Meghan Higginbotham's blog

Summer is just around the corner, and the Darfur Dream Team Sister Schools Program is gearing up for our 2nd annual Summer Service Challenge. We started the Summer Service Challenge last year as an opportunity for students, teachers, and community members to learn more, raise awareness, and take action in honor of the 43 million refugees and displaced people around the world. The 2012 challenge will begin on World Refugee Day, June 20, and end on July 31.  Read More »

Since the early 1900s countries around the world have celebrated International Women’s Day as a time to recognize the role of women in society and mobilize against injustices specifically impacting half of the world’s population. At Enough, rather than confining our commemoration to just one day—March 8—we’re giving a special focus to women all this week, to highlight how the conflicts we’re working to end affect women and girls, and to recognize the work of heroes advocating on their behalf.

For Day 2 of our International Women’s Week coverage, Meghan Higginbotham of Enough’s Darfur Dream Team profiled one of the inspiring young teachers she met in a refugee camp in eastern Chad.  Read More »

Thanks to the support of hundreds of U.S. students, schools, youth groups, individual donors, and partners like Jewish World Watch, the Darfur Dream Team Sister Schools Program was able to raise and disburse $300,000 for primary education in Djabal refugee camp in eastern Chad. The funds are making a tangible, positive impact on the quality of education for the more than 4,000 Darfuri refugee students enrolled in schools in Djabal.  Read More »

In this guest post for MTV Act, I wrote about my overwhelming impressions from visiting Darfuri refugee camps in eastern Chad recently on behalf of the Darfur Dream Team Sister Schools Program.  Read More »

I recently returned from spending two weeks in Darfuri refugee camps in eastern Chad. It was an incredible trip and, thanks to modern technology, I was able to regularly share my experiences with Darfur Dream Team Sister Schools, or DDT, participants and supporters through Enough Said and Facebook. One such experience was meeting Umda Tarbosh, an inspiring leader and dedicated teacher at DDT partner school Darasalam A in Goz Amer camp.  Read More »

Today was my last day in Djabal refugee camp. After anticipating this visit for so long, I'm sad to leave eastern Chad and the people I’ve met. But after spending more than a week visiting Djabal and Goz Amer refugee camps, I'm returning to D.C. even more determined to increase support for refugee education here.  Read More »

I have just five days left in Chad. In a few weeks, I'll be sharing an interactive trip diary with written entries, photos, and videos documenting my first visit to the Darfuri refugee camps in eastern Chad. Until then, here is a brief update on our team’s first few days.  Read More »

I’ve never been to sub-Saharan Africa. I’ve never been to a refugee camp. But I’m spending Thanksgiving and next week visiting Darfuri refugee camps in eastern Chad. Many of these refugees, nearly 300,000, have lived in the camps since the Darfur conflict ignited in 2003.  Read More »

On Saturday, July 9, more than 160 students, activists, and Sudanese community members gathered at Diversey Harbor in Chicago, IL to raise funds to support Darfuri refugee education and celebrate the independence of South Sudan. The students of Youth United for Darfur, the Chicagoland coalition of high schools and colleges working together for peace and education for the people of Darfur, organized the inaugural Walk with Darfur, which raised over $1,000 to support our Darfur Dream Team Sister Schools Program’s efforts at Ali Dinar A school in Djabal refugee camp in eastern Chad.  Read More »

For 60 years now, the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, has provided life-saving services to some of the world’s most vulnerable populations. To mark the anniversary, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres addressed an audience at the Brookings Institution to discuss the new challenges and necessary steps to address the changing nature of displacement today.  Read More »