Team Darfur Updates

After transferring from Temple to University of California, Sean Bryan became a force to be reckoned with. He helped the Bears win rings over No. 3 ranked Ohio State. He was also selected as an Academic All-MPSF scholar athlete. His team placed 5th in the NCAA Championship. When asked why he joined Team Darfur, he responded:

"I joined team Darfur because we are all called to love each other in every way possible. and even though I feel like my one membership doesn't mean much in the long run, it would be hypocritical of me not to extend myself in every way possible to the people of Darfur. Prayer is my main offering, and it's more powerful than people generally acknowledge. I would like to extend the invitation to everyone to pray with this matter close to their hearts."

        To our great excitement, the press conference announcing the Olympic Truce received a great deal of media attention! Newspapers spanning from The Washington Post to Taiwan News published articles. Andrew Astleford of The Post set it up: "Cheek, co-founder and president of Team Darfur and a three-time Olympic medalist, led a five-member panel at the National Press Club yesterday that released a letter calling upon international leaders to pressure the Sudanese government to observe a 55-day Olympic truce period for the Darfur region, starting Aug. 1." Most reports discussed the ancient Greek history of the Olympic Truce allowing athletes to safely travel to and from the Games.

This morning co-founder and president of Team Darfur, Joey Cheek, was joined via telephone by Olympic Gold medalist Jessica Mendoza at the National Press Club announcing the call for an Olympic Truce for Darfur. Dream for Darfur Director, Jill Savitt, and Research Director, Ellen Freudenheim, were also in attendance to announce their report on the Olympic Truce. Suliman Giddo, president of Darfur Peace and Development Organization represented the Darfurian support for this call. In conjunction with fellow athletes, activists, and Darfurians, Team Darfur drafted an open letter describing the conception and requirements for an operable Olympic Truce which can be read in full here. In total to date the letter has accumulated 130 signatures. The formal press release is also available by clicking here.

Athletes please send an email to info@teamdarfur.org to sign your name to the Olympic Truce Unity Letter, fans please sign on to support the truce by clicking here.

The letter begins:

 Kelly Vanderbeek is a World Class Downhill Skier from Ontario, Canada who competed in her first Olympics at the 2006 games in Torino. She finished fourth (only split seconds away from a medal) and is working on winning World Cup Championships until the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver. Kelly's other interests include sports (including soccer, volleyball, and waterskiing) and hobbies such as drawing, photography, and music.

When asked why she joined Team Darfur, she had this to say:

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Gymnast Kyson Bunthuwong joined Team Darfur! He is a student at University of California, Berkeley. Kyson won the California Muscle Milk Student-Athlete of the Week Award after winning the all-around competition at the Golden Bear's final regular season meet of the year.

Here's what he had to say when asked why he joined Team Darfur: "I joined Team Darfur in order to take part in the working solution towards peace. Activism is something that anyone can do and to see that so many athletes believe in the same thing I do is quite amazing. I truly believe in the path that Team Darfur is taking in order to stop the genocide and want to believe that my government and the world's governments truly care about this dire situation. With my small effort combined with the efforts of the all the other athletes, I KNOW we can improve the situation in Darfur. When others are suffering, it becomes everyone's duty to help make change."

"Be the change you want to see in the world." -Mahatma Ghandi

The main reason why I entered Team Darfur is because you can't get away from the fact that there are cruel things going on in this world. As an athlete you generally don't come in contact with such things in life. You train, you eat healthy, you take care of yourself. But for many people all this isn't so obvious. They don't have the opportunities to do these things in life. Their main objective is just to survive! Being aware of all this is just one step. Taking action is another. By joining Team Darfur, I want to make a first step. It doesn't mean much as a single person, but together we can change a lot!

The Team Darfur Charter has been signed by 360 Professional and Olympics athletes from over 60 countries around the world. In order to make Team Darfur more international, the charter is now available in Arabic, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish in addition to its original version in English.

Visit the new Charter page

If you can help us translate the charter into additional languages, please e-mail us at info@teamdarfur.org.  Thanks!