Monday.
The investigation is in its early stages and details about the age, gender and identity of the body are being determined.
KCAL-TV reports the body was discovered in the bushes near a parking lot.
(Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
Offensive or inappropriate comments are subject to removal. To report a comment, please e-mail us at email@example.com, and include the name of the story and information on the comment.
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text:
One of the remarkable things about Darfur is the number of people who are still volunteering with health committees after three years of living in Abu Shouk and Al Salaam camps outside of North Darfur's capital of El Fasher.
About 60 percent of the original committee volunteers at Abu Shouk have continued with their work. At nearby Al Salaam camp, the number is 80 percent. Their help is pivotal to the success of Oxfam's public health work in the camps. Every week they spend several hours visiting households in their allocated blocks and inspecting the surrounding areas.
They go shelter to shelter talking with families and sharing information on good hygiene. They check latrines for cleanliness and wear. And they instruct families on how to keep their water clean by making sure the jerry cans in which they store it are scrubbed with powdered soap and chlorine.
"We wanted to serve our people and to raise the awareness of the population so that everyone's at the same level," says Kaltoum Ali Asad, a volunteer at Abu Shouk.
"If we don't volunteer to do something the people would suffer and there'd be outbreaks of diseases and illnesses," adds Namma Saed Haroun at Al Salaam camp. "If we didn't volunteer it would be us who would eventually suffer, so we will continue to volunteer."
Their efforts win high praise from the agency.
"The volunteers work really hard," says Hussaam Eddin Mirghani, Oxfam's team leader at Abu Shouk. "They volunteer because they're afraid of diseases, especially diarrheal diseases, spreading throughout the camp. The volunteers really feel the necessity to support their communities and their people, who are really suffering in this dreadful situation."
Camp life is bleak. Ahmed Eysa, who has lived at Abu Shouk for three years with is family, makes that clear.
"Life here is horrible," he says. "It's full of difficulties, and we don't have any solutions in our hands. There are no choices for the people living here in the camp."
But Eysa has made one choice—an important one that will make a difference to others in the camp. He chose to volunteer, and he has continued giving his time for three years.
"We have to adapt to our situation and we really need to respond," he says. "There's no way we could give up."
Soon, the rains will come and fall heavily. Living conditions in the camps will deteriorate, and the threat of diseases like cholera, malaria, and diarrhea will rise. Then, the job of the health committee workers will be even more vital.
]]>"Here, in the camp, we are sitting with nothing to do," said a woman named Khadeja, her tedium heightened by memories of what she used to do. "In the village we were very active all the time—working on the farms, trading in the markets, herding animals. Here, there are no job opportunities. No income."
Without money, it's difficult for families to get everything they need.
"Everything here is for sale," said a man. "Back home it cost you nothing. You had it on the farm and if you had a surplus you could take it and exchange it for other things in the market."
At some of the camps, people are able to find jobs, but the pay is poor and the work can be exhausting. Kaltoum Ali Asad , a mother of eight children, occasionaly picks up a bit of work in El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur. It's right next to Abu Shouk camp, which has been her home for the past three years.
"Sometimes I'll walk to El Fasher town and find a job cleaning, sweeping, washing clothes," she says. "I'll get 75 cents for washing a dozen pieces of clothing, which takes all afternoon. There isn't much you can buy for 75 cents. Maybe a bundle of firewood."
In the past, gathering firewood was one of the chores that Asad devoted time to. But she has stopped because it is unsafe to leave the safety of the camp to collect it. Now, she buys her wood from the market and a bundle doesn't last very long—perhaps just enough to cook one meal, but no more.
"Food is another challenge," says Asad. "The children might go for a month without the food we think is valuable for them—fruits, vegetables, meat. Meat is very expensive: $5 for a kilo, and I don't have the money to buy it, and there are no adequate vegetables I can get as a substitute."
For children, who rise at dawn, household chores can consume a good part of the day, especially if one of them is wood gathering. They tell of walking for five hours, in groups of boys and girls up to 10 strong. Collecting grass to hawk in the markets is another task children assume, though a sale can take a long time. Preparing meals and washing are chores that fall to the girls, but both boys and girls fetch water. And if school is open, children attend classes between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m.
When darkness comes, everyone retires.
"We're too scared to go out when it's dark," says one girl. "We go to sleep."
Fourteen-year-old Mahmoud sums it up this way. "I've been here three years with my mother and father, six brothers and three sisters," he says. "We're not happy with the life here. I'd like to be living back in my village—like it used to be."
]]>So, three times a week, and sometimes more, women from the Abu Shouk and Al Salaam camps head out on four-hour treks to scavenge for fuel. If they don't come upon any trees, the women resort to clawing through the hard-packed earth to reach bits of root that they can burn instead.
But hard work is only part of their problem. Looming larger for these women is the constant threat to their safety: By venturing even a short distance outside of the camps they could face harassment, sexual assault, or even death. Since early 2003, conflict has wracked this region, forcing more than 2 million people from their homes. Many of them have sought shelter in camps like Abu Shouk and Al Salaam. But the demands of daily living—the need for wood, for jobs, for food—often require them to leave the safety of those camps.
Now, Oxfam America, together with the Sudanese Agency for Environment and Development Service (SAEDS), has launched a $132,000 program that will help thousands of displaced women stay safer in this volatile place. The agency is providing 4, 200 households with fuel-efficient stoves that, in many cases, will completely remove the need for women to hunt for wood. Two thousand of the stoves are kerosene-fueled; another 2,000 are efficient wood-burning stoves; and 200 of them use gas. The project will benefit about 25,200 people.
Women were excited about getting the stoves, said Sahar Ali, an Oxfam America program officer, who paid a monitoring visit to Abu Shouk in late January.
"Traditionally, the provision of firewood and fuel for cooking has been the responsibility of women," said Ali, in a report she filed after the visit. "There are few other sources of cooking fuel available to them."
But with the introduction of kerosene and gas, they now have other options. And the small round stoves that burn wood efficiently—as opposed to open fires—means women will need to make fewer of the dangerous scavenging trips.
Still, convincing women that gas is a smart way to cook has taken some doing, said Ali. They worried about its hazards.
"This is the first time for them using gas, and most of the houses are made from wood," said Ali. "If it burns, it burns all the camp. They said we prefer kerosene—not the gas."
The hesitancy about gas notwithstanding, the new stoves are bringing another important benefit to the region, too: some relief for the environment.
"North Darfur is mostly desert, and the few trees that provided a nearby source of cooking fuel when the camps were first created more than two years ago are all gone," said Ali in her report.
It's a trend that Ibrahim Suliman, a program coordinator for SAEDS, has watched for the past four decades as it's crept across the region.
