The Faces of Chad

This is a picture of man who was shot in the stomach. Usually, injured men and woman are unable to find medical help within their villages. But, thankfully, this man evacuated and was aided by Italian doctors.

Here, villagers arrive at a Sudanese refugee camp. Janjaweed as made it unsafe for these people to stay at their homes and travel on donkeys to get away from the violence.

The Janjaweed started out in Darfur. Many people know about the genocide taking place. For refuge, villagers traveled across the border to Chad. But, the violence has unfortunately followed them from Sudan. With 18,000 people staying in one camp alone, only 18 gaurds are there to protect them; one refugee by the name of Abdelhalik Youssouf Adam had explained. The refugees are afraid that even the camp will be attacked.







"I don’t know if they are Sudanese or Chadian, but they use Sudanese arms and wear Sudanese military fatigues, with red berets."



A Man comments on the fact that rebels are working alongside the Janjaweed militia.




























Kaltouma Adam Ali is 24, and fled her village with her four young children.
She explains that women and children were also exposed to the Janjaweed violence.

"When the shooting started we all ran," she says.
"They started shooting the men first, then killing women and children, and taking cattle and food. I saw a woman and her two children killed with my own eyes. They even tried to shoot my baby – they fired three bullets, three bullets! - but luckily they all missed."

HIS Story

For some time now I have been trying to find someone’s story. I was tired of reading watered down reports about what’s happening in Africa. I wanted to hear someone, not read about them. I wanted to read a first person ordeal of what really goes on in the conflicts in Africa. After researching on the BBC News website, I found a story about a man who became abductees in Uganda. His story wasn’t sad and it didn’t make me cry. His story was unbelievable and if anything, made me angry. It was unbelievable because it reminded me of things that you only see in movies, and it bothered me that there were thousands of stories just like his. I felt angry because I couldn’t understand why anyone would want to, or had the courage to do this to another human being. On some conscience level, it frightened me to know that these type of people even existed. I then became curious as to what happened to these human beings to make them so cold.

I rather readers go and read the story for themselves. The young man by the name of Ochola John, not only had his ears, and his lips cut off, but his nose and hands as well. Denied of food and water, he was forced to watch women get raped and other men killed. He even describes how one woman was killed and another had her breasts cut off. Surprisingly, after being abducted for more than a week, he did survive. Unfortunately, he lives with the memories that haunt him. If you could only imagine what he dreams about. His wife stayed by his side and nursed him back to health, and had a little boy who he named Anyway which means insult or abuse. He did this due to his ordeal caused by the Lord's Resistance Army.
His last words in this article were "I cannot forgive and I cannot forget".

Those words spoke to me because so many people in America hold grudges and stay angry over things that after reading this young man's story would seem so trivial. Yes we live in a different society, but we are apart of the same world. Our cultures may be different but had we gone through the same atrocities, I think we'd be saying the same things. We'd feel the same feelings, and we would have the same thoughts. We're all human, and I think its time that we start recognizing that.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/5129350.stm

LRA Peace Talks

This simple article talks about ending a very complicated situation. A rebel army named Lord's Resistance Army is in talks with the Uganda government to cease fire. Though nothing is guaranteed, it is hoped the these secretive talks will end a 20 year fight. The LRA is responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of people, and the displacement of 1.5 million people from their homes. This is one conflict, in one country that is hopefully coming to an end. After reading the story of man who was abductees of the LRA, a sense of hope came over me after reading this particular article. So many conflicts have been going on for years in Africa, and it’s like a light at the end of tunnel if one can end. Too much suffering and too many lives have been lost and over what? I wonder if the soldiers of these armies even know what they are killing for. I wonder if they even know the history of the war they are fighting.

The leader of this group is a man by the name of Joseph Kony. He has been meeting with Joachim Chissano, a UN special envoy for the past few months. A peace agreement was suppose to be made before at the beginning of this year, but apparently, those negotiations "broke down". Hopefully they will find a way to come through on these negotiations, and save more lives.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/6556625.stm

The Curse- Oil

Oil.

One of the most controversial natural resources.

America runs on it.

