portraits of darfur at wanderingzito.com

Check out the new wanderingzito website featuring the Portraits of Darfur series, links to galleries from other fabulous locations, and the new wanderingzito botique where you can get a copy of a fabulous print or purchase some other zito-crafted miscellany.

50% of proceeds from Portraits of Darfur prints go back to Sudan to support projects in the areas where the photographs were taken. Proceeds from the other fab items will support the wanderingzito travel fund in order to enable the capturing of more fantastic photos.
More coming soon....

chile 070707

chile 070707
Originally uploaded by wanderingzito

toronto skies

DSCN7461
Originally uploaded by wanderingzito.

Portraits of Darfur

If you came here curious because you've stumbled upon my photos of Sudan somewhere- this is the link to follow for more: portraits of darfur

Lisboa

I heard a familiar sound last week that made me want to blog again- an oddly comforting noise- the echo of ink on paper shattering the silence of the immigration hall. A sacred aria, music to my ears: alas, a passport stamp.

Not that I’ve been counting, but after 518 days on my own side of the sea- a passport stamp was long overdue. With the cold blue leathery cover of the passport warming in my grip I stepped into the arrivals hall of the Lisbon airport with perma-grin.

Lisbon- I was going there for a meeting for work, but I couldn’t help but reflect on the fact that I’ve been there once before: October 2004. One day off the Anastasis, looking for some solitude to begin to ponder what I might do with my post-ship life, I hopped a plane from Hamburg to Lisbon and took a little road trip down to the Algarve. I chose Lisbon back then because I needed a place to figure out my next steps and launch my new beginning- and it didn’t hurt that I had a friend there who offered me the use of their seaside villa. This time I didn’t choose Portugal, it had been chosen for me, but I couldn’t help but dwell on the fact that my thoughts had nearly come full circle. February 2007: what am I going to do with my life?

That same week in 2004, prior to walking down the Anastasis gangway for the last time, my friends had authored small slips of paper with all kinds of advice for my future: one little yellow slip I remember proposed the challenge “stay in one country for one whole year”. I stuck the paper in my journal and scoffed at even the notion- as the one thing contrary to the nature of wanderers is STAYING.

It may have taken 3 years and another 30,000 miles, but I did it. Isn’t that one of the funny things about life- those things you never think you’ll do- the things you swear you’d never do- somehow edge their way into your path.

So here I am again… nearly 3 years later, walking the hilly streets, lingering in the mosaic patterned plazas and staring at the blue skies and narrow buildings with their colorfully tiled facades. A wanderer back on the map. Next destination: TBD.

where did my blog go??

I don't know

one in a million

I haven't said much about darfur in a long time. Perhaps because I haven't said much at all lately, perhaps because I'm a million miles further from Darfur than I was in my dusty sheets this time last year. But the reality is that Darfur is still there. The people in those pretty pictures I sent are still there. There are still millions of people living in camps, and all those terrible things in the news are still happening.

I'm learning in my new little life here, that even if I can't be in Sudan to tangibly touch the hurting, there are still things I can do to make a difference for my friends over there in that far away dusty world.

Alot is going on right now in the states to advocate for the people of Sudan and to put pressure on the government to stop what is happening there. This week we all have a chance to say something and speak up for my friends in Darfur. The Million Voices for Darfur campaign is asking a million people to send postcards to President Bush to not turn a blind on Sudan. The best part is that you don't even need a postcard to do it. You can just click right HERE. This isn't a ploy to add you to a mailing list or send you spam, it is just a way to let your light help shine in the darkness of Darfur.

Don't do it for me. I'm asking you to speak up because I know that Fatiah, Fatma, Khadea, Halima, Akhmed, Munira, and Nadir would thank you for it.

Be one in a million.

"Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves,
for the rights of all who are destitute.
Speak up and judge fairly;
defend the rights of the poor and needy."
-Proverbs 31:8,9