Fact or Fiction? Friend or Foe?

In all our efforts to raise awarness and to help stop the conflicts in Darfur, the violence has seemed to find it’s way back! In Darfur, the violence has started back up and has gotten so bad that the U.N. feels that it is no longer safe for the peacekeeping troops to be there. I think it’s absurd that it has gotten bad enough to remove the peacekeepers, after all the things people around the world are trying to do to stop the genocide, it has found a way to increase it’s violence. This may be very discouraging but it also will make you realize that it’s going to be a tough “journey” to stop the genocide but in the end, it’s going to be way worth it. We cannot stop now after all of our attepmts at trying to end these conflicts! We will all have to work harder and faster to have a chance at ending this thing once and for all. This is URGENT! Darfur needs all the help they can get! 

Over March 6th and 7th of 2008 Mr. Mayo’s and Ms. Drexler’s blog to raise awareness about Darfur got six hundred and seventy-seven comments! I am really glad to see such a good turnout and also am really happy that I was a part of it. I was recently looking through the comments left and there was one posted by an 8th grader in Virginia named Macy. She used the same prompt I used about sitting down with a darfurian our age and I have to really agree with what she said. She talked about how she would basically congratulate them knowing that she could have never survived what this person went through.  One part of her comment that I thought was really moving was when she said “We are so privileged and ungrateful in this country compared to others that we don’t even see what is going on in the rest of the world. I bet that all of the teens in this country would be shocked to see how much we have and how little they do, and I think we need to begin to stop being so ungrateful and help the people in Darfur.” After reading this, it really did get me thinking and made me realize how much I take for granted. It’s funny how what started to be a small classroom project could get so many people talking.

I had never heard about the atrocities happening in
Darfur before learning about it in class. I hadn’t known that 15,000 innocent people die a month and that 2.6 billion people in
Darfur have been affected by this mayhem. If I had known any of this I would have gotten involved much sooner. Now that I do know, I have participated in call-ins, sent letters and attended a couple City Council meetings.  

        Learning about
Darfur has become an interest of mine and I have really gotten involved with some of my friends. We try to do everything in our power to raise awareness and help people who are right in the middle of all of it. Sometimes I imagine and place myself in a darfurian child’s shoes but honestly I could not bare what they go through everyday. It amazes me that more then 20% of children under five years old are suffering from severe malnutrition and many of them dying each day! 

        Everyday, I wake up in a warm bed, take a hot shower, and have a healthy breakfast but never stop to think about how lucky I am to be receiving all of these resources. If the majority of the world would take a second out of their full schedules to think about the people in
Darfur then I think we could get much more done to stop all of these conflicts. This blog is only the beginning of our collective effort and our global responsibility.

While looking at some of the resources on the wiki, I came across a game called Darfur is Dying. This game is a virtual simulation in which you can play from the perspective of a displaced Darfurian. You have to survive all of the hardships that the people in Darfur endure everyday. It really shows you how surreal things are over there and it really makes you think and makes you want to help even more. That’s where YOU come in. You can help! By participating in International Darfur Awareness Day on March 6th and 7th of 2008. You can post your comments at this site on that day. Every little thing can help!