Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Darfur and Sudan...

Tonight as I ate my dinner and flipped on the Boob Tube.. nothing was on that seemed appetizing on any channel except, of course, PBS which had the show "Wide Angle". The show tonight was called "Heart of Darfur" and I thought what more could I learn but after flipping through all the channels again, I came back to it. And never blinked an eye as the show drew me in and I sobbed..

Not that the story was surprsing or new but a reminder. Since the beginning of this year, 180,000 more refugees! Rape and murder still the mark of the Janjaweed, a world apparently oblivious. And yet there was hope -- the UN general who reminded us that Sierra Leone was a UN success. And earlier Mozambique. And Krystoff's conclusion that the US could do more - it has had previous success at least 4 times with the Sudanese government - and the knowledge that only one declaration from China - that they would shipping arms could change the tenor / the policy of Sudan in a heartbeat -- all seemed like simple and obvious solutions. So what do we do next? I don't know but the fact that Mia Farrow alone shamed China into allowing UN troops in there was inspiring - what US congress person is standing up for Darfur. Obama? McCain?

I am going to write to Schiff..

Krystoff's description of the courage and self-sacrifice of a young woman to save her 12 year old sister from rape -- offering herself up to the Janjaweed made me sob.

I washed the dishes next.. and couldn't help but think of all the water flowing down the drain here -- as freely as blood probably flows in Sudan but certainly not water! How can we live with ourselves in peace? or sleep at night?

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