The Washington Post's Travis Fox does. His multimedia package is amazing.
The wise say pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional. I would agree this applies to most cases, but the situation in Darfur is an exception.
For those who don't know what's up, the conflict in Darfur began in 2003 when Arab tribes began to brutally attack African tribes in Darfur and Chad.
The wise say pain is inevitable, but suffering is optional. I would agree this applies to most cases, but the situation in Darfur is an exception.
For those who don't know what's up, the conflict in Darfur began in 2003 when Arab tribes began to brutally attack African tribes in Darfur and Chad.
It has been nearly four years and the killing hasn't stopped. I am astonished that this reality is not making headlines, as often as it should.
For some reason, this brought to mind my visit to Dachau, one of the first concentration camps in Nazi Germany minutes away from Munich.
I will never forget taking the picture of the door with a sign that said something about finding freedom in work. I will never forget walking through the museum, and learning that the neighbors of this concentration camp had no idea that there were hundreds dying only half a block away, or that there were a few of their Catholic priests being held at the camp. They had no idea that genocide was their next door neighbor.
I was so angry when I left that place, and will never forget the experience.
So today, it is just upsetting to hear a woman say:
"We couldn't recognize their bodies, because they threw the children in the burning houses," said Amina Abakr, a refugee from Sudan. She lost some of her children and her husband.
Another man, also a refugee, who survived miraculously, said he heard phrases I thought were part of our African Diaspora history books.
They said, "You blacks are slaves we will finish you off."
The fact that these words are being said in 2007 is just unbelievable to me.
I am always touched by the suffering of children. Please promise you will at least watch the video called: "Feeding Baby Izzedine."
Sadiya Ali Mahmoud, a girl also feautured in the video, touched my heart.
"They beat me and took off my clothes, and my watch. There were ten of them. They raped me. They raped me... one right after the other," she said, while covering her face. "It would have been better if they had killed me."
When is any one going to stop the Janjaweed? How many more Sadiyas have to be savagely raped? How many more Aminas have to see their towns destroyed and family killed? How long do little Izzedines have to continue to suffer?
There is hope: There are people, who are trying to make their voices heard, and are collecting aid to help the many refugees, who have survived and are now living in horrible conditions.
A few months ago, I wrote a story about kids from a private Jewish school in North Miami Beach raising funds for SavingDarfur.org
They were selling green bands, and organized a walkathon. Dude, those teens are pretty amazing. They organized a walkathon. About 100 white upper-class Jewish walkers showed. There was only one African-American man, who showed, and that is a shame.
There were no houses within half a block of the Dachau camp when it was in operation. The houses that you see there now were built after the war. The residents of the town, population 13,000, knew everything that was going on in the camp because some of the prisoners came to the town every day to work in a meat packing plant. The prisoners also worked in the town cemetery and in the homes of some of the residents. The local priest at Dachau was in charge of organizing the food packages that the residents sent to the camp. Every day, prisoners from the camp came to the town to pick up bread from the local bakery for the camp. The town dentist worked on the teeth of the prisoners and the local drug store sent medicine to the prisoners. The bodies of the prisoners who died in the typhus epidemic in the last six months that the camp was in operation were buried on a hill outside the camp and the residents saw the bodies being carried out. The whole town knew all about the genocide. After the war, some of the prisoners settled in the town permanently.
Posted by
Anonymous |
7:48 PM
They did not know! What are you talking about?
Did you walk through the museum. The bodies were burned to ashes, and the prisoners were not allowed out. Did you say bread? They were starved to their bones.
Posted by
Anonymous |
8:50 PM
Dude, read the links. History my friend cannot be changed. These people were tortured and not every one knew the extense of their suffering.
Posted by
Anonymous |
8:52 PM
That is completely out of the scope of what Andrea is trying to say. Holocaust denial is just wrong.
Posted by
Anonymous |
12:03 PM