Darfur (Continued)

In one of my previous entries I wrote about Darfur. The research I did then, promted me to do more. This weekend I found a website about the genocide there. It gives information about it, as well has pictures and statistics. It gives the full back round of the start and beginning of the genocide. In Darfur there is a political rebellion underway. The citizens of Darfur want more political power, as well as attenrtion to their social standards and economy. In reply to this movement the giovernment employed the janjaweed malitia. This is the force that kills the people in Darfur. In addition to speaking of Darfur, this site also has links to other sites, of the 20th century genocides. There are also many links to volunteer web sites and other sites with more information. Below is the ink to this website, it is not the best one I have found on this subject, but it did provide me with the basic information that I needed to get an understanding of this issue. The image to the upper left also comes from this site. It is a picture of citizens of Sudan, left to starve and die by the malitia that attack them. http://www.unitedhumanrights.org/sudan_genocide_genocide_in_sudan.php

"They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky"

Two years ago I went on the Darfur walk in Balboa Park. There i discovered the book They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky. Withing a few weeks of receiving this book, I was immersed in the history and conflicts it described. The book is about three boys, all related who go through the struggles of the war in Sudan. They lose their families and traverse over hundreds of miles. They brave many hardships, including starvation, thirst exhaustion, crocodiles and the ever present threat of armed militias. This is book is the memoir of the three boys. The adventures and hardships as real as anything we experience. The three boys became lost boys, a group of thousands of boys that crossed the country together to get to safety. This book helped me a lot when i was writing my memoir. Notonly did it give me insight into what a real one looked like, David, the man we were interviewing became a lost boy as well. Below is the citation for the book. I suggest that anyone that has not or is not reading it should.

Ajak, Benjamin, Benson Deng, Alephonsian Deng, and Judy Burnstein. They Poured Fire on Us From the SKy. United States: Public Affairs, 2005.

Darfur

For this weekends research i decided to look up more about Darfur. I wanted to have all the background information just in case I needed it in the future. I went to http://www.savedarfur.org/section/learn where I found a list of articles, books, videos and pictures all teaching about Darfur. Several were up to date on news and had day by day updates. While on this site I watched a video called "Darfur: The Quick and Terrible". It was about a woman who went to Darfur to learn about the situation there. She talked to natives and army men, gathering information about what started the genocide and why it is so hard to stop. This video is about 24 minutes long and holds some really good information about current issues in Darfur. I think it is a creditably site because of its many resources as well as the evidence they present to prove their information is real. I advise anyone who would like to learn about Darfur to explore this site. It proved very useful to me in my research. To my group mates, Darfur and the current situation there does not directly relate to my writing component but if we wanted to put information about it in our script our the research paper this is a great site.

SSCC article

This weekend I was searching for more information for my memoir, when i decide to check the Sudanese community centers website. The link on the bottom is to the article that i decided to read. It has two parts, one talking about the purifacation of water and how people go blind from it. The other talks about Dep Tuany, the guy who we met at the pre-interview. It gave me some more information on what he did after he got to the united states. To my group, Dep is a great resource for sudanese history, he also said we could email him with any other questions we have. The picture to the left is one i got off of the sscc (Southern Sudanese Community Center) website. Its a boy from Sudan who went blind from problems with the purification of the water he was drinking. http://www.ssccsd.org/sac.html

Interview Reflection

My groups interview was with David, a Sudanese officer who fought for his rights in the civil war. David, who was known as Dep in Sudan, was attacked in his village at the age of twelve and then became a lost boy. He had 7 siblings, but many died either shortly after they were attacked, or before he was born. He joined the army soon after leaving his village and fought for several years.
In addition to telling us his history, David also told us about Sudan. While listening to his countries history, I realized how little I really knew about Sudan. The situation there is awful, it's basically North against South. It's very like the civil war here except we don't have children fighting among the men.
During the Interview David said these words, "You learned not to cry after a while. After a while, you just became used to all the death and killing." His words struck me. I personally, can not comprehend what it would be like to see so much death that you wouldn't care any more. Especially if it was my family and friends dying. I think most Americans could not or would not either.
While we were at the Sudanese Community Center, we got a chance to meet some kids that were our age and younger. To tell the truth I was surprised at how alike they seemed to us. I was expecting more of a, foreign look or aura I guess. It was cool though, we talked for a little bit. They went to high school around town. They had homework they needed to do, just like us. All in all, I think the Interview was a success. I learned so much more than i counted on, and we have enough information to complete our writing components. We also are going to invite David and the man we met first, Dep (there are two), to the Pol night where we present our work.

Information from interview

This Tuesday, my group and I had an interview with David from the Sudanese community center. During this interview he told us about the history of Sudan as well as himself. I was amazed at how little I actually knew about the situation in Sudan. Hearing it talked about from a native was something I doubt I'll ever forget. Below is some of the information that we gathered from listening to him.

• people are in great need of medicine, water, and a school
  
• Arabs take oil to China; Sudan gets 2% and guns
  
• left from hometown to Ethiopia; became a lost boy
  
• born in southern Sudan, flee to Ethiopia then to Kenya, to the U.S.
  
• trained to go to war
  
• 1994: came to the U.S. and wasn't allowed to go to a refugee camp
  
• spoke Arabic all throughout his life
  
• rivers were the water source filled with crocodiles
  
• Sudan means two black men
  
• the water Sudanese people have now has been poisoned by oil being pumped for war
• effort: purification needed rather than distillation
  
• Father was shot-mother sold food; tradition for mothers
  
• Southern Sudan wants independence
  
• many are still in training because they say the war isn't over.
  
• left as a lost boy with many others. 2,000 boys died in the river alone
  
• carrying gallons of water on their head everyday, no good food, no medical
  
• his mother became a christian and was baptized in 1923. his other brother/leader.
  
• had 7 siblings, youngest out of all. older brother killed in war/sister died before he was born
  
• his father had three wives
  
• in 1979 (12 years old) got marks on his forehead to signify manhood
  
• lived a "kill or to be killed" society
  
• rulers of Sudan are Muslim instead of blacks who are christian or another traditional belief
  
• Nuer vs. Dinka tribal wars are still going on to prepare for actual war
  
• All over Sudan there are mangoes in the bushes; everywhere in southern Sudan
  
• northern Sudan is all desert
  
• Came to Minnesota in 1996 and from now he's still in school

Pre-Interview at the Sudanese Community Center

This Friday, my group mates and I went to the Sudanese Community center for a pre-interview. We ended up meeting a guy named Dep, who talked with us about setting up our official interview. After we talked he gave us a tour of the center. It wasn't very big but it was very pretty. There were painting on the walls of different animals as well as a depiction of a Sudanese sunset. It was all beautifully done. We learned while touring the building that there is a school there for Sudanese children. The school taught grades kindergarten through 12th. I was very interested in learning this. It gave me the idea that maybe after interviewing Dep or one of his co-workers, we could maybe interview one of the kids as well. I think it would be really great if we talked to a Sudanese refugee of our own age. That way, in my opinion, i think we could get the information we need for our project from two different view points. I also think it would be very interesting hearing about Sudan from someone our age. This weekend we sent Dep an email confirming our date for our interview and asking him if we could do this. I really hope we can, I would love to meet them.