little leaves journey

Catapult Learning’s Little Leaves opens third behavioral health center

White marsh, md location provides new resource for families seeking high-quality applied behavioral analysis treatment..

August 13, 2019, White Marsh, Md. / Camden, NJ – Little Leaves Behavioral Services, a division of Catapult Learning and a leading provider of center-based behavioral health services for children, today announced the opening of its new center in White Marsh, Maryland. Little Leaves is dedicated to helping children with social, communication, and behavioral challenges grow and succeed so that they can actively participate in their families and communities. The new location marks the second in the state and third in the region.

Serving the Mid-Atlantic and soon, the Southeast region, Little Leaves centers provide evidence-based Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) to help children reduce their symptoms of autism. The program is designed to help pre-school age children improve their communication, play, social, and school-readiness skills, as well as build independence. Little Leaves’ clinical staff partner with each child’s family to develop and implement individualized therapeutic plans.

The new location was designed to provide an ideal environment for learning – one that combines work and fun in a child-friendly way. The 12,000 square foot center includes specialized learning spaces, many types of playrooms as well as an outdoor play area.

“The expansion of Little Leaves Behavioral Services is an important step forward in our mission to serve children with autism and other challenges in a comprehensive, holistic way,” said Jeffrey Cohen, CEO of Catapult Learning. “As a partner to local families, we are committed to delivering the most effective, research-based ABA therapies for children, in a preschool-like setting, to prepare them for the next step in their education and life journey.”

Catapult Learning acquired Little Leaves in 2018 to accelerate its mission to integrate educational and behavioral health services to drive greater impact for children with autism and their families.

“Our passion is helping children with social and behavioral challenges achieve continuous improvement and growth,” said Marina Major, president of Little Leaves Behavioral Services. “Expanding our Little Leaves center locations is a critical part of realizing our vision of providing high quality therapy access to all families. We are delighted to be able to serve more children in Maryland.”

All Little Leaves centers, including the new location in White Marsh, are nationally accredited Behavioral Health Centers of Excellence. ABA is endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, National Academies of Science and the Surgeon General.

The new location is at 8098 Sandpiper Circle, White Marsh, MD 21236. For information on enrollment at Little Leaves centers, please visit www.littleleaves.org or email [email protected] .

About Catapult Learning

Catapult Learning, Inc. provides education and behavioral health solutions for children and their families, leading to better life outcomes, regardless of the learning obstacles and other challenges they face. The company’s team of over 5,000 education and healthcare professional work to achieve measurable and sustained academic and behavioral gains through evidence-based programs that include special education, Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapies, intervention services, and professional development. Founded in 1976 and headquartered in Camden, New Jersey, Catapult Learning supports more than 200,000 children and families, over 500 school districts, and more than 25,000 teachers annually. Catapult Learning is accredited by AdvancED. www.catapultlearning.com

About Little Leaves Behavioral Services

Little Leaves, a division of Catapult Learning, is a center-based ABA program for young children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder run in a preschool-like setting. It is designed for children up to age 6 who have been recommended for intensive ABA services. Each client works one-on-one with a trained behavior technician on individualized goals with a focus on social communication, social interactions, and school readiness skills. The company operates centers in Silver Spring, MD, White Marsh, MD, Reston, VA with locations in Florida coming later in 2019. Little Leaves is accredited by the Behavioral Health Center of Excellence. www.littleleaves.org

View original post here

Press Contact: Jennifer Leckstrom RoseComm for Catapult Learning (215) 681-0770 [email protected]

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LEAVES - The Journey & LEAVES - The Return

Release Date: Autumn 2016

Programming and Animation Moritz Krohn

Idea, Concept, Design Artwork, Photography and Editing Eve Nohl

Music by zimmermitaussicht Gary Marlowe & Daniel Hoffknecht

Contact: [email protected]

Impressum ZAR 21 GmbH Hauptstr. 19 83259 Schleching Geschäftsführer: Evelyn Nohl Email: [email protected] Tel.: +49 (0) 171 3609330 Handelsregistereintrag: HRB 25026 Steuernummer: 163/143/20240 USt-Id-Nr.: DE305449704 Inhaltlich Verantwortlicher gem. § 55 II RStV: Evelyn Nohl (Anschrift s.o.)

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Northwest Path

Northeast path, leaves: the journey.

Game Details: Fantasy, 2017

Links: Moby Games , Steam , Adventure Gamers

Walkthrough Updated: 4/10/2020

Suggested Listening: Caught Up in the Panic ( Ash 25 )

After the leaves fly off the tree, click on the tree Upset the Treefruities . Pick up the first leaf (1/30) from the ground on the left. Head left, then take the hook from the boat, before looking inside the base of the tower. Pull the chain, then take the map - you can use this to find your current location and to discover where you still need to find more leaves. Back out, then head left again.

Click on the green head and it will fall to the ground. Pick it up, then look in the hole it left in the hedge, and take the purple bean and the next leaf (2/30) . Continue left and grab another leaf (3/30) from the top left. Look at the message on the door, but you can't understand it yet. Look at the pieces on the floor, then solve the jigsaw puzzle (click on the pieces to rotate them, then drag them into position). Pick up the pieces from the floor, then insert them into the symbol on the door. Pick up the magnifier Detective . Look at the message on the door again and use the magnifier to reveal a picture.

Back out and return to the right, then examine the door here. You need to click on the segments to create a complete picture. The faces all need to be upright (the white frilled pattern goes at the top). Once the door is open, head through. Use the purple bean on the monster in the side hole, then take the diagram Monster Vanquisher . Climb up to the top of the ladder.

Examine the clock here to see that it points to 10:25. Use your hook on the closed manhole cover, then climb down the near ladder. Take the next leaf (4/30) from the left of the ladder, and use your magnifier to find the first inhabitant (1/15) to the left. Look at the hole to reveal the next puzzle - you need to drag the green segments down to match up with the brown segments. Once you are done, the magnifier will appear and you can drag it over the green segments to reveal a pattern of circles - black, clear, white, clear, black, white. Climb down the ladder.

Take a leaf (5/30) from the plant here. Use your magnifier to find the next inhabitant (2/15) running around on the ground. Place the green head in the hole in the hedge, then climb the far ladder. Examine the round panels where the tall green plant is plugged into the rock. Click on the hexagons to rotate them and make sure all the lines are matched up. Take the color palette, then continue to the right. Climb the ladder next to the tree. You will now see 6 depressions and clicking on them changes their color. Based on the diagram you got from the monster, and the pattern of circles you saw earlier, you can work out the following solution:

Take the portal symbol that is revealed in the square panel. Also grab another leaf (6/30) from the top right, then climb back down the ladder. Use your magnifier to find an inhabitant (3/15) just to the left of the tree. Now examine the large portal to the left and insert the portal symbol at the bottom left Explorer . Head through the new opening.

Take the leaf (7/30) from the bottom of the near picture, and use the magnifier to find an inhabitant (4/15) on the right. Examine the far picture to see a chart with some numbers and symbols. Look at the pedestal near the far wall which has a foot on it; there are some symbols on the wall here, one representing the number 5. Back out and head through the doorway.