"When I was a child, most of Darfur was covered in forest—even North Darfur," said Suliman, a native of Dar el Salaam, a small village about 30 miles south of El Fasher. But in the last 30 years, those trees and grasses have given way to desert. Why?
"Because of overgrazing," said Suliman. "Because there is no planning for animal breeding. And the firewood for cooking. And for houses—people build their houses from wood. And charcoal traders."
But with the introduction of the stoves, some of that degradation can be slowed since less wood will be needed for cooking. Suliman has even convinced his mother to switch to kerosene.
"She's very happy. It's clean," he said.
SAEDS is taking its concern for the environment a step further: It has launched a replanting project in Dar es Salaam and plans to begin a similar effort around the camps.
"Our philosophy is to restock the forest and all these things will be improved," said Suliman. "If we try to stop cutting trees and every year we try to plant many new trees, within four to five years we will be able to restock a big amount of trees. And we'll be able to at least make the environment more attractive than before and people can find grasses for their animals and be able to cultivate again. It might take a long time, but we have to start."
In Dar el Salaam, thanks to SAEDS, about 4,500 new saplings are now growing.
"In five to 10 years, I'm sure it will be green," said Suliman.
Near El Fasher, trees might also grow again. Oxfam's project with SAEDS calls for the planting of 10,000 seedlings around the camps. Families who have recently received the fuel-efficient stoves will be mobilized to do the planting.
]]>A crowd has gathered, as it always does, to watch this momentous event: Wayongo and his crew are drilling a well in a place that looks so dry one wonders if water could possibly be percolating down below. But Wayongo, a public health engineer and well driller for Oxfam, is optimistic.
"We have not struck water, but the formation is giving us courage," he shouts over the roar of the hydraulic drill. "The problem is during the dry season, the water table is very far down."
This will be the fourth deep well Wayango and his crew of five men have drilled recently in the rural areas around Kebkabiya in North Darfur. The water improvements are part of an Oxfam program to help the people in 11 small villages in this region manage as the conflict that has consumed Darfur for more than three years rages on. The initiative also includes constructing latrines and distributing farming tools.
While most of Oxfam's work during the conflict has been geared toward preventing the spread of waterborne diseases among hundreds of thousands of people who have fled from their homes, the agency recognizes that the needs in Darfur extend far beyond the temporary camps to which displaced people have flocked.
"Although there are two million internally displaced people in camps, there are many others remaining in villages who need help too," said Alun McDonald, Oxfam's communications officer based in Khartoum.
And some of them are here on this small hill in Igro. Under a scorching sun, Wayongo is making his second attempt of the day to locate a new source of water for the inhabitants of this village. After drilling about 90 feet down on a nearby rise—and coming up empty—Wayongo decided to move a little closer to a dry river bed and try his luck there.
If he hits water, he'll quickly send a sample to El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, to have it analyzed for salt and other contaminants. If it passes the test, the work crew will install a pump and build a platform around the well to keep the water clean when people draw it up.
Wayongo prefers to drill for water during the dry season because he knows that if he does strike it when the water table is at its lowest, then the supply will be a reliable one. Besides, during the rainy season, which typically stretches between June and October, this kind of work is difficult. The rain swamps the dirt tracks that serve as roads, turning them into mud that can swallow heavy trucks loaded with drilling equipment.
But it is not just the rain that makes movement difficult for Wayongo and his team. As with much of Darfur, the area around Kebkabiya is prone to hijackings and militia activity, and is not always safe to travel around, particularly after dark. When things are secure enough for the team to travel to the villages, they work late—and stay where they are.
So, after a hot and dusty day, Wayongo's crew won't be heading to Oxfam's headquarters and their own comfortable beds in Kebkabiya. They'll camp at Igro—and get an early start on the next day's drilling operation.
]]>As violence in this part of the remote region of western Sudan increases again, there is an expectation at Abu Shouk—and across Darfur—that no one will be heading back to their villages any time soon. In the face of that reality, the camp has undergone a slow transformation from a settlement of plastic-covered shelters hastily constructed with branches, to a community that has many of the trappings of permanence—and home.
"The camp now looks like a town," said Hind Adam Ali, an Oxfam public health promoter as she led visitors into the dense by neatly laid out settlement, divided into blocks with broad paths of sand, much like streets, running in between. Oxfam has been providing water, sanitation, and public health outreach to more than 50,000 people in the camp.
Abu Shouk lies close to El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur and the place where the first serious fighting of the on-going conflict erupted more than three years ago. Since the signing of the Darfur Peace Agreement last May, fighting has actually intensified in this area and has again devastated many towns and villages north of El Fasher—the places that many of the people who have sought refuge in Abu Shouk originate from.
Increasingly, the camp has the feel of a sprawling capital neighborhood, within walking distance of El Fasher's main market and linked to the city by periodic family compounds that have recently sprouted on the plain between the camp and the capital.
By one estimate, 80 percent of Abu Shouk's shelters are now made of mud brick, and signs of that industry—the pocked ground from which the dirt is dug and mixed with water—dot the camp.
But the consequence of all that liquid-intensive building was that by the middle of July, the lines at the camp's pumps where people gather to fill their large plastic jerry cans with water to lug home for drinking and washing, were up to three hours long. At midsummer, only 23 of the camp's 33 hand pumps were producing any water. The other 10 had gone dry.
Housing isn't the only thing that is sucking up great volumes of water. Aid workers also say that camp residents, needing to provide for their families beyond the basics offered by aid groups, are collecting water at the camp and hauling it into the capital for sale.
The massive human need for water is simply outstripping the natural resources of the land, which is not meant to house so many thousands of people for such a long time.
"We've been talking to the leaders about it, but it's still going on," said Hind.
On the outskirts of Al Salaam, a newer camp established nearby to relieve some of the over-population at Abu Shouk, a brick works, masterminded by a gang of little boys, was also underway.
Despite the midday heat, one boy hardly noticed the visitors who appeared, so intent was he on shoveling dirt from the pit in which he stood. Jugs of water ringed some of the other pits. Another boy scooped fistfuls of mud into a sloppy heap onto which he stomped to squeeze out the extra water before packing the mud into a metal form, shaped like a rectangular bread pan. Set out in the sun, a row of the soggy bricks slowly dried. It would take two days before they would be done
Abdal Azim Tigani, 9 and caked in mud, announced that he had made 51 bricks which he planned to sell for 10 dinars—or 4 cents—each.
How many had he sold so far?
None, he replied, clearly content to be messing about in the cool mud on a hot day, and undaunted by the sales task ahead. But judging by the widespread use of the bricks throughout Abu Shouk, Abdal would have a ready market for his product.
At Abu Shouk, family plots once ringed with prickly branches now stand protected by thick walls. Many of the plots have morphed into mini-compounds with separate rooms for cooking, shelters for chickens, and stalls for donkeys—all made with mud bricks.
