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Mia Farrow, Gold Medalist

Yes, the Olympics will kick off today.....but Nicholas Kristoff, writing in the NY Times, believes that Mia Farrow is worthy of a Gold medal for her efforts for the people of Dafur:

"Several years ago, Mia Farrow asked if she could accompany me on a trip to Darfur. I didn’t know her then and didn’t like the idea of traveling with an actress who would probably need a blow dryer and flinch at the dirt and danger. So Mia went on her own — again and again and again, becoming a passionate and knowledgeable spokeswoman for Darfur. On her website, www.miafarrow.org, she has some of the best photos available of the Janjaweed — and she took them herself.

I think that I rough it in Darfur and Chad, because I sometimes have to sleep outside. But I take a light sleeping bag, a tarp and occasionally a tent. All Mia carries is a rope — she puts the rope in a circle in the sand, and goes to sleep in the sand in the middle of that circle. She claims that if scorpions approach, they’ll hit the rope and keep going around rather than climbing over it. It’s true that the scorpions and camel spiders haven’t bitten her, but I think that’s just because they respect a great humanitarian.

When I go to Darfur or Chad, I rent a car; Mia is talking about buying a donkey and just going cross country. In short, she’s ten times tougher than I am, and I’m full of admiration for her courage and dedication. I’m not sure I would last long traveling with her.

So now Mia is again among the Darfuris. She’ll be offering a glimpse of what the Darfuris are going through during the Olympics, in part because of China’s refusal to take the issue seriously. She’ll be webcasting daily reports as well as blogging. So take a look at them, at www.darfurolympics.org, and think of Mia out there in a dangerous area, standing up for the people of Darfur when the international community has forsaken them. And all she has is her rope.

The Olympics haven’t even started, but in my book she’s a gold medalist."

Farrow's web site has more than graphic photos of the realities on the ground.

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