Take another leaf (8/30) from behind the curved bars on the right. Look more closely at the clock on the far wall. Click on the numbers to change the time to 10:25 Clock Master . Take the leaf (9/30) and the next portal symbol from the panel that opens on the left. Back out and use your magnifier to find the next inhabitant (5/15) Student . You cannot make any more progress here yet, so return to the portal. Insert your new portal symbol at the bottom right, then go through.

Use your magnifier to find another inhabitant (6/15) . Also pick up a leaf (10/30) from the floor here. Approach the green glow and use the magnifier to find the next inhabitant (7/15) . Back out and go to the purple glow, then drop the purple bean into the bowl here. Take the glass shards from the purple pedestal, then return to the portal and go through the bottom left opening.

Go through the doorway, then look at the panel on the wall near the left bars. Use the glass shards here, then assemble them into the shape. Continue through the new doorway once the bars retract. Click on the armadillo on the right, then examine the device it uncovers by moving. You need to slide the tokens into the device so they end up in the order shown across the bottom. If you number the tokens 1-8 from left to right, insert them as follows: 6, 4, 7, 4, 6, 1, 5, 2, 8, 8, 3, 4, 1, 2, 7. Take the leaf (11/30) . Go through the doorway on the right.

Use the magnifier to discover an inhabitant (8/15) above the archway. Take the next leaf (12/30) from the bottom right. Press the foot button on the left wall here, and the indicator will go green. While you are here, notice the flashing light - it pulses in the following pattern: 5, 8, 1, 3. Go left and click on the armadillo a second time, then continue back twice, and look at the foot pedestal - the indicator here will also be green. Press the foot and watch the footprints pass over the symbols. Back out again, then go forward and left. Click on the armadillo a third time Armadillo Hunter .

Press the buttons on the wall in the same order you just saw (if they are numbered 1-5 from top to bottom, press 3, 1, 5, 4, 3, 2. Take the blue wooden board that appears, and examine it to see a series of shapes and symbols. Go back twice and look at the far picture again, noting the symbols and numbers. Go forward, left and right, then examine the gate. You need to set the symbols here to those matching the pattern 5, 8, 1, 3 from the flashing light. Continue through the gate.

Pick up the green bean from the right. Use the Travelstone on the left twice to teleport back to the portal, then go through the bottom right opening.

Approach the green glow and drop the green bean into the bowl. Take the leaf (13/30) and portal symbol from the green pedestal, then return to the portal. Insert your new portal symbol at the top left, then go through.

There are 3 egg-shaped houses that have doors. If you visit them, faces will appear on the doors and you can either press the nose on the face or try to feed a note into its mouth. Follow this order:

Left door: press the nose, then take the note
Middle door: feed the mouth, then take the note
Left door: feed the mouth, then take the note
Right door: feed the mouth, then take the note
Left door: feed the mouth, then pull the lever

Head through the left door, then take the oar and the leaf (14/30) . Use your magnifier to discover an inhabitant (9/15) in the drain. Back out again, then approach the middle door and press the nose. Take the puzzle that is offered, then click on the pairs of matching symbols until they are all gone. Pull the lever, then go through the middle door. Unfortunately there is nothing you can do here yet, so just back out again.

Now approach the right door and press the nose. Take the puzzle that is offered, then drag the pieces around to complete the picture. Pull the lever to open the door Nose Grabber . Head through and collect the red bean and the next leaf (15/30) . Pull the large lever, which will open a doorway in the distance. Back outside, combine your oar with the raft, then use it to cross the water. Go through the open doorway.

There are small viewing holes scattered over the left and right walls. Look in the hole just above the middle of the left wall to find a leaf (16/30) . Now you will notice when looking in the holes that there are some partially covered by fixed green pieces, and some partially covered by rotating green discs with holes matching those green pieces. You need to find the matching pairs and rotate the discs so that the holes are facing in the same direction as the pieces. There are 7 pairs that need to all match. The door will now open so you can continue.

Use your magnifier to discover the next inhabitant (10/15) Nerd . Slide open the panel near the bottom of the door here to reveal the next puzzle. Just click on the hexagons on the right grid to create a mirror-image pattern matching the left grid. Once done, the door will open so you can keep going forward. Take the floating portal symbol. Click on the Travelstone once, then take the leaf (17/30) before clicking again to teleport back to the portal. Go through the bottom right opening.

Approach the red glow and drop the red bean into the bowl. Take the leaf (18/30) and a board showing 5 masks. Return to the portal. Insert the new portal symbol in the middle, then go through.

Use the magnifier to discover an inhabitant (11/15) up on the wall. Now there are 4 doors with symbols, and 4 buttons that can show different shapes. Using the blue wooden board, you need to see the 4 symbols from left to right to match the stacked symbols from front to back, and the corresponding door will open.

Start by setting the symbols to triangle, circle, plus, square. The second door will open, but there will be nothing there. Next set the symbols to square, triangle, circle, plus. The third door will open and you can take a leaf (19/30) . Next set the symbols to circle, plus, square, triangle. The fourth door will open and you can take a yellow bean. Now set the symbols to plus, square, triangle, circle. Go through the first door and pick up another leaf (20/30) . Using the information on the board showing the 5 masks, slide the first mask up, the second mask down and the fourth mask up (leave the third and fifth masks alone) Masquerade . Now head to the right.

Examine the grid of tiles on the ground here. You will find that one of them cannot be rotated by clicking on it - place this in the middle on the left. Now click and drag the other pieces into position to create one continuous line. Once this is done, the poison pool will empty Detox . Grab the leaf (21/30) , then continue right.

Use the magnifier to find a whole group of inhabitants (12/15) . Now you need to use the information on the color palette in your inventory. Click on the doors of the building to change their colors; the order is based on the height of the lenses above them, from highest to lowest: yellow, red, light blue, dark blue, green, purple (or from left to right: yellow, green, purple, red, light blue, dark blue). The lenses will flash when you have this part correct. Now click on the lenses in the order on the bottom of the palette: green, light blue, open, yellow, red, purple, dark blue. Take the new button/string palette that is offered. Go right again.

Use the magnifier to find yet another inhabitant (13/15) . Examine the pedestal. You need to drag out the 8 discs and place them on matching positions on the pedestal. Take the small white handle from the side drawer, then back out. Take the leaf (22/30) from beneath the pedestal, then climb the stairs. Put the white handle on the door, then open it Cloud Chaser . Pick up the gray palette, then go through the door.

Use the magnifier once more to find the next inhabitant (14/15) . Approach the base of the tree, then find a leaf (23/30) on the tree itself. Look at the buttons on the tree, and compare the layout to the palette you are carrying with strings and buttons. The origins of the strings from the central structure are the same; just find out which button should attach to each string and click to cycle through them. Once you are correct, take the golden leaf from inside the compartment. Back out, then examine the small door below the tree. Insert the golden leaf in the middle. Now you need to click on the segments to swap them around and complete the pattern, starting from the outside and working in. Head through the small doorway once it opens. Look further inside and take the leaf (24/30) .