At one compound, the owner proudly showed off his satellite dish, tucked behind a curtain made from cut-up food sacks. The TV, he said, was stashed carefully in the bedroom of one of his wives, and electricity to power the high-tech production came from a neighbor who owned a generator. Every evening the whole neighborhood gathers around his screen to watch the news and keep up with the world outside Darfur. The biggest crowd, he added, was for this year's World Cup final.
Alleyways have formed between the compound walls, connecting to the broader "streets." Hurrying down one of them was Hawa Sulieman Ahmed, a member of one of the health committees Oxfam has organized at Abu Shouk to help promote good hygiene practices throughout the camp.
Coming upon Hind and her visitors, Hawa insisted on inviting the small crowd back to her "home,"—a small complex of tiny structures tucked behind a heavy mud wall with a metal door. When Hawa's family first arrived at the camp, a plastic sheet was their only shelter. Now, a dwelling of straw walls—paid for with the bricks they made and sold—houses a bed along with several mats and a carpet unfurled on the sandy ground. Recycled plastic grain sacks serve as the roof. In the corner of her compound, a stall for sponge-bathing and another housing a latrine, completed the makeshift creature comforts.
But despite appearances, Abu Shouk is no substitute for home. Time passes slowly, said Hawa, and she longs to see her family.
"When we are in our villages, we are so busy farming and doing other things, but here, there are no activities," she said. "And we're not happy because our family is separated. My mother is in one place, my sister is in another, and me here."
Mud bricks make a show of permanence. But what Hawa wants is something more important than that. Bidding farewell to the visitors, she asked them a final question: "Why is there no peace?"
]]>Born and raised in Kutum, one of the last small towns on the edge of the hundreds of miles of vast desert that sweeps north toward Libya and Egypt, Mohammed Ibrahim has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of the dozens of different tribes and communities scattered across the region. Today he heads the agency's livelihoods program in northern Darfur, and visitors to Oxfam and the many international staff working on the program regularly turn to him for information on intricate local customs and history. Such local knowledge has helped shape Oxfam's work there over the past 20 years.
Oxfam has traditionally worked in partnership with rural communities throughout Darfur, building local capacity and providing technical know-how to help improve water supplies, sanitation, and agriculture in what has always been one of the poorest and most isolated parts of Sudan. When the current conflict escalated in 2003, up to two million people were uprooted from their villages and crowded into towns or settled into camps for displaced people. The emergency needs of the people of Darfur were clear and Oxfam responded by providing water and sanitation to around 400,000 displaced people.
But many hundreds of thousands more remain in their villages, often in highly volatile rural areas where various groups still vie for control. Many have seen their crops burned, their animals stolen, and their villages looted of assets like irrigation pumps, engines and cooking pots. The violence has prevented villagers from trading in local markets or from going out to harvest their fields. The traditional livelihoods with which they previously sustained themselves have been destroyed.
The local knowledge Oxfam has accumulated over the last two decades is essential in helping such communities. As Mohammed Ibrahim points out: "Oxfam has a long and successful history of working with communities in Darfur. In the current conflict, which continues to devastate the lives and livelihoods of millions of people, these villages have lost everything. Together we can help them along the path to recovery, to strengthen their food security and to rebuild their livelihoods."
Many villagers have had virtually everything they owned taken from them. So the Oxfam livelihoods team is first focusing on helping to replace what has been lost. Working initially in villages to the west of North Darfur in the areas of Kebkabiya, Saraf Omra, and Birka Seira, Oxfam is providing around 30,000 people with a wide range of goods and resources.
Grain and vegetable seeds have been distributed and villages will be carefully restocked with donkeys and other animals. Livestock are an important source of milk and meat and can also be sold to buy grain. Donkeys in particular are integral to the livelihoods of rural Darfur, being used for transport water, firewood, and other essentials.
Before the conflict, many villages had communal mills, which provided an income for the village and also reduced household expenditures, since families did not need to take grain to a private mill. Most such mills have now been destroyed, so Oxfam is working to replace them. Community health committees from each village have planned for the income obtained from these new mills to then be plowed back into rehabilitating schools and health centers that have also been destroyed in the conflict.
Mohammed Ibrahim and the rest of the team consult such community-based committees, women's groups, and other vulnerable sectors of Darfur society at every step to discuss the needs and concerns of each village. "These public forums have enabled Oxfam to tailor our projects to meet villagers' precise needs," he says. Such needs include not only food and farming but also protection and security. With the security situation in Darfur showing no sign of improving, it remains an extremely dangerous place, and communities expressed concern that being re-equipped with relatively valuable tools would only increase their vulnerability to looting and attack. So the livelihoods project is working in tandem with Oxfam's protection team to ensure that communities are not exposed to additional risk. The agency is providing only what is most urgently needed, including blankets, cooking utensils and tools such as donkey plows—relatively low-cost items that should not attract the attention of bandits.
Even the animals' gender can affect a village's security. Only female donkeys are distributed: They can haul firewood, food, and water every bit as well as males, but have significantly less market value and so are less likely to be stolen.
After restocking it is essential to ensure that the animals are kept healthy. Selected local villagers are to be trained as "paravets," assistant veterinarians who will be equipped with toolkits and drugs to ensure that animals are vaccinated against disease.
Mohammed Ibrahim and the team are also spearheading a new initiative to conduct research at key regional markets in North Darfur, mapping out the different production and food security patterns in different areas. Prices of animals, cash crops, and sorghum and millet (the staple grains of the region) are being compared, as well as prices of non-food items such as charcoal and firewood, which, in addition to their practical uses, provide a vital source of income for rural communities. The information gathered will be passed on to other NGOs working in the area to help shape other livelihood and food security programs.
]]>But, he adds proudly, he does know how to wash his hands properly after going to the latrine—something he rarely did just a few weeks ago. And he proceeds to demonstrate to the group of children, who—like Osman—have started attending Oxfam's child-to-child educational programs that aim to equip the children of Kalma camp with knowledge that could save their lives.
Football matches, songs, volleyball tournaments, and playground games are just some of the innovative ways in which the Oxfam Public Health Promotion (PHP) team here is teaching children how to stay healthy.
Kalma is one of the largest camps in Darfur—mile after mile of tightly packed shelters and rapidly constructed sanitation systems currently home to around 89,000 displaced people. As in most camps, the vast majority of residents are women and children. Two years ago there were just 19,000 people here, but rapid growth since then has created an abundance of health risks, to which children are the most vulnerable.
"Children everywhere need to be taught to wash their hands and keep clean," says Khaled Suleiman, one of Oxfam's PHP officers in the camp. "But here especially so, as the consequences can easily be fatal."