In order for America to continue to strive, they must find oil resources or find a new and more productive way to run sufficiently. With the continuous war in Iraq, apparently, we're going with the 'find oil resources' option. Just about everyone in the world knows how important oil is. It’s a money making business. Africa, one of the most oil rich continents in the world, is also one of the most violence inflicted continents in the world because of this natural resource. Chad has just recently tapped into its oil resource and because of that, its political world has been turned up side down.
Chad is one of the poorest countries according to this article. The UN reported that that it ranked in the bottom five out of 180 countries. But, with this new found wealth, could this be turned around?
Problem is, is that the only way to get the oil is to create a pipeline from Chad to the coast. World Bank was funding this project until Chad changed a law that said that the money made from the oil would go to alleviating poverty. Now, the law says that the government will use the money as they see fit. Funny isn't it?

(Displaced villagers due to militia in Chad http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/06/africa_janjaweed_in_chad/html/1.stm)

So here we have a way to get rid of poverty in Chad, and for a while it seemed that it would work. Laws were made to make sure money would go to the people, and here we had a bank funding the project to tap into the oil reserves. The minute that elections come around, the law changes. Obviously, someone was planning on being corrupt once they got into office. But, in this world, where money is everything and many grow up without it, can you blame anyone for wanting to be president just for the wealth? It seems that if it’s not one corrupt leader it’s another. Once their eyes see gold, all else fades. Instead of oil bringing wealth to the country where it’s found, it only creates wars, corruption and ultimately leads to deaths. Its killing people rather than helping. I think people panic when they see that little three letter word. Bush panicked, and all the nations in Africa are panicking. NO one trusts any candidate, and the ones that are being pushed into office, often have to worry about the threats from their opponents. Sounds more like greed has taken over and settled over the world. Even if the people of Chad put a true, honest candidate in office, how long would it take before that candidate is over thrown, killed, or becomes corrupt himself?

(article found at http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/business/4906930.stm)

Election Time: Nigeria

I wonder how many people were angry enough to kill when Bush was elected.


Probably none, because in America, no matter who becomes president, we have some type of security knowing that who ever becomes president will only do but so much damage to the government. With our system of checks and balances, the president can only have but so much power; theortically speaking of course.


In Nigeria however, about 90 people have died in pre-election/election related incidents, and even that number could be larger.

Nigeria is having the same issues that we've had here in America. People are stealing votes, and intimidation keeps some people from voting. At one time in America, people did die for their vote. When black people under law were not allowed to vote, and then finaly did get the oppurtinity, whites threatned their lives if they showed up with thier ballots. They even made blacks take tests before they could vote, well aware that many never had the chance to get a decent education. In Nigeria, young people blocked roads and burned down houses to express their disapointment.

Ironically, the election for president hasnt even taken place. Only govenor and assemblies where to be declared so far, but like in America, the president is not the only one in the government who has power. These people can be in control of budgets dealing with billions of dollars.
Its only understandble that the people of Africa, and specifically in this case Nigeria, that they would be upset. In the past, many governments have been taken over by corrupt rulers. Some of the rulers pocketed money that could have went to building hospitals for HIV patients, or funding an army to protect civilians from rebels and militia. These elections are important to these poeple because their lives depend heavily on who they put in power. One man didnt even want to vote because he felt that he didnt want to vote for someone who would forget about him once he came into power. Only making 4 dollars a day, he needed at least 12 to successfully take care of his family. His governement needs to change that.

Stronger Than War

What has the power to destroy a people more effectively than a gun?
Disease.
Among Africa’s people is one of the most deadly of diseases
The HIV/AIDS virus.

Between 1999 and 2000, more people have died from AIDS than the wars occurring on the continent. At the beginning of 2000, 24 million were infected with the virus, and nearly all who were infected will die before the year 2010. Everyday, 6,000 people will die, and 11,000 will be infected. 2/3 of HIV cases and 80% of HIV related deaths are in Sub Saharan Africa. In addition to the devastation of the HIV virus, Tuberculosis is another rising epidemic. TB is a bacterium that becomes active when a person has a weak immune system due to advancing age or medical conditions like HIV.
If a person is infected with HIV, they are more vulnerable to the TB virus which can be deadly for them.

TB is airborne and spreads like a common cold. 1 in 3 people are infected worldwide with the dormant Mycobacterium TB which is the Tuberculosis bacterium.
Patients have a type of TB