Back out 3 times. Click on the Travelstone once, then take the leaf (25/30) before clicking again to teleport back to the portal. This should be the third time you have used a Travelstone Traveller . Go through the bottom right opening.

Approach the yellow glow and drop the yellow bean into the bowl. Take the green palette, then return to the portal. Head through the top left opening.

Enter the middle egg house and use the new green palette on the stand at the bottom. Now scroll around the area through the window and click on the 5 symbols around the edge to complete the palette. Pick it up again, then return to the portal and go through the bottom left opening.

Go all the way forward to the last room. Examine the top of the glowing structure and insert the gray palette into the middle. You should now see 13 symbols on the central palette and 13 colored shells around the edge with matching symbols. Back out from this view and arrange the shells across the top of the screen in an order to match the order of symbols on the palette. Pick up the leaf (26/30) that falls to the floor. Use the Travelstone to return to the portal, then go through the middle opening.

Click on each of the 4 doors and watch the directions that they move to open. Go all the way forward along this path so you end up going through the small door again. Look further inside and click on the 4 small door symbols on the left. Spin them to match the directions that the 4 doors at the beginning of the path moved:

Top left (door 3): Turn to point left
Top right (door 2): Turn to point down
Bottom left (door 4): Leave pointing up
Bottom right (door 1): Turn to point right

Head through the door once it opens. Use your magnifier to find the last inhabitant (15/15) Professor . Click on the pink toggles at the bottom right in the following order to keep them all open: 6, 3, 2, 7, 4, 1, 5. Pick up the leaf (27/30) .

Now examine the small green door and use the green palette in your inventory - you will hang it up just outside. Start by clicking on the round symbols so they face the same way as on the palette. Now you need to combine the squares above the symbols on the door with the squares above the matching symbols on the palette to come up with the pattern to input on the door:

Take the leaf (28/30) from the left side of the door frame before heading through. Grab the next leaf (29/30) from on top of the triangular stone prism here. Examine the control panel on the left. You need to click on pairs of symbols in the main grid that match the paired symbols at the top:

Take the 16 charms from around the edge of the eye that is revealed. Use your magnifier on the eye to see the corresponding central part of the map you have been traversing throughout the game. You now need to walk throughout the different paths and drag these charms down to parts of the corresponding scenes. If you number them across the top from 1-16, these are the locations:

Northwest Path: The face of a fountain at the top of 2 ladders
Northwest Path: The tall green plant plugged into the rock
Northwest Path: The pipe making bubbles back at the starting tree
Northwest Path: The pattern in the ground at the base of 2 ladders
East Path: The glowing figure in the shell room
East Path: The armadillo you annoyed 3 times
East Path: Next to the clock you had to change
East Path: The near picture in the first cavern
South Path: The walkways between the egg-shaped houses
South Path: The small statue in the first corridor across the water
South Path: The lever inside the right egg-shaped house
Northeast Path: The red platform
West Path: The top of the stairs
West Path: Above the 4 doors
West Path: The right head overlooking the poison pool
West Path: Face above the small doorway at the base of the tree

Once you have located them all and changed their symbols, come back to the final room and examine the head on top of the triangular stone prism. There is a button at the bottom that switches between symbols and black/white patterns. Use the charms across the top of the screen to help you set these patterns correctly. Once you are done, take the blue bean. Head back to the portal and go through the bottom right opening.

Approach the blue glow and drop the blue bean into the bowl. Take the final leaf (30/30) . Go back to the portal and step backwards.

Head all the way back to the starting tree and use the leaves on the tree. There are additional achievements now for completing the game without hints Genius and for completing the game in one sitting (without quitting the game) Seven-league Boots .

These walkthroughs may not be published or reproduced in any format without the author's prior written consent. All game titles, art and character references remain the copyright of their respective holders. View our Privacy Policy .

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Catapult Learning’s Little Leaves opens third behavioral health center

White marsh, md location provides new resource for families seeking high-quality applied behavioral analysis treatment..

Catapult Learning acquired Little Leaves in 2018 to accelerate its mission to integrate educational and behavioral health services to drive greater impact for children with autism and their families.

The new location is at 8098 Sandpiper Circle, White Marsh, MD 21236. For information on enrollment at Little Leaves centers, please visit www.littleleaves.org or email [email protected] .

About Catapult Learning

About Little Leaves Behavioral Services

View original post here

Press Contact: Jennifer Leckstrom RoseComm for Catapult Learning (215) 681-0770 [email protected]

Death in Paradise star Ralf Little reveals real reason he left show after five seasons

Death in Paradise star Ralf Little has opened up about leaving the hit BBC show after taking over from Ardal O’Hanlon in season 9 back in 2020.

Chatting to BBC Breakfast about his decision to leave the fictional island of St Marie, Ralf revealed that it was always the plan for him to leave following his fifth season, explaining: “You know, this last series was always going to be my last series. I spoke to the BBC and Red Planet, the production company, and we all agreed.

“If it was just a heart decision I would have wanted to do it for 20 more years. But just for the show and for my character Neville it just sort of felt like his story was finished and his journey deserved to be completed. He deserved a happy ending and it just felt right.”

Speaking on social media about leaving the show, he said: “The secret's out! My time on Saint Marie has come to an end. But, what an end! New adventures await Neville and he got to sail off into the sunset with his best friend, and, you know, who knows what happens for them next!

“I just want to say, just an enormous thank you to everyone who watched and supported the show. When I arrived, four-and-a-half years ago, I knew I had big shoes to fill. Coming into a series beloved by millions, including me, was a huge responsibility. I had no idea if viewers would take to my interpretation of Neville's character and indeed to me, so it was quite a relief the response has been overwhelming.

“It has been an absolute privilege and pleasure to bring Neville Parker to all of you and to share his really quite profound journey with you. I can't thank you all enough for the support over the last four-and-a-half years and as Neville heads off for new challenges and adventures and I head off for new challenges and adventures.”

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LIVE: School Board expected to announce finalists for Duval County superintendent

Watch live: commissioners to vote on proposed plan to build 288 affordable apartments in st. johns county, a river flood warning in effect for columbia county, from marseille to mont-blanc: what to know about the journey of the olympic torch to paris.

Jerome Pugmire

Associated Press

FILE - Actress Mary Mina, playing high priestess, right, lights a torch during the official ceremony of the flame lighting for the Paris Olympics, at the Ancient Olympia site, Greece, April 16, 2024. The Olympic torch finally enters France when it reaches the southern seaport of Marseille on Wednesday May 8, 2024, on an armada from Greece. After leaving Marseille a vast relay route will be undertaken before the torch's odyssey ends on July 27 in Paris. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis, File)

The Olympic torch will finally enter France when it reaches the southern seaport of Marseille on Wednesday. And it's already been quite a journey.