To make sure the messages sink in, Khaled and the team try to make them as fun as possible. Oxfam has built a series of community shelters where child-to-child interactive classes and activities are held.
Songs are enthusiastically sung about how to prevent malaria and diarrhea ("Our food should be washed, our water should be covered," the children sing, accompanied by stomping of feet and clapping of hands).
Other songs encourage children to participate in community clean-up campaigns, and explain how to set up mosquito nets and use the latrines properly. Oxfam has installed around 9,000 family latrines and 1,500 communal latrines in Kalma.
The children in Kalma love to make noise. The merest glimpse of a new Oxfam worker elicits a chorus of hundreds of voices shouting in unison, "OK, OK"—the nickname the children of Kalma have given to foreign visitors and the first English word every child in the camp learns. The welcome is followed by mischievous smiles and laughter all round, and the children's enthusiasm for loud, energetic fun extends into the classroom.
"My favorite is the singing and dancing," says Osman of the child-to-child activities, his arms waving frantically about his head as he mimes the actions to a song about swatting away flies. "And I like to learn new things." He has spent most of his short life in the camp after arriving here with just his mother. Nobody is sure what happened to his father and brothers.
Nine-year-old Hawa also likes to sing. "I enjoy the classes as I can make friends with lots of other children and learn at the same time. We sing the songs when we go home as well. I would like to go to school but so far I have not been able to," said Hawa, who has been in the camp for two-and-a-half years since her family fled their village of Shataya, nearly 100 miles to the west.
The PHP team works with community volunteers to come up with new songs that they think the children will find both educational and entertaining. "Kalma is as big as a city, so it is divided into eight 'sectors,'" says Khaled. "Recently we heard children from sectors 7 and 8—the only parts of the camp where Oxfam does not work—singing our songs! The children at our classes had been singing at home and gradually the songs spread around the entire camp."
The programs have proved extremely popular—almost too popular. The teachers—themselves displaced people living in the camp—say they often have 400 children trying to cram into a single room at the community shelter. "Every time we open the door, another dozen or so burst in," says Khadija, who teaches children in Sector 3 of the camp.
"Having such large classes can make it very hard for us to get the message across successfully," she says. "So we have split them into groups. Group 1 comes between 8:30 and 10:30 and Group 2 between 11 and 1 pm. Of course, some children try and come to both!"
"We are trying to ensure that the children are exposed to our messages at every possible opportunity," says Khaled. "The songs are just a part of our activities and it is clear that children's health has improved since the programs began."
Cartoon drawings explaining how food can breed germs, and how failing to clean latrines will spread disease and attract rodents, are pinned to the walls of the community shelters. Football matches and other events are organized for children to attend, where health-related information is disseminated.
The PHP team is also coordinating its efforts with the four primary schools in Kalma camp. A number of children from each class are chosen as supervisors and join teachers for training in hygiene promotion. The skills and facts they learn are then passed on to their classmates and pupils.
]]>The camp is only about nine miles from their village of Abu Hamra, which once was home to about 500 families. But after Janjaweed militia tore through the community burning dwellings and looting, Omar's family fled, as nearly two million other Darfur residents have done since conflict erupted in the region in 2003.
Omar's family was among the lucky ones. They survived the attack, but lost many of their belongings, including about 110 sheep. They arrived at Shangil Tobai with just a donkey, a bed, and a few clothes. There, they have joined nearly 20,000 other people, many of them from surrounding villages, who have squeezed into Shangil Tobai and a neighboring camp, Shadad, seeking safety from the violence that has shattered their communities.
Oxfam is helping about 400,000 displaced people scattered in camps like Shangil Tobai. The agency is supplying them with clean water and sanitation facilities as well as with essential household goods like soap and water containers. At Shangil Tobai, families have received two cooking pots, a cup, a bowl, a bucket, two jerry cans, a sleeping mat, and blankets.
But while people's basic needs are being met and Omar's youngest children are in school, there is little to fill the lives of camp residents at Shangil Tobai. In their two years at the camp, Omar's family has had no opportunity to earn an income, nor have they been able to plant their fields or harvest a crop. At the end of each month, there is rarely enough food left from the rations provided by international aid groups to feed everyone in the family sufficiently. And it has been nearly two years since any of them have eaten meat—a regular part of their diet back at Abu Hamra.
Danger circles the camp. Leaving its security to collect firewood for cooking is necessary—but risky. In recent weeks, raiders on camels attacked a small group on the edge of the camp, killing three people and stealing their animals. People are increasingly worried that such attacks will take place within the camps themselves.
Omar and his family long to go home, but they find it hard to envision any improvement in their situation in the near future. Talks aimed at a political solution that would bring long-term security to the region have progressed only haltingly.
"We miss our homes. We miss our village, our furniture, our animals, and also our privacy," said Omar. But until a political settlement is reached—and safety for civilians is guaranteed—it is simply too dangerous for Omar and his family to leave Shangil Tobai.
]]>If she does, there's a chance she will be beaten or raped. If she doesn't, she won't be able to cook breakfast for her children. Even the donkey might starve. Piles of rotting carcasses along one edge of the camp are a constant reminder that many other animals have perished.
Muna isn't her real name, but the difficult choices this mother of five has to make are very real. And so are the dangers she and countless other women face each day in Darfur. In some camps, women, children, and old men make up the majority of the population. Many of the younger men have been killed in attacks.
Not collecting firewood or fodder would have other consequences as well. The first provides cash to help Muna feed her family, and the second keeps her donkey healthy enough to haul water.
Muna and her children are among the hundreds of thousands of families in Darfur who receive monthly food distributions from the World Food Program. The staple grains, a protein-rich mix of corn and soy, and cooking oil are a welcome contribution, but Muna needs a few other ingredients to prepare even the most basic meal. She sells some of the firewood in the local market to earn a few extra dinars to buy onions, tomatoes, dried okra, or chilies to supplement her family's diet. Without the firewood, she would have to sell a portion of the food ration itself in order to buy the additional items. But the amount she receives each month is already barely enough to survive.
The donkey fodder is also very important, since Muna needs her donkey to carry water from the nearby well several times a day. When that well runs dry, as it often does this time of year, she must travel even farther to fetch water. This, too, can be a perilous journey that exposes her to potential violence.
But even the camp that Muna shares with 15,000 other displaced people isn't particularly safe. The straw walls of her small compound provide some privacy, but no real protection. Her "house" is just a shelter made of sticks and plastic sheeting. Sometimes armed men come into the camp at night. They shout and laugh and fire their guns into the air, terrorizing the population.
On the day an Oxfam team arrived for a field visit, the body of a camp resident had been found near the dry riverbed on one side of town. People said he had been beaten to death during the night. The previous week, a group of men from outside the camp visited a house not far from Muna's. They beat the man who lived in the house and raped his wife.
