I then asked exactly what aid would be provided by the rumored dinner.
Due to what aid organisations call "intolerable insecurity", almost all international charity workers have left.
Mr. Reid was also not specific about what aid Congress might provide.
What aid she receives from the government pays those bills, leaving little remaining for other necessities.
We normally respond with a robust defence against specific claims and, rightly, promote what aid can achieve.
More time was taken determining what aid was already on its way, and what would be needed.
So there is no way to know just what aid will really be available down the road.
Some 500,000 have been displaced since the start of the year in what aid agencies warn is a major humanitarian crisis.
The death rate in Darfur, a controversial measure, is widely accepted to be below what aid agencies consider the threshold for an emergency.
Christine Lucier, 32, of Northbridge, Mass., is also in limbo, unsure of what aid she may receive now that the settlement will be widely disbursed.
But what aid workers think more likely is that many of the people being "redeemed" were never slaves in the first place.