After being lit on April 16 in Ancient Olympia, the torch was carried around Greece before leaving Athens aboard a three-mast ship named Belem, headed for Marseille.

An expert lays out the United Methodist Church's journey to end its LGBTQ ban

A tight close-up photo shows a person's torso bearing a campaign-style button with the word "CHAPLAIN" and colors identified with the Trans Pride flag, as well as two lanyards, one of them with colors of the rainbow and the other royal blue.

After years of internal division, the United Methodist Church has reversed its 40 year ban on LGBTQ clergy and same-sex marriage. The issue had become so contentious in recent years that the United Methodist Church lost more than 7,000 congregations since 2019, with many departing over their stances toward LGBTQ people.

GBH's All Things Considered host Arun Rath spoke about this shift with Graham Kelder, who teaches religion, politics and law at Suffolk University, and who is a member of the Methodist Church himself.

Arun Rath: So as I mentioned, this has been a divisive issue within the church for quite a while. Can you talk us through a bit of the recent history and how it's been affecting the church overall?

Graham Kelder: The church formed from two different denominations in 1968. In 1972, that's when the language appeared saying that homosexuality was incompatible with Christian teaching. Then in 1984, the language was inserted saying that practicing homosexuals couldn't be ordained as clergy.

In 2019, a plan passed called “The Traditional Plan,” and that made the penalties for violating these rules stiffer and reinforced the policy. But the 2019 Special Conference, which was focused solely on issues of sexuality, also created a disaffiliation plan whereby congregations could leave the United Methodist Church over issues of conscience related to sexuality. So that's when congregations began leaving—once that took effect. That process accelerated in 2022 when conservatives formed the Global Methodist Church.

Rath: So put that in perspective for us. Over 7,000 congregations lost since 2019 — that sounds like a pretty massive shift.

Kelder: Yeah, it's about maybe 25% or so of the church's membership, so it is significant. The disagreements between the United Methodist Church and those who have disaffiliated run a little deeper and across issues like: How should you read the Bible? Should you read it with an historical critical eye or should you read it somewhat literally?

Those interpretive strategies basically gave rise to this conflict because I think most New Testament scholars and most biblical scholars think that the prohibitions in the Bible on homosexuality are, by and large, in the purity code and not in the morality code. The ancient Hebrews had the idea that you shouldn't mix things that didn't belong together. So you shouldn't wear garments made of mixed fabrics. You shouldn't touch the skin of a pig. And the taboo on homosexuality is first enunciated in the purity code.

Rath: So with this shift now, and we should point out that the shift is not just about LGBTQ clergy, but also about same sex unions?

Kelder: Yes, the shift removes the language saying that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. It lifts the prohibition on clergy performing same sex unions, and it lifts the prohibition on ordaining practicing homosexuals. Basically, these changes sweep away all of the longstanding prohibitions on homosexual behavior.

Rath: So do we expect that these 7000-plus congregations will now come back, or how do you think this will affect things going forward?

Kelder: I don't think that most of those congregations will come back because many of them disaffiliated purposely because they were tired of fighting about these issues. And they wanted to form a purely conservative Methodist church and so they formed the Global Methodist Church.

There may be a few congregations that disaffiliated on the progressive side and those congregations will probably come back. But basically, the General Conference this year also passed a resolution openly inviting any congregation that's disaffiliated to come back if they wish to.

Rath: On the other side, is there any indication or concern that congregations who might not like this change might now want to split away?

Kelder: Disaffiliation is officially over with, the policy that allowed for that to happen in a “no muss, no fuss” way. Some congregations may seek to leave the Methodist church, but that's going to be a much more complicated procedure because official disaffiliation ended at the end of 2023.

The whole issue is not really completely over with yet, because we passed a regionalization clause which allows churches to adapt the discipline to the region that they're in. One of those regions is Africa, where homosexuality is a deeply ingrained cultural taboo. So congregations in Africa are going to be able to adapt the discipline to their cultural setting. But many of the pastors in Africa were upset by what the General Conference did this year.

Rath: Is your sense in terms of the long view on this, that even if the congregations that split away don't come back, can the Methodist Church grow now, as a result of this?

Kelder: Yeah, I was involved in the litigation against the tobacco industry and in tobacco regulation as an attorney. And while we were engaged in that work, studies showed that when restaurants prohibited smoking, they actually got customers coming to that restaurant who didn't like tobacco smoke. So I think that people who were dismayed by the church's longstanding rules against homosexuals may now feel free to join the church.

Hopefully, the church can put that issue behind us and I think that would get some people to join. My older sister is gay, and I had to think a lot about joining the Methodist church, knowing that the prohibitions were there. But I felt hopeful enough about them being relaxed at some point that I was comfortable with joining.

Rath: Well, this is fascinating. Thank you so much for your expertise and insight.

Kelder: Thank you.

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Russell Brand announces he is getting baptized as a Christian, describing it as an 'opportunity to leave the past behind'

Russell Brand is getting baptized after spending several months exploring the Christian faith.
Brand, who was previously Buddhist, said he saw baptism as an opportunity "to die and be reborn."
Brand's gravitation toward religion comes in the wake of several allegations of sexual assault.

British comedian and actor turned political influencer Russell Brand has announced his plans to be baptized, culminating a monthslong journey exploring the Christian faith.

"This Sunday, I'm taking the plunge," Brand said in a video shared to X on Friday. "I'm getting baptized."

He said that baptism had been explained to him as an "opportunity to die and be reborn."

"An opportunity to leave the past behind and be reborn in Christ's name, like it says in Galatians," he continued. "That you can live as an enlightened and awakened person."

Baptism. This Sunday I’m taking the plunge! How was it for you? pic.twitter.com/DnwcUrzoqa — Russell Brand (@rustyrockets) April 26, 2024

The media personality said that he was "thinking about doing it in the River Thames" — recently found to have high levels of E.Coli — ending the video: "I may be leaving behind the sins, but I might be picking up some pretty serious viruses."

Starting in December 2023 , the 48-year-old has published several photos and videos on his social media profiles discussing his relationship with Christianity.

Watch: A look back at Tina Turner's life and work

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Category: Xbox Game Pass

Coming to Xbox Game Pass: Little Kitty Big City, Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition, and More

I don’t know how to spell the sound of a lightsaber turning on, but pretend I wrote that here because it would go perfectly with the announcement that Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is available now with Game Pass via EA Play. If you missed that news, we have the recap, along with all the other games coming soon (and available today) below!

Available Today

Have A Nice Death (Cloud, Console, and PC) In this darkly charming 2D action roguelike, play as an overworked Death, whose employees have run rampant, completely throwing off the balance of souls – and his vacation plans. Grab your trusty scythe and show your employees who’s boss.

Coming Soon

Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition (Cloud, Console, and PC) – May 2 The Definitive Edition of the critically acclaimed action-adventure is returning to Game Pass! Endure high-octane combat, customize weapons and gear, and overcome grueling environments to survive Lara Croft’s first adventure and uncover the island’s deadly secret.