Beyond the perimeter of the camp where Muna lives, there are other groups of people who don't seem afraid at all. Nomadic tribes continue to roam freely in this area. Some of them ride horses and camels, and some of them carry guns. They keep watch over enormous herds of cattle, camels, sheep, and goats. Their animals graze peacefully among the charred ruins of mud-brick huts in the many abandoned villages that dot the landscape.
Of course, not all nomadic tribes are affiliated with the notorious Janjaweed militias that continue to terrorize civilians throughout Darfur. But the contrast is striking: Most of the nomads the Oxfam team met in the Wadi Salih area were confident, reasonably well-fed and secure, while Muna and her neighbors are often sick and hungry, and live in constant fear.
Although people in Muna's camp can see their destroyed village in the distance, they insist that it is too dangerous to return. The armed groups prowling the countryside have effectively imprisoned the displaced Sudanese in the camp.
Retrospective mortality studies have shown that violence has been the leading cause of death in Darfur since the region plunged into conflict in February 2003. It is difficult to calculate exactly how many people have died, but one thing is dreadfully clear: The violence continues.
Every morning, in hundreds of camps and towns across Darfur, mothers like Muna get up to face yet another day filled with threats of robbery, murder, and rape. The fear is debilitating, but the options are few. After agonizing over the alternatives, Muna will go out to collect firewood and fodder. She can't afford not to.
]]>For that reason Oxfam America's duty is clear: We and our project partners must help reform government policies, laws, and social injustices that deny people the right to live a decent life. We do this by providing funding, training, and the moral support people need to make real, substantive and transformative changes. The courageous and visionary people who do this work are setting out to build a movement for social justice—and Oxfam America is one of the few organizations to which they can turn for the help they need.
]]>It's called the West Salvation Road, and it remains unfinished. In Darfur, where nearly two years of violence have left close to one-third of the region's six million people homeless, salvation is just a dream. The rutted dirt roads that link the villages offer little hope that deliverance will come any time soon.
Darfur is not an easy place to navigate no matter what mode of transportation you choose. Heat, banditry, mud and dust, armed attacks, even little boys throwing stones—all of it conspires to make travel across Darfur slow and exhausting.
In parts of the south, up to 40 inches of rain can fall in a year, leaving sections of roads deep in sloppy silt. When it's dry, the fine sand piles in drifts across the roads, swallowing vehicles to their axles. Sometimes, the only way to get where you want to go is to put on your shoes and walk.
It was the shoes that kept catching my eye at Abu Shouk, and other temporary camps where tens of thousands of homeless people now wait out endless days. Mostly, they were slip-on sandals, leaving the wearers' heels to crack in the hot sand and their toes to cake with dust.
Were these the shoes that carried some people across sizzling plains and dried-out riverbeds on their long trek to safety? Many of the people fleeing their torched homes left on foot—and walked for days.
I look down at my boots, glad for the thick leather and lug soles insulating my feet. Could I have trekked the desert in flip-flops?
The only walking I've done is to the market—just once—a half-hour trudge through waves of red sand lapping over one of the few, and very busy, paved roads in El Fasher. Dodging the slower but heavily burdened donkeys, tiny blue and white taxis rattle past in a steady stream. Their interiors are packed with more passengers than it seems could possibly fit. But fit they do, and they don't look unhappy about it. It's better than walking.
Mostly, aid workers in this capital of North Darfur don't walk. They drive, or, more properly, are driven. It's hot, and offices and guesthouses are spread out across a city that some say numbers 200,000 people while others say is twice that. In a place without street names or house numbers, residents must be hard to count.
Driving in Darfur takes skill and patience. It helps to have a sturdy truck since miles of dirt tracks and sharp rocks take their toll on even the toughest vehicles. Breakdowns and mishaps are common. A flat tire and a smashed rear window—courtesy of a little boy tossing a stone—punctuate the round-trip expedition of an Oxfam convoy to Tawila, a town nearly two hours from El Fasher.
The better drivers know how to plow through the sandy drifts to firmer ground. Others simply get stuck, every wheel of their towering transport trucks sunk in the sand. For these drivers, patience is paramount. It could be a long time before they dig out again.
At Zam Zam station, a small trading post of thatched stalls near one of the camps for homeless people, a collection of trucks headed toward Nyala, the capital of South Darfur, has pulled off to the side of the road. Piled high with jerry cans, sacks, plastic chairs, and wooden pallets—all powdered with dust—the trucks look like they're here to stay. Banditry plagues South Darfur and the speculation is that the trucks, with their valuable cargo, dare not make the journey—yet.
So, the drivers wait, catching up on their sleep in the midday heat. One has pulled out a bed strapped to the back of his cab. Others tinker with a giant gear pried loose from the underbelly of a truck. Two watermelons cool in the shade behind one of the wheels.
Endurance, I think, must be a prized virtue among those in the Darfur driving profession.
In this poor and undeveloped place, the four-legged conveyances that compete stubbornly for street space seem more reliable than the four-wheeled variety. Donkeys don't get flats. They don't guzzle gas or require painstaking repairs or expensive new parts. All they need is food and water.
But at Kebkabiya, thousands of these precious donkeys suffered a grim fate last summer. They died of starvation, their carcasses littering the streets.
The donkeys belonged to some of the 60,000 homeless people who have streamed into Kebkabiya after being driven from their villages by the ongoing violence. It wasn't easy for people to leave the town to gather the grasses their donkeys desperately needed. In June, July, and August, the sturdy animals began to die—2,800 of them.
"It was a very big problem," recalls Esther Kabahuma, one of Oxfam's public health promoters. There were so many carcasses around that people began shoving them into the nearby riverbed to get rid of them.
"This town was stinking," adds Kabahuma.
Somehow, linking that word—stinking—to these dependable beasts sums up the sad truth of Darfur: What was good has gone bad. Even the completion of the West Salvation Road might not be enough to bring back the old Darfur.
]]>In the camps where people driven from their homes now live, they make shelters from any scraps they can find: cardboard, strips of cloth, frayed pieces of plastic. In the streets of El Fasher, the capital of North Darfur, goats nose through the slim pickings in the trash pits outside the homes, but there is little in them. Everything here seems to get used, and reused. In the market, shopkeepers wrap the produce in artfully folded bags they make from old newspapers. Tin cans morph into pitchers.
On this morning, we have been bouncing along in a Land Cruiser on the long and dusty road to Tawila, where Oxfam has been building latrines and bathing shelters at nearby Dalih camp. Mindful of the rules of this holy month, I have been trying not to take swigs from my water bottle, at least not in public. I'm parched, so when we make a brief stop at the Oxfam guesthouse I sneak a sip before climbing back into the truck—still thirsty.
