SL Darfur event with Mia Farrow re-scheduled for Jan 9

Bill Lichtenstein of LCM sends me news that the virtual briefing with Mia Farrow on her recent trip to  Sudanese refugee camps in Chad has been re-scheduled for January  9 at 2pm EST.  The event will take place in the Infinite Mind sim (direct teleport SLURL), as well as stream audio to Camp Darfur and the Global Kids sim on the SL Teen Grid.  Sounds like the re-scheduling allowed them to expand their outreach and prepare better, which is always a good thing.

The original briefing in December was cancelled due to a fire in the building next door to LCM. See their website for more information or just hit the link below for Bill's complete message.

I wanted to let you know that we have rescheduled the live event in Second Life, featuring actress and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Mia Farrow, and other leading advocates and experts on the situation in Darfur, for Tuesday, January 9, 2007, at 2PM (Eastern Time); 11 AM (Second Life Time.).  The event will take place on The Infinite Mind sim, with streaming audio also being available at Camp Darfur and at Global Kids, on the Second Life Teen Grid.

As you wrote, the Second Life event, originally scheduled for December 8, was delayed as a result of a major fire in the office building that houses Lichtenstein Creative Media, which is producing the event. (see TheStreet.com coverage of the fire and its impact on the event at: http://www.thestreet.com/_tscs/newsanalysis/second-life/10326841.html  )

The event comes at an especially critical time, as the situation in Darfur continues to worsen dramatically in recent days. Reuters reports that as the conflict enters its fourth year, the fighting, which has driven 2.5 million Darfuris from their homes and killed an estimated 200,000, but was mainly concentrated in remote villages, now engulfs the main towns.  As a result, the world's largest humanitarian operation in Sudan's remote west, involving 14,000 Humanitarian Aid workers, is becoming increasingly threatened.   

In addition to Mia Farrow, who just returned from Chad, following three earlier trips to Darfur, the virtual event will include:

• John Heffernan, who has traveled extensively throughout Sudan and the region, co-authored the 2006 report "Darfur: Assault on Survival" for Physicians for Human Rights, and serves as Director of the Genocide Prevention Initiative for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's Committee on Conscience, the sponsor of the program;

• Ron Haviv, the award-winning photojournalist, whose images of Darfur are part of the virtual event;

• Ronan Farrow, who has served as a UNICEF Spokesperson for Youth in Sudan, as a representative of the Genocide Intervention Network, and has written extensively about the situation in Darfur.

The event will take place at a virtual replica of the powerful, outdoor photography exhibition "Our Walls Bear Witness - Darfur: Who Will Survive Today?" highlighting images of the Darfur crisis by leading photojournalists that were projected onto the exterior of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC during Thanksgiving Week 2006. The virtual event in Second Life will allow visitors from around the world to experience the traveling photography exhibit with its moving, thought-provoking photos, as well as to view video of the real life outdoor installation at the Holocaust Memorial Museum.

You can get additional information at http://www.lcmedia.com/darfurevent.htm   

Photos are available at http://www.flickr.com/photos/78184734@N00/sets/72157594405375090/

For more on LCMedia's work in Second Life, you can visit www.lcmedia.typepad.com/the_infinite_mind