Kona II: Brume (Cloud, Console, and PC) – May 7 Continuing the interactive tale of Kona , this title offers players an immersive first-person narrative experience with a unique storytelling mechanic. Explore the rustic setting of a rural mining village of Northern Canada in 1970 and uncover the mystery of the bizarre mist – the brume – that has engulfed the region.

Little Kitty, Big City (Cloud, Console, and PC) – May 9 Available on day one with Game Pass! In this open-world playground, you’re a curious little kitty with a big personality on an adventure to find your way back home. Explore the city, make new friends with stray animals, wear delightful hats, and leave more than a little chaos in your wake. After all, isn’t that what cats do best?

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (Cloud, Console, and PC) – May 14 The critically acclaimed and award-winning classic is returning to the Game Pass library! Guide two brothers on an epic fairy tale journey from visionary Swedish film director Josef Fares and developer Starbreeze Studios. Solve puzzles, explore the varied locations, and fight boss battles, controlling one brother with each thumb stick.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate Perks

Overwatch 2 : Season 10 Perks Bundle – Available Now

Get free skins for three heroes! Embrace deadly elegance and ruthless style with the Medusa Widowmaker and Executioner Junkerqueen Legendary Skins, plus the Visual K Kiriko Epic Skin! Join your friends in this always-on, ever-evolving free-to-play shooter game.

Exoprimal : Head Start Kit – Available now Ready to battle some dinosaurs? Join Leviathan’s wargames in style with immediate access to the Vigilant, Murasame, and Nimbus exosuits with an extra skin for each! Jump into this online team-based action game today.

Leaving May 15

The following games are leaving the Game Pass library soon so there’s no better time to put these at the top of your play list. Remember you can save 20% off your purchase if you would like to keep them in your library.

Eastern Exorcist (Cloud, Console, PC)
Eiyuden Chronicle Rising (Cloud, Console, PC)
Fuga: Melodies of Steel 2 (Cloud, Console, PC)
Ghostlore (Cloud, Console, PC)
Just Cause 4 Reloaded (Cloud, Console, PC)
Norco (Cloud, Console, PC)
SD Gundam Battle Alliance (Cloud, Console, PC)
Supraland Six Inches Under (Cloud, Console, PC)

Here’s your obligatory reminder that you can catch all our news as well on social media for Game Pass , PC Game Pass , and Xbox . And here is your not-as-obligatory-but-good-reminder that Hellblade 2: Senua’s Saga is coming soon, and you can pre-install now so you’re ready for day one!

Kim Kardashian Stuns in Breathtaking Corset That Leaves Little Room to Breathe

Viewers online immediately took notice of the cinched waistline.

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Kim Kardashian posing for the camera in her silver dress, with one hand on her hip.

By Vanessa Friedman

May 6, 2024

Kim Kardashian created a hoo-ha at the 2022 Met Gala when she admitted to going on a crash diet to fit into the Marilyn Monroe “Happy Birthday Mr. President” dress she wore to pose on the museum steps.

This year, however, she engaged in a different kind of body modification via the extreme corseting of the Maison Margiela by John Galliano couture dress she wore, cinched so tight at the waist it turned her figure into an hourglass version of the X Games. It was to tight, it was hard to imagine how she could breathe — let alone eat once inside the museum.

Viewers on social media immediately took notice. “Kim Kardashian honestly looks so uncomfortable and like she can barely move or even breathe,” posted one observer. “Fashion shouldn’t be like that.”

“Everyone is snatching their waist,” another wrote on X . “They said the one rule in the garden of time is no breathing, from Bad Bunny to Kim Kardashian.”

The corseting had been a feature of Mr. Galliano’s much ballyhooed January Margiela couture show, where it had been worn by both men and women, and where “making of” photographs on Mr. Galliano’s mood boards displayed the bruises left on the models’ flesh by the lacing. (Ms. Kardashian had been in the front row of that show.)

In the incarnation worn this time around by Ms. Kardashian, the corset was re-imagined in an antique silver brocade, and paired with a sheer silver metal skirt covered in lacy flowers, twigs, and mirror shards, to reflect the evening’s dress code, “The Garden of Time.” The idea of suffering for fashion, it turns out, is everlasting.

Gina Cherelus contributed reporting.

Vanessa Friedman has been the fashion director and chief fashion critic for The Times since 2014. More about Vanessa Friedman

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The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time. The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time. The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time.

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Dirt bike crash in Valdosta Monday leaves teen in critical condition

The incident unfolded a little after 9 p.m., according to valdosta police.

Dirt bike crash in Valdosta Tuesday leaves teen in critical condition

VALDOSTA, Ga. (WCTV) - A crash involving a dirt bike took place Monday night, leaving a teenager in critical condition. That’s according to the Valdosta Police Department.

The incident unfolded a little after 9 p.m. Monday in the area of Pineview Drive and Deborah Drive after first responders received several calls to report a traffic incident involving a person on a dirt bike, according to police.

Once first responders arrived on scene, police said a 17-year-old boy was found unresponsive. He was later identified as the driver of the bike, according to police.

He was then transported to the South Georgia Medical Center before being transported to a hospital in Florida, according to police, where he’s in critical condition.

Police said an investigation revealed that the 17-year-old was traveling on Deborah Drive on a dirt bike and a man was traveling on Pineview Drive. The teen entered the intersection, hitting the front passenger side of the man’s vehicle, according to police.

The passenger in the vehicle suffered a minor injury, according to police.

The case is still under investigation, police said.

Police Chief Leslie Manahan said as temperatures warm up, police see an increase in dirt bikes and ATVs traveling on the roadways. “Please ensure that if you are operating one of these vehicles, you ensure that they are street legal and that all passengers wear helmets,” Mahanan said.

To stay up to date on all the latest news as it develops, follow WCTV on Facebook and X ( Twitter ).

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A REUTERS INVESTIGATION

As famine looms in sudan, the hungry eat soil and leaves.

By By MAGGIE MICHAEL . Visuals by EL TAYEB SIDDIG

Filed April 30, 2024, 11 a.m. GMT

A Reuters Special Report As famine looms in Sudan, the hungry eat soil and leaves

Nearly five million people are close to famine as the country’s civil war passes the one-year mark. Aid officials say the warring parties – the army and the Rapid Support Forces – are looting aid or blocking it from reaching areas where starvation is taking hold. But ‘the world’s largest hunger crisis’ is drawing little global attention.

By MAGGIE MICHAEL

Visuals by EL TAYEB SIDDIG

Filed: April 30, 2024, 11 a.m. GMT

OMDURMAN, Sudan

There is so little food in some areas of Sudan that people are taking extreme measures to survive.

In the Al Lait refugee camp, they are eating dirt.

The impoverished camp, located in North Darfur, has seen a new influx of displaced people as Sudan’s year-old civil war has brought fighting to large swathes of the country and a campaign of ethnic cleansing to Darfur.

Garang Achien Akok is one of the thousands of new arrivals in the area. Akok, his wife and their five children abandoned their home in the southern region of Kordofan after Arab militiamen on camels stormed their village and torched their hut, he said.

Akok, 41, reached Al Lait in December, but has no work and can’t feed the family. At times, they go two or three days without eating. When that happens, Akok said, he watches helplessly as his wife and children dig holes in the ground with a stick, slide their hands in and grab some soil. Then they roll the soil into a ball, put it in their mouths and swallow it with water.

“I keep telling them not to do it, but it's hunger,” he said. “There is nothing I can do.”

Hunger and starvation are spreading across Sudan, as the war that erupted in April last year between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) shows no sign of abating. The outlook is dire, according to interviews with over 160 civilians caught in the fighting and more than 60 aid workers and food security experts, as well as a review of food surveys by aid agencies. Reuters reporters also spent close to a week in Omdurman last month, one of three cities that comprise the capital Khartoum, interviewing people who had suffered severe food shortages.

Parts of Sudan are on the brink of famine – a brewing crisis that is man-made. Agriculture has been ravaged as farmers have had their harvested crops stolen by the RSF and fled their lands due to the violence. Hunger, not just fighting, is now driving displacement as people leave home in search of food. Malaria and other diseases are spreading among the displaced. Key aid hubs have been looted by the RSF and its allied militias. And international aid arriving in Sudan is being blocked by the military from reaching people in areas where starvation has set in.

“Sudan’s war has created the world’s largest hunger crisis,” said Anette Hoffmann, author of a report on the food emergency in Sudan by the Netherlands-based Clingendael think tank. “We will likely see a famine that we haven’t seen in decades.”

The Sudanese army and RSF did not respond to detailed questions for this report. Sudan’s foreign ministry, part of the military-led government, has said it is committed to facilitating the delivery of aid, and has accused the RSF of looting and blocking aid. Lieutenant General Ibrahim Jaber, the military’s second in command, has said that Sudan “will not fall into hunger” and had “more than it needs.” Some Khartoum residents said the army has at times provided limited amounts of food relief amid the fighting.

The RSF has denied looting, saying any rogue actors in its ranks will be held responsible, and has blamed the army for obstructing the delivery of aid.

People across Sudan are taking increasingly desperate measures to survive. In West Darfur, farmers whose lands were plundered by the RSF have eaten the seeds they bought for planting because they have run out of food. In the Kordofan region, people have sold their furniture and clothes to get cash for food. In Khartoum, residents under siege in their homes have picked the leaves off trees and boiled and eaten them.

Almost 18 million people in Sudan – more than a third of the nation’s 49 million people – are facing “high levels of acute food insecurity,” according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), a globally recognized hunger monitor. The IPC also estimates that of this group, nearly five million people are one step from famine. Immediate action is needed to “prevent widespread death and total collapse of livelihoods and avert a catastrophic hunger crisis in Sudan,” the IPC said in March. The group added that it has been unable to update a projection it made in December because of data gaps in conflict areas and internet and phone outages in much of Sudan.

The Clingendael report has drawn three possible scenarios for Sudan. The most optimistic one projected that 6% of the population will face famine. In the worst case, 40% of people would endure famine during the lean season between harvests, which starts in May and runs to September.

In some places, people are already dying. Doctors Without Borders has reported that an estimated one child is dying on average every two hours in the vast Zamzam displaced persons camp in North Darfur – a result of disease and malnutrition.

Hunger’s widening reach

Regions across Sudan face increasingly dire food shortages, hunger monitors warn

Source: Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET); Natural Earth. Definition of famine: “Households have an extreme lack of food and/or other basic needs even after full employment of coping strategies. Starvation, death, destitution, and extremely critical acute malnutrition levels are evident. (For Famine Classification, area needs to have extreme critical levels of acute malnutrition and mortality.)”

Despite the deepening food crisis, the situation in Sudan has drawn less international scrutiny than other humanitarian emergencies in places such as Ukraine and Gaza. Some observers have called Sudan’s conflict “the forgotten war.”

“Our biggest challenge is the funding and lack of attention to Sudan,” said Chessa Latifi, senior program advisor in global health at relief organization Project HOPE. “People are so involved in Ukraine and so involved in Gaza that there is no space for anyone to think, to be open to listen and hear about Sudan.”

International pressure on the warring parties has failed so far to break the aid logjam. Isobel Coleman, deputy administrator of USAID, the U.S. government relief agency, said Sudanese army chief General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and RSF leader General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo were responsible for aid not reaching people.

“This looming threat of famine hangs on them,” she told Reuters. “People are literally dying by the day because of lack of access to food and other essentials.”

Some aid officials and food experts have expressed concern over the delay by the IPC, the hunger monitor, in issuing its latest appraisal of the food crisis in Sudan.

By the time the IPC releases its new analysis, Clingendael’s Hoffman said, it would be “too late to deliver aid and save lives.” She said the IPC should declare that there is a risk of famine.

While a famine alert carries no binding obligations on the UN or governments, it does serve to focus world attention on a crisis situation and galvanize the resources needed to provide emergency aid. Generally, a decision to declare a famine is made by a government and the UN.

Fatima Eltahir, the IPC chair in Sudan, who is a government official, said there has been no delay in issuing the group’s analysis and that it would be released in May.

Starving in Khartoum

The deprivation is not confined to the poor. Even before the war, Sudan was facing widespread poverty and rising hunger. Now, Sudan has become the largest displacement crisis, with one in every eight internally displaced persons worldwide, the United Nations says. And the economy has been shattered by the fighting, affecting everyone.

Nearly half the population is unemployed, according to the International Monetary Fund. The formal banking system has collapsed, leaving people without access to money. A telecommunications blackout has deprived people of a key lifeline in the form of online money transfers. According to Jibril Ibrahim, Sudan’s finance minister, the economy has contracted by 40% because of the war.

In middle class neighborhoods of Khartoum, life has become a daily battle for survival, defined by hunger and fear, as people find themselves pincered between the military and the RSF.

For Lina Mohammed Hassan and her family, starvation set in slowly.

After the war broke out last year, mortars rained down around Hassan’s home in the Banat neighborhood of Omdurman. There were days when the shelling would start at 5 a.m. and last all day, said the 32-year-old Hassan. Venturing outside to look for food became risky.

The RSF laid siege to areas across the capital like Banat located near Sudanese army bases, in an effort to squeeze troops trying to hold off advances by the paramilitary. Food began to vanish. Markets were destroyed in the fighting. Residents said people ran out of cash after Khartoum’s banks were looted by RSF militiamen, who made off with piles of banknotes and gold. The RSF has denied it was involved in the looting.

Soon, Hassan and her extended family of 11 were surviving largely on a diet of lentils and rice. “Even that was hard to get because prices were five times the normal rate,” she said.

By November, RSF forces had cut off electricity and severed the main water pipeline to Banat, residents said. Soldiers from a nearby army base and civilians began hunting cats to eat. Women carrying food were searched at RSF checkpoints, accused of supporting the army, beaten and sexually assaulted, Hassan said.

Food packages airdropped by the army into the neighborhood made little difference. “The packages broke up when they hit the ground,” she said. “The food mixed together with the dust.” Over time, “it became impossible to get anything, cash or food.”

Hassan said soldiers sometimes shared their food with the children in her family, but the relief was limited. She and the other adults began skipping meals, sometimes for two days straight, so the children could eat. Tree leaves boiled in water and sprinkled with spices became a part of their diet.

“We tried to avoid picking the leaves from poisonous trees,” she said. “We only used the mango, lemon and guava leaves. The children would eat them. They couldn’t say no because they were so hungry.”

In late February, after the army made advances in Banat, Hassan and her family were able to flee to another part of Omdurman under control of the Sudanese military. She spoke to Reuters last month in an apartment there.

People still remain trapped in more than a dozen districts across Khartoum. A global authority on food insecurity, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, reported in March that areas in the capital are at “risk of famine” as the warring parties have “employed siege-like tactics to cut off supplies to their opponent.”

No haven from hunger

Many of the families who were trapped in the capital told Reuters they wanted to flee but were deterred by stories they’d heard of women being raped and young men being detained and killed by RSF forces.

A 24-year-old resident of Banat decided she had no choice but to try escaping when a doctor told her in November that her three-year-old son might not survive if they stayed.

The woman said she had been feeding her son a few spoons of chickpeas a day for months, while she was pregnant and skipping meals. After she had a baby girl, she was unable to breastfeed and could only find expired formula to feed her newborn. Her boy had developed a blood deficiency and was vomiting repeatedly, she said.

On the way out of Banat, she had to pass through RSF-controlled checkpoints. Militiamen looking for cash and gold jewelry beat her with whips and ran their hands over her body as they searched her, she said. Some women were forced to strip naked. Soldiers raped a woman in front of her, she said. A neighbor who escaped with her corroborated the account.

“I saw women dragged to empty buildings,” said the woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “They groped me, three or four times along the way.”

When the family finally reached an army-controlled area in Omdurman, “we collapsed,” the woman said. “We were very hungry, we were sick and dehydrated. So hungry that we couldn't eat a lot.”

Residents in Omdurman, one of three cities that make up the capital Khartoum, line up to receive food in March. The war has decimated the economy, with almost half of the population unemployed, according to the International Monetary Fund. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig

Even those who have escaped the fighting to the army-controlled area of Omdurman say they have little to eat, because they’re out of work and the available food in the markets is exorbitantly expensive. Teachers, lawyers and pharmacists were among those who repeatedly lined up in March in front of large cooking pots filled with beans and lentils to get what might be their only meal of the day.

Fatma Saleh, a pharmacist, said she stands for hours in a queue to get three scoops of lentils or beans for her family of four, including her sick mother. “I cried hard,” she said, describing the first time she stood in line for food. She said she sold her clothes to get cash to buy food.

Sahar Moussa, who fled with her husband and three children, says she lived a comfortable life in Khartoum before the war. Her husband made a good living as a mechanical engineer.

When her children tell her they’re hungry, she tells them their father is coming with food, even though she knows he isn’t. “Sometimes I just wish a shell would kill me so I don't have to see my children crying from hunger,” she said.

Port Sudan is now the hub for all aid since the government and aid agencies relocated there after the RSF seized much of Khartoum. Even so, displaced people face malnutrition and disease in the coastal city. According to the UN, since the start of the war nearly a quarter of a million people have fled to the Red Sea state, of which Port Sudan is the capital. Dozens of schools have been turned into shelters for displaced people.

At the Al Shahinat displaced persons camp in Port Sudan, sewage flowed openly when a reporter visited last month. Children with stomachs bloated from malnutrition could be seen walking around. Some were barefoot, with streaks down their legs from diarrhea.

Looting the ‘food of the people’

Chaos in Sudan’s breadbasket regions is ravaging the national food supply. A March report by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) showed Sudan had a 46% drop in cereal production in 2023 compared to the previous year.

The harvest is being plundered in El Gezira, a region south of the capital that accounts for over half of Sudan’s wheat production. That is impoverishing farmers and crippling their ability to finance the planting of new crops.

Khaled Mostafa, a farmer in El Gezira state, planted about 10 acres of corn and lentils in his fields last year. He was planning to sell the produce after the harvest in the local market to settle his debts and cover expenses for the next planting season.

But in February, RSF members stormed his home, shoved him to the ground and put a knife to his neck, he said. They forced him to hand over his entire harvest – 110 sacks of corn and lentils. They also made off with trucks and other equipment, he said.

Mostafa’s story has played out in dozens of villages across El Gezira since the RSF launched its assault on the state in December, according to testimonies from multiple residents. Farmers described how men in RSF uniforms riding in pick-up trucks and on motorbikes went house to house assaulting people, stripping them of their possessions and forcing them at gunpoint to carry their harvested crops to RSF vehicles.

As they plundered the villages, the militiamen destroyed solar panels used to power generators that helped draw water from deep wells. Fuel for powering flour mills was also stolen, farmers said, leaving villagers without any means of grinding grains to make flour for Aseeda porridge, a staple of the Sudanese diet.

“This all leads to hunger,” said Mostafa. “This is the food of the people. They stole it.”

Farmers said their assailants, though often wearing RSF uniforms, didn’t seem to be part of a clear chain of command. They operated, vigilante style, in small cells of about 20 people, each with its own leader. The RSF has also imposed a travel tax in places like Darfur and El Gezira, forcing farmers to pay a levy as they move around.

The “unprecedented” damage caused to farming by RSF attacks in El Gezira will affect the next harvest, said Ahmed Omar, who represents a group of farmers in the state. “There is nothing left in El Gezira to start the new season. No farmers, no machinery.”

Other crucial cereal producing regions that are largely under RSF control, including Darfur and Kordofan, are suffering similar output declines. Immediate action is required to “prevent widespread death related to hunger and the collapse of livelihoods,” said Rein Paulsen, the FAO’s director of emergencies and resilience.

The fighting has also destroyed flour mills, food factories and ranches.

The only factory in Sudan making therapeutic food for children suffering from malnutrition was destroyed in the fighting. The plant burned down after being hit by a shell in May last year, said Nada Yagoub, the deputy manager of Samil and daughter of the factory owner.

All production of the product, which treats wasting in small children, has since been halted. Samil used to produce 60% of this therapeutic food for children in Sudan, according to UNICEF, the UN children’s agency.

“It’s a huge loss at a time when famine is coming,” Yagoub said.

As hunger grips more and more Sudanese, international aid agencies are struggling to get food and medicines to areas where people are sick and starving.

It can take up to 40 days for an aid truck to reach Darfur from Port Sudan in the east, where most of the aid is stored, according to Justin Brady, the Sudan head of OCHA, the UN’s office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs. This includes delays for “obtaining necessary travel permissions,” he said. Aid vehicles have to traverse multiple areas controlled by different groups, including the RSF, criminal gangs and tribesmen.