Just then, an aid worker opens the door and quickly passes through a bag. Inside are four bottles of Pepsi, miraculously cold and beaded with condensation: one for each of us Westerners.
"As I said, American imperialism at work," crows one of my colleagues, twisting off the top and swallowing his drink with pure pleasure as the Land Cruiser lurches off again.
It's good. So good. Pepsi never tastes like this at home—not when you can have it whenever you want. Here, at high noon during Ramadan, it's illicit, and I savor it even more because of that-not knowing the best is yet to come.
When we finish our drinks, someone unrolls the window and, with a heave, sends one of the empty bottles flying out. To my surprise, another goes, and another.
I'm the only one left clutching a bottle, and I intend to hang on to it: How could they be trashing the place so wantonly? It's dusty and empty out there, but that's no reason to muck it up with sticky plastic bottles.
Go ahead, urge my colleagues. Toss it. It's not trash. The bottles are like treasure for the kids. They love them.
Treasure? I think of the photo I saw recently of boys in one of the camps playing with a small toy truck they had made from found parts. I remember hearing that other children save bits of plastic twine they find and weave them into jump ropes.
I unroll my window and wrestle for a second more with my own political correctness. Then, with the thrill of doing something wrong that is now suddenly right, I let go of the bottle. I have littered! Or have I recycled?
It's the latter, I'm quite sure.
"This is a bonanza to them to have these plastic bottles," explains Sally Field somewhat later. She is a public-health promoter working out of Oxfam's El Fasher office. In the courtyard near the kitchen at the office lies a heap of used plastic water bottles. I wondered at first why they were left there. Now, I understand, they have a destination—a very useful second life.
The ones the kids don't use to tote their water around in will wind up in the local market where shopkeepers fill them with the juice they squeeze and sell, says Field.
"The bottles are sacred," she adds.
"The kids come knocking on our door asking for them. They play with them," says Leslie Morris, an Oxfam staffer working on hygiene promotion in the town of Kebkabiya. "I like how they recycle things here. The last time I was in El Fasher I brought back as many of those pop bottles as I could."
Morris plans to adapt the bottles for use in the hand-washing program she is promoting. She'll punch small holes in the tops so the water can dribble out like a portable faucet.
Now that I'm tuned in, I begin to see the precious bottles everywhere: tucked under a child's arm for safekeeping, attached to a bit of wire for a toy, a circle of them planted in the hard earth as a colorful garden surround.
Knowing about the underground life of plastic bottles makes that Pepsi even sweeter—and maybe less illicit—than it was during Ramadan.
]]>From flooding in Haiti to drought in Ethiopia, water has long been central to Oxfam's work. Our emergency water systems are a hallmark of our agency. And our efforts to help communities access water for farming and fishing enable people to realize security.
But in recent decades, some extraordinary water pressures have emerged, as water resources are being swallowed up by dams, mining, and other commercial projects. The result is that, for the villages along the rivers, in the watersheds, and on the floodplains of East Asia being swamped or dried up by dams…for the indigenous people and farmers of South America whose rivers, lakes, and wells have been destroyed by mining…water is quickly becoming a major issue—and a major issue for Oxfam.
]]>"Wherever I went you could hear the sound of gun shots. There were armed men around every corner," said Anderson. "I couldn't understand how violence like that could be so routine." Commenting on conversations he had with a local he was traveling with, Anderson noted, "to me it's a disaster, to him, it's life."
In Kebkabiya, a small town that has seen its population swell to over 60,000 people after thousands settled there to escape attacks on their own villages, he spoke with young people, ranging in age from 14 to 20, who had been displaced from their homes and are living in temporary shelters. He asked them all the same question:
"If there was one thing you could ask Americans to help you with, what would it be?"
Anderson found that the responses varied little regardless of whom he asked. He heard two things consistently —the need for health care and technical training for jobs. The health care Anderson heard about is not what immediately comes to mind in the U.S.
"They need shovels to fill in holes and ditches in their schoolyards because during the rainy season, stagnant pools of water form and become breeding grounds for mosquitoes that carry infectious diseases like malaria. In addition, many of the young people in Darfur are looking for training in technical skills—things like carpentry and metalwork so they can get jobs and help to rebuild their communities," said Anderson.
Also, he observed that young people did not have any way to become active participants and leaders in their communities, to have a voice in what was happening around them.
"For teens in the U.S, there are so many ways to connect with each other and get involved in things that matter to us. In Darfur, so many of the young people I met would love to go to school, but don't because they can't afford it, or because the roads to the schools are unsafe and they worry about what might happen to them if they try to get to class," said Anderson. "For those who are able to go to school, that's all they can do in a day. Once they return from class, they have to stay at home since they are not allowed to leave their homes after dark because of security concerns."
Anderson approached Oxfam about going to Darfur after co-founding a successful national high school challenge to raise awareness and funds for Darfur by using the social networking site, Facebook. After helping to raise over $300,000, part of which helped to fund Oxfam's relief effort in Darfur, he felt the next logical step was to see the region for himself and bring his experiences back to share with other teens.
"I feel it is my moral obligation to be a representative of my generation, and to show that we have a strong voice and can take positions on important issues playing out here in the U.S. and abroad," Anderson concluded.
Oxfam took Anderson on in this ambassador role as a reflection of his contribution to raising awareness on the crisis in Darfur and recognition of the opportunity to involve and educate the next generation of leaders.
Oxfam is providing vital assistance on the ground to about 500,000 people affected by the crisis, both in Darfur and eastern Chad. In addition, access to clean, safe water and sanitation as well as basic necessities such as blankets, soap, and jerry cans for carrying water are provided. Oxfam also offers public health education programs to try and prevent the spread of disease; and, as the crisis continues, Oxfam is implementing projects to provide livelihood opportunities to help people find some alternative to the reliance on external aid.
In addition to its humanitarian relief efforts in Darfur, Oxfam is calling for a full and effective ceasefire by all the many parties of the conflict; better protection of civilians and aid workers, and improved humanitarian access so that aid agencies can reach those in need.
]]>"The people of Darfur urgently need the help of organizations like Oxfam," said George Clooney, Not On Our Watch co-founder.
The grant aids Oxfam's ability to serve over 500,000 displaced people in Darfur and neighboring Chad. In addition to supporting the provision of urgently needed clean water, safe sanitation, and other public health work, the donation will fund longer term needs:
"More than three years of violence in Darfur has devastated millions of people and left them on the edge of survival," said President of Oxfam America, Raymond C. Offenheiser. "We have to find a way to reach more people, get them the support they need, and help them plan for the future."
