Time magazine honored George Clooney yesterday as one of its 100 Most Influential People in 2009 for his activism around the crisis in Darfur. George has been a great friend of ONE, and working with the organization he cofounded, Not on our Watch, he has been an influential player in the fight to focus attention on the humanitarian crisis in Darfur — and on the responsibility of the US government and other world leaders to do something about it.

ONE cofounder Bono writes about Clooney in the Time 100 Issue:

His commitment to ending the atrocities in Sudan is not a role, not a performance. It is real — and it is serious work. Some people think celebrities should stick to the script, stay feted and fetal in their air-conditioned trailers. Some people think it’s an appalling juxtaposition to see the rich and famous in a photo call with the vanquished and the vulnerable.

It is. George knows that. But he also knows that the cameras trained on you and the column inches dedicated to you could be covering something a little more important than, well, you. Like the slaughter of innocents in Darfur. Like the refugee camps full of starving Sudanese.

And he knows the details, the nuances of his and your sides of the argument. Hey, if you’re going to pay attention to George Clooney, he’s going to insist you pay attention to this stuff. Now there’s a radical idea.

Read the full text here.

Bono also interviewed George on his work in Darfur for a CNN special on the Time 100 hosted by Anderson Cooper that will air Friday night May 1 at 11 PM EDT on both CNN and CNN International. It will re-air on CNN Saturday and Sunday at 8 and 11 PM EDT.

-Kathy McKiernan

(InterAction President & CEO Sam Worthington is visiting humanitarian workers in Sudan.)

The trip to Khartoum was a typical flight to Europe followed by another seven hours in the air, landing just south of the Sahara. A few key strokes of the customs agent’s computer and my American passport, with its appropriate visa, had a newÂ%C

On Sunday ONE LA and ONE Santa Monica co-hosted a team meeting at the Church in Ocean Park in Santa Monica. Rachel Andres, of Jewish World Watch, was our guest speaker and spoke to us about the Solar Cooker Project.

Right now, women and girls in refugee camps in Chad risk rape and other forms of gender-based violence when leaving the relative safety of the camps to collect firewood – which is essential for cooking the basic food supplies provided by relief agencies.

Solar Cookers are devises that cook food using electricity from the sun’s rays and the Solar Cooker Project aims to improve the safety and survival of women in refugee camps in Chad.

Rachel gave an emotional presentation about this wonderful project and her very recent visit to two refugee camps in Chad where the project has been put to work. (more…)

In late July, Oxfam America sent Nick Anderson, an 18-year-old rising high school senior, on a one-month mission to Sudan. Our objective was to help him get into Darfur where he would serve as Oxfam America’s youth ambassador, meeting with teenagers there so he could return to the United States and help tell their stories.

Below is a video of his trip. Please help us by viewing it and then sending it to all your friends and family.

-Tim Fullerton, Oxfam America