Since December, aid from the east has failed to reach much of Darfur, the Kordofan region or Khartoum, aid workers say. And only a few dozen trucks have come in via Chad in the west.

Overall, humanitarian assistance has reached only 16% of people who need it, according to a survey conducted late last year by Humanitarian Outcomes, a group that advises aid agencies and donor governments.

Aid officials say the Sudanese army has made it increasingly difficult to get food and medical supplies to areas where they are most needed. In response to RSF appeals for agencies to deliver aid to areas under its control, army chief Burhan said in February: “This will not happen until we end this war and defeat these criminal rebels.”

“Aid is not allowed to go from SAF to RSF,” said Mohammed Qazilbash, Sudan director for humanitarian group Plan International, using the acronym for the Sudanese Armed Forces. “Food is being used as a weapon of war.”

Reuters reported in late February that the army had issued an order prohibiting aid deliveries through Chad into Darfur. The military-led government later said that a humanitarian corridor into North Darfur was open. But Qazilbash told Reuters in late March that the amount of assistance moving through the North Darfur route was “a trickle.”

Since the start of the war, the military-led government has put in place a thicket of bureaucratic rules that are severely hampering food distribution, dozens of aid officials told Reuters. The government formed new committees to handle aid that have overlapping powers with the Humanitarian Aid Commission (HAC), the government’s main aid arm. The move has caused confusion and delays as approvals are now needed from multiple departments, according to humanitarian officials.

It took World Vision, a relief agency, four months to secure the required signatures and stamps from authorities to allow the organization to open a cholera treatment center in El Gezira, following reports of an outbreak there. “I fear that we lost children and mothers to cholera while waiting for the paperwork to be done,” said Geoffrey Babughirana, health and nutrition manager at World Vision.

The cholera center finally opened in December – but was operational for just six days. On the seventh day, the RSF and its allied militias stormed Wad Madani, the capital of El Gezira, and all aid agencies were forced to evacuate.

“It was devastating when we left,” said Babughirana.

Aid agencies have also been pressed to hire local government employees to oversee work done by the agencies, such as food assessment surveys, humanitarian officials said. One agency was forced to hire a HAC team and pay them salaries during a needs assessment survey in River Nile state, which is controlled by the Sudanese military, an official from that agency said. “We are paying money that we shouldn’t be paying,” the official said.

Food supplies in major aid hubs like El Gezira have also been looted, largely by RSF forces, aid officials said.

When the RSF invaded El Gezira in December, UN officials gave the paramilitary’s commanders the coordinates of warehouses where thousands of metric tons of aid were being stored – enough to feed close to 1.5 million people for a month in the state. They shared the locations in the hope that the aid would be protected and received assurances from the RSF that it would, said Brady, the Sudan director for OCHA.

But almost all the aid in the warehouse was stolen. And what remained couldn’t be accessed by the agency that distributes it, the UN World Food Program, because of the fighting, said Eddie Rowe, the WFP’s director for Sudan.

Ezzaddean Elsafi, an RSF advisor, denied that the paramilitary had looted aid warehouses, saying this was a “media exaggeration.”

The rainy season in Sudan is also approaching, which will make roads impassable and entire areas in places like Darfur and Kordofan inaccessible, Rowe said. “We are in a race against time.”

Death in Darfur

Al Lait camp, where people have been eating dirt, is just one of a cluster of 13 refugee camps in a remote area of North Darfur where inhabitants have resorted to consuming soil and tree leaves, according to residents, medics and aid workers who spoke to Reuters by phone.

The original inhabitants of the camps are refugees from South Sudan who fled conflict and hunger. They have now been joined by thousands of displaced Sudanese fleeing the fighting.

Faisal Mohammed, who works for the Sahari Organization for Development, a local aid group, said he had a hard time believing people were eating soil until he saw it himself in several camps. “When the stomach is empty, people try to fill it with anything,” he said.

“We will likely see a famine that we haven’t seen in decades.” Anette Hoffmann, author of a report on the food emergency in Sudan

Children who’ve been eating soil have been vomiting and getting diarrhea, multiple residents told Reuters.

Before the war, the camp’s residents worked on farms and were paid in harvested crops, getting 20% of the yield. They also relied heavily on aid from the World Food Program. But as the fighting spread, humanitarian aid was blocked. And farmers, squeezed by the spiraling costs of fertilizers and insecticides and a lack of financing, cut back on the areas they planted, depriving farm laborers of their jobs.

Today, some of the women work in a nearby town washing clothes. They make up to a dollar a day – enough to buy flour and sugar to make a pudding called Madeeda.

When there is no work, they don’t eat, residents said.

While there is food in nearby markets, prices have skyrocketed during the war, making much of it inaccessible to camp residents. A plate of beans costs six times what it did before the war.

In mid-April, after a year without food assistance, eight aid trucks from the WFP arrived in the area carrying cereals, oil and flour.

It isn’t enough. Malnutrition and disease are killing people, residents said.

Achek Kuol Ngor, a 30-year-old South Sudanese woman from the Abu Jarra camp, said her twins died just 12 days after she gave birth to them in May last year. Asked how they died, she replied: “Sick and hungry.”

She was malnourished and unable to breastfeed them, and had no baby formula, she said. A medical assistant who was present when the twins died at a hospital in a nearby town confirmed Ngor’s account.

Lual Deng Majok, another resident of Abu Jarra, said his family started eating tree leaves after they ran out of money late last year. When his son David, 17, started vomiting and developed a fever, Majok put him in a cart and traveled four hours to a hospital where doctors diagnosed the teen with malaria. Malnourished people are more likely to develop severe cases of the disease. Two days later, his son was dead, Majok said. He put the boy’s body in the cart and took him back to the camp to bury him.

Reuters was unable to independently confirm the cause of death for Ngor’s and Majok’s children.

In North Darfur’s Zamzam camp, where Doctors Without Borders found high mortality rates among children, the situation continues to deteriorate. The camp is now home to at least half a million people.

A survey conducted there earlier this month by Doctors Without Borders found that nearly a third of children under the age of five are acutely malnourished, according to Jerome Tubiana, an adviser to the organization on refugee issues. Eight percent of these children “are at risk of dying within three to six weeks if they don’t get immediate treatment,” he told Reuters.

Zakariya Ali, a doctor there, said he commonly sees “three or four cases of severely malnourished children” a day, and typically, “one of them falls dead.”

As Ali spoke with a reporter by phone, a 9-month-old baby girl named Mawaheb was brought into the clinic. Ali gave her a quick test for malnutrition, placing a measuring tape around her mid-upper arm to gauge its circumference.

He shared a photo of the result. Mawaheb’s arm was so thin, she placed in the red zone: severe acute malnourishment, at risk of death.

Starving in Sudan

By Maggie Michael

Photography and Video by El Tayeb Siddig

Additional reporting: Ryan McNeill

Graphics: Vijdan Mohammad Kawoosa

Photo editing: Edgar Su

Art direction: Catherine Tai

Edited by Peter Hirschberg

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