Not On Our Watch was founded by George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle and Jerry Weintraub to focus global attention and resources to stop and prevent mass atrocities. Drawing on the powerful voice of citizen artists, activists, and cultural leaders, our mission is to generate lifesaving humanitarian assistance and protection for the vulnerable, marginalized, and displaced. Web site: www.notonourwatchproject.org.


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Marion (Mimi) Deatherage practiced law and loved the game of golf. Born and raised in Long Beach, she attended Wilson High School, and obtained her Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from the University of Colorado before attending Southwestern School of Law. After graduation from Southwestern, she joined her father's law office. During the seventeen years she spent practicing law, Mimi found time to engage her passion for the game of golf. She broke ground for women at Virginia Country Club, becoming its first female member in 1994. Virginia Country Club members, family and friends joined together to create a scholarship that supports an aspiring law student who reflects Mimi's dedication to the practice of law and her great love of golf. Please visit the Scholarships page of the Foundation website for further information or to download an application.
December 11, 2013
by Suada Kolovic
December 10, 2013
December 9, 2013


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Ranbir Kapoor's "Besharam" has somehow earned Rs 50 crores at the box-office, but it failed to impress the youngsters and was a big disappointment for Ranbir fans.
The movie which was supposed to run in packed houses for 3-4 weeks, is running empty houses. But it is boon for the two low budget Hindi movies 'War Chhod Na Yaar' and 'Baat Bann Gayi' that are releasing this Friday.
With Ranbir's movie around these two movies should actually struggle to get screens across India. Instead these movies are seeing more than 50 percent increase in the screens that are being allotted to them.
A owner of a suburban multiplex said, "On an average, 'Besharam' will lose 50 percent shows because of its poor performance at the box-office."
Anand Vishal of Fun Republic said, " While the programming for the coming Friday is yet to be finalised, on an average Besharam is getting five to seven shows a day in a property with three to four screens. "War Chhod Na Yaar" will see three to four shows in a four screen multiplex."
According to trade analyst Taran Adarsh,"Besharam" collections are Wed ₹ 21.56 cr, Thu ₹ 7.13 cr, Fri ₹ 5.68 cr, Sat ₹ 5.94 cr, Sun ₹ 7.38 cr, Mon [revised] ₹ 2.43 cr. Total: ₹ 50.12 cr nett.


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The group is putting on a "Boob-B-Q" in Woodstock Park at City Center from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., with all proceeds going to the Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk for a Cure.
RESA Atlanta will be sending a team of five women to the 3-Day Walk for A Cure, and each participant is tasked with raising $2,300 to participate.
The funds raised at Wednesday's event will help team members reach their goal. The group says it is well on the way to reaching the goal, with only $7,000 total to go
The Susan G. Komen 3-Day Walk for the Cure is a 60-mile walk over three days in October to help raise funds and awareness for breast cancer, which affects one in eight women.
The Boob-B-Q meal is $10 and includes a barbecue chicken "breast" or pork sandwich, side and beverage from J. Miller's Smokehouse, (formerly Beetle's BBQ), of Woodstock. In addition, a dessert donated by Publix is included in the donation price.
The event will feature face-painting, bubbles and more for the young ones in attendance.
Those attending are asked to wear pink items, T-shirts and more to show in "Support of," in "Honor of," or in "Memory of," those who have or are battling the disease.
Live entertainment will be presented by Christopher Reece.


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I searched through the forums but did not find anything addressing this particular issue. I want to make a custom meta field that recognizes a number with two decimal places but does not show any currency symbol. I can't quite figure out an appropriate workaround... The only way I can see of doing it right now is by selecting money and then editing the settings.php file directly to take out the currency symbol, but that does not seem like a practical solution as it's automatically generated each reindex.
My only other option, it seems, is making a custom meta field drop down, but it would be a very long drop down menu and definitely not ideal.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!
Hmm. There really isn't a perfect solution for that unfortunately.
You can create a custom version of "search.php" (make a copy of the file without $MetaMoneyCurrency, save it somewhere safe, and set the path in the Indexer under "Configure"->"Advanced"->"Custom script source path"). Modified scripts aren't supported however, and you should be pretty comfortable with making PHP changes before doing this.
Great, thank you!
I finally got around to trying it today, and it was a really quick and easy solution that worked great. Thanks again.
I also just want to say that I appreciate all the information that is provided in this forum. It's incredibly helpful.
I have switched from PHP to CGI so that I can index more pages. Is there a way to remove the $ sign in CGI?
Thanks again!
Not easily. The CGI is compiled C/C++ and unless you are an experienced programmer, then it won't be an easy task to change and recompile the code (the source code is available as part of the SDK).
We'll look into adding an option in the next version to specify a "none" currency or "do not display" option.
OK, thanks for letting me know. I kind of figured that already but wanted to ask just in case... I'm hoping I can get this done via Javascript or CSS instead. Thanks again for your quick response.


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Charter Cable also offers digital phone services that allow customers to keep in touch with friends and family all over the United States, with calling features that are sure to enhance the value of the service. This service offers unlimited calling with no expensive overages to worry about, giving family members and friends an affordable way to stay in touch.
Charter Cable can provide customers with internet services that are over one hundred times faster than dial up and more than three times faster than DSL, an online service provided through the phone company. They offer their customers fast speeds to download and surf with to get music, games or movies online or to do research for school.
Detailed information about these products and services are listed on their website, with links to bundled services and other important products and services offered by Charter Cable for the family. Families can choose from a selection of predetermined bundles or select different products to build their own.
At Charter.net, customers have the opportunity to sign and personalize the Charter homepage, gaining access to features like the online movie listings in local areas, current news on celebrities and entertainment news, sports scores, and links to shopping sites, online games and local news.
The Charter Homepage has links for particular points of interest like national and global news, political news and news in technology, business and health. It also has an online guide for regular television programming, as well as for programming available for the Charter OnDemand feature and their Pay Per View selections.
The Charter Homepage can also be a valuable source of help for busy parents, offering tutoring for school in fun, educational games for the children. The page also provides links to other important educational resources like the Encyclopedia Britannica and other programs that can actually give concerned parents report cards and updates based on their children's online progress. These reports and updates can give parents advance knowledge on a child's strong and weak points and serve to give help, where needed.
When the work is done, Charter Cable can also provide links to the American Greetings site where families can create their own greeting cards to give to friends and family.
These online services also include features that allow sports fans to stay current with their favorite teams, or to watch play backs, choosing from an archive of stored footage. These sports features cover most football and basketball teams.
Charter Cable has many valuable services to offer a family on a budget. These services can provide a safe environment for quality family time, to communicate and learn in. Charter Cable is a family-friendly company that strives to give their customers what they need.
Posted by larry dixon at 10:43 AM. Filed under: General


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Musically speaking (i.e., not the funness of the chart), what are your favorite songs that RBN introduced you to?
I think that's the best part about RBN: discovering music you never would have heard of.
Personally, I really liked:
The B.O.L.T - Genius
Mark Mallman - Do You Feel Like Breaking Up?
Reverend Horton Heat - Indigo Friends
Longwave - Secrets Are Sinister
Cetan Clawson - White Heat
Fake-Shark Real Zombie - Angel Lust
I also ended up buying both Main Drag CDs because I liked their songs on RBN. I'm considering getting the You Shriek songs because they're really good (based on the previews) but they seem like they'd be kind of boring in-game so I might just end up buying them through another medium.


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Search Events
July 1, 2012 from 9:30am to 2:30pm – Magill-Lobethal-Thebarton The day after the Tour de France kicks off in Belgium I will be riding out to the Lobethal Bierhaus to celebrate, if anyone wants to join me in potentially getting very wet and cold you are most welc… Organized by David B.o.R. | Type: iq, test, -, prove, you, are, dumb, enough, to, join, in.
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Product Recall: Kraft and Polly-O String Cheese and String Cheese Twists. Click here
COOK and stir chicken in large skillet sprayed with cooking spray on medium-high heat 4 min. or until chicken is no longer pink.
STIR in water. Bring to boil. Add pasta; cook 8 min. or until tender.
ADD broccoli, VELVEETA and seasonings; stir. Cook 5 min. or until VELVEETA is completely melted, stirring frequently. Stir in tomatoes.


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Questions & Answers : Search Results
Similar questions from the community
Can you change the functionality of the mouse in different applications (like a Wacom tablet)?
It'd be great to turn off horizontal scrolling when using Adobe InDesign.
- Asked by Dan T
- Oct 7, 2010
- Flag as inappropriate
Can it function as a presenter tool? Like an air mouse?
- Asked by Joy G from White Stone
- Jan 9, 2010
- Flag as inappropriate
Can you program the Magic Mouse to do different function when you swipe on the top of the mouse?
- Asked by Quynh Q from Cupertino
- Feb 28, 2011
- Flag as inappropriate
Does it have a function to bring up a list of open applications so you can easily switch applications like Kensington MouseWorks?
- Asked by Michael B from Saint Marys
- Mar 13, 2010
- Flag as inappropriate
Did anyone use the new Magic Mouse with a CAD application like AutoCAD?
I would lke to know if it is possible to zoom with that mouse... which is essential in Autocad.
- Asked by Gregor B
- Nov 15, 2009
- Flag as inappropriate
Can I "squeeze" the mouse like the mighty mouse to view all open screens?
With the mighty mouse, i was able to squeeze the sides of the mouse and it would show me all screens that are open, allowing me to select and easily navigate. How can I get this function with the magic mouse? It was an awesome function and will be surprised if Apple took it away.
- Asked by Todd B from Latham
- May 6, 2011
- Flag as inappropriate
does this mean that the new mouse has similar capabilities of a pen and tablet when using design or illustration software?
Could one use fingers on the mouse to move cursor input points, click and drag selection and generally mimic some of the functionality of a pen and tablet input device?
That would be very useful if one could simply keep looking at the screen and select or move input selections, as well as manipulation of items and objects with the magic Mouse.- Asked by Henry M from Mamaroneck
- Oct 20, 2009
- Flag as inappropriate
Can the application switcher feature be configured with Magic Mouse like with the Mighty Mouse trackball-click?
- Asked by Jeffrey S from Gober
- Oct 20, 2009
- Flag as inappropriate
can I use the magic Mouse with my bamboo tablet connected?
- Asked by Douglas C from Newark
- Oct 20, 2009
- Flag as inappropriate
Can I use this mouse for an application like Maya, which requires a 3rd button for pivoting, rotating, etc. with a camera view in a viewport?
- Asked by Efren P from West Hollywood
- Oct 20, 2009
- Flag as inappropriate
quick way to return to desktop with magic mouse
Is there a way one can return to desktop from any application like it can be done with the corded mouse
- Asked by Mari Tere F
- Mar 19, 2010
- Flag as inappropriate
Is this mouse good for gaming (description...)
Is this mouse good for gaming, like Black Ops and Battlefield BC2. Can I change the setting to one-click (one finger) right click for these kind of FPS games on Windows 7?
- Asked by Youssef E from Reservoir
- Jan 31, 2011
- Flag as inappropriate
How do you charge the mouse or do you have to change the batteries?
- Asked by Richard S
- Oct 26, 2009
- Flag as inappropriate
how do you change the batteries in the mouse
- Asked by Robert A from Baltimore
- Jul 18, 2011
- Flag as inappropriate
How does this function with Final Cut Express?
I used FCE for editing and have on occasion to use my mouse for some of the functions, rather than the F keys or shortcuts...will this mouse create any functionality issues with FCE?
- Asked by Michael M from Kansas City
- Nov 29, 2009
- Flag as inappropriate
I feel you can get a wireless mouse that has buttons for all the swipes already. Can someone, with one, tell me if it is really worth changing?
This mouse looks pretty sweet, but is it actually easier, or more intuitive than a normal mouse? A concern I have is that I use new MacBook, and the new trackpad uses similar, but different, gestures and I fear I will confuse them when switching back and forth.
- Asked by Rick P from Glendora
- Dec 26, 2010
- Flag as inappropriate
Does, or will the magic mouse ever have a pan function for programs such as ArchiCAD or programs that need this function?
- Asked by David M from Christchurch
- Feb 28, 2010
- Flag as inappropriate


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When it's hot outside, cool off inside with refreshing frozen lemonade--pie, that is! This treat combines frozen lemonade concentrate with vanilla ice cream and whipped topping for one cool pie.
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In a hurry? Pick up a ready-to-use graham cracker pie crust, and you can whip up this pie in 10 minutes! Just freeze, and enjoy!
For yellow lemonade pie, replace pink lemonade concentrate with regular lemonade concentrate, and add a few drops of yellow food color.
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Best value place I have stayed in central Chiang Mai over the years. Rooms are clean, beds comfy, bathroom small but functional. Staff is great (as everywhere in CM, they try to sell you tours but there's no hard-sell here). Very good wi-fi everywhere and even housekeeping on most days!
- Official Description (provided by the hotel):
- Located near main street across Wat Chiang Man right next to Wat Lam Chang. Convenience in transportation by red mini bus (20 baht/person). Clean place, Free internet, key card system, Private bathroom with water warmer, air conditioner, big in-room fridge, Cooking facility, Only 10 minutes walk to Sunday walking street (Rachdamnoen Rd.). We offer daily, weekly and monthly rental. Please come and check us out. ... more less


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