Today we did some light yard work at the Embassy of Sudan.
Overnight, an Embassy staffer had tried to add a couple of timbers to the sharply-sloping front lawn to deal with erosion, but they didn’t go in well, and the sidewalk was littered with one timber and a lot of dirt. With the Embassy staffer and the Italian gardener leading the project, the demonstrators helped smash concrete, cut back vines, dig, level the ground, move timbers, pound rebar through them, and sweep up afterwards.
Demonstrator Scott Schaeffer-Duffy and Embassy staffer Mr. Bashara move a timber.
Scott smashes concrete with an axe as the Italian gardener looks on.
Demonstrator Brian Kavanagh helps Mr. Bashara and Scott move a timber.
Brian hammers rebar into the timbers.
Tom Lewis demonstrates in front of the repaired lawn.
Several folks vigiled with the core group–two from Prevent Genocide International and two from NYC who happened to be in the neighborhood. I’ve heard that people in Philadelphia and Texas are fasting in their own cities, parallel with the public fasts in South Bend and DC.
Robert Hollander, consulting attorney on the “Darfur trial,” stopped by in his car.
Prevent Genocide brought a huge, heavy banner and tied it to a couple of street signs. An hour later the Secret Service gathered, seemed to discuss the matter, and left without asking them to take it down.
We kept track of the dignitaries visiting the Embassy today. They represented New Zealand, Vietnam, Italy, Eritrea, Malta, India, Syria, Sri Lanka, Finland, Laos, Malaysia, Mozambique, France, Morocco, Slovenia, Yemen, Belgium, Sierra Leone, Norway, Algeria, and South Africa. There were also an Episcopal clergyman and a man from the Arab League. For the second time we chatted with a man who said he was Muhammed Ahmed el-Rayah el-Faki, a former Sudanese general who lost his job in the last coup and was imprisoned and tortured for five years. “I come here all the time to curse them,” he said. “They are killers!”
I really like this idea of the friendly neighbor protestors. It seems much less polarizing than the “throw bricks and wear black hoods” school of protesting.
Let’s wait a few months and see if the Embassy actively invites ‘protestors’ when the garden needs some attention again.
A unique and noble protesting experience. I admire your patience and faith. Please keep up the great work.