When I catch the eye of the woman in the first photo below and recall the camps for displaced people I visited a few years ago in the Democratic Republic of Congo, I know why an international arms trade treaty is more important than ever. Conflict, fueled by a steady flow of poorly regulated weapons, continues to drive families from their homes in Congo—and in many other places around the world.

In November, photographer Katie Holt snapped these photos. Rebel groups in Congo’s eastern provinces had forced tens of thousands of people to flee.  Many sought safety in camps around the city of Goma. Study the pictures—the line of people lugging their belongings along the edge of the road; the plastic sheeting that serves as a home; the crowded water collection point—and you get a glimpse of what life is now like for countless Congolese.

“Chaos breeds chaos,” said Oxfam’s Humanitarian Coordinator Tariq Riebl in November. “Every day we hear of another attack against farmers as they work in the fields or traders as they go to market. There are hardly any places left that are safe from conflict and violence.”

Isn’t freedom from conflict and violence what we all want? The arms trade treaty could help pave the way.

Read my colleague Scott Stedjan’s blog on the truth about the treaty, and then write your senators and urge them to sign onto a letter to President Obama calling for his support of the treaty.

The weight of conflict

Photo: Katie Holt

People who flee conflict often escape with very few belongings. At a water point in Lac Vert Camp in Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a scrap of plastic, twisted tight, helps to keep water sloshing from this jug. Oxfam has been providing aid, including water and sanitation services, to people in three camps around the city. “We can’t shout loudly enough,” said Oxfam’s Humanitarian Coordinator Tariq Riebl in November. “This violence has to end. It has caused decades of suffering and grinding poverty.”

On the move

Photo: Katie Holt/Oxfam

In 2012, insecurity displaced more than 760,000 people in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. When government troops pulled out of much of the east to focus on a rebellion by a group known as M23, the number of other rebel groups mushroomed. By late November, at least 25 of them were active across the provinces of North Kivu and South Kivu.

A rocky home

Photo: Katie Holt/Oxfam

Anchored by sharp rocks on rough ground, plastic sheets serve as shelter for Mahawe Francini and her three children in Mugunga camp in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Like countless other families, Francini and her children fled their home when fighting broke out between M23 rebels and Congolese government soldiers.

Clean water

Photo: Katie Holt/Oxfam

Taps in camps around the city of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo provided a clean supply of water in November to some of the tens of thousands of people who had fled recent fighting. But shortages of water and power in other parts of the city had left thousands of people with no option but to pull water directly from a nearby lake, heightening concern about the potential spread of waterborne diseases.

Today, we’re joining our partners at Blog Action Day and thousands of others worldwide to pay tribute to the power of community. The 2012 Blog Action Day theme, “the power of we,” is “a celebration of people working together to make a positive difference in the world, either for their own communities or for people they will never meet.”

At Oxfam America, we know just how much those collaborative efforts matter. Around the world, our programs to solve poverty and hunger are often led by local men and women who are working together to improve their own lives. Here in the US, our supporters also help raise awareness about these efforts and inspire others to take action. Sometimes those two groups even come together, as you’ll see in some of the photos below—and when they do, the results can be astonishing.

So in honor of “the power of we,” here are five Oxfam photos that we think best capture the spirit of community:

1.   Sharing solutions to hunger

Selas Samson Biru, center, a farmer from Tigray, Ethiopia, compares crops with Sonia Kendrick, left, and Linda Barnes, right, both Iowa farmers and Oxfam Sisters on the Planet ambassadors. In honor of World Food Day last year, Oxfam brought women farmers like Biru to the US to meet their American counterparts and talk about shared solutions to global hunger. Photo: Ilene Perlman/Oxfam America

2.   Pooling resources

Local women in Banakoro, Mali, during a weekly meeting of their community savings and lending group, which they call Sabougnuma, or “good deed.” Oxfam’s Saving for Change program helps poor people in five countries start and run their own village savings groups, which act as community banks and can make loans to members in need. Photo: Rebecca Blackwell/Oxfam America

3.   Lending a hand

NFL superstar wide receivers Larry Fitzgerald and Anquan Boldin (facing away from camera) help with community rebuilding efforts during a visit to Tigray, Ethiopia, with Oxfam earlier this year. Inspired by their travels, Boldin and Fitzgerald recently launched a fundraising campaign to help Ethiopian communities recover from last year’s drought and food crisis. Photo: Audra Melton/Oxfam America

4.   Providing for the next generation

Marlith Amasifuen, shown here with her son Bryan, is one of 30 indigenous women from Aviación, Peru, who work together to maintain a shared garden deep in the Amazon forest. With Oxfam’s support, the women cultivate the same traditional crops that their Kichwa ancestors once grew, protecting their families from crop loss caused by climate change and providing a steady food source for their children.  Photo: Percy Ramírez/Oxfam America

5.  Educating friends and neighbors

More than 200 people participated in an Oxfam America Hunger Banquet® event in New York City in 2011. Nearly 40 years after the first Oxfam America Hunger Banquet, this memorable, interactive event continues to educate Americans about the causes of hunger and poverty; thousands of people around the country host or attend local Hunger Banquets each year. Photo: Nicole Kindred/Oxfam America

Elizabeth Rojas, health and nutrition program coordinator for the community organization El Mantaro Revive. "“We are concerned about children’s health in La Oroya. Many have just started to recover from high levels of lead in their blood, and what happens now will be critical for them. Always, the most vulnerable population is the poorest.” Photo: Percy Ramirez/Oxfam America

Women like Elizabeth Rojas, above, are at the heart of an effort to defend public health and the environment in La Oroya, Peru, a city that’s been called one of the most polluted places on earth. While legislators and CEOs debate whether or not to reopen the Doe Run Peru lead smelter in La Oroya, these women continue their efforts to protect the community—even when it means putting their own safety at risk. Add your support by signing the petition at http://bit.ly/HEVNZQ.

Hear more from La Oroya’s women leaders on Flickr, and help raise awareness by watching and sharing the bilingual slideshow below. (Expand the slideshow and select “show info,” upper right, to read their testimonials in English and Spanish.)

Here at Oxfam America we celebrated World Food Day early by hosting a potluck Sunday Dinner (or Wednesday Lunch, to be precise) at our office in Boston.  If you’re curious to learn what happens at a World Food Day Sunday Dinner—featuring recipes from chefs like Giada De Laurentiis, creative dishes from all over the world, and some very animated conversations—then check out these photos from our event. After all, we at Oxfam wouldn’t ask you to do stuff that we’re not happy to try ourselves.

Of course, Oxfam’s grassroots campaign against hunger is not really about us: It’s about you, the thousands of supporters nationwide who are hosting or attending events this fall. You are the ones who are hosting more than 200 Sunday Dinners for World Food Day, organizing Oxfam America Hunger Banquets on campus and in your communities, and coming up with your own creative ways to make a difference.

If this sounds like something you’d like to be a part of, check out our community calendar to find an event near you.  Afterward, share your event with others by posting your pictures and videos to Oxfam’s Photobook. We’ll be featuring photos and stories from your events on this blog in the coming weeks.

More photos from our Sunday Dinner:

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Jasmine. Photo by Rankin / Oxfam

When we’re reading about suffering and injustice—especially someplace far away—we tend to think in terms of numbers. Take the Democratic Republic of Congo. Since 1998, more than 5 million people have been killed in the conflict in DRC, and more than 1 million have been left homeless. In the last few months, 250,000 residents of North Kivu province have had to flee from their homes, many taking refuge in temporary camps.

These numbers inform us, true. But they also allow us to maintain an emotional distance. They keep the conflict abstract.

And then something comes along and makes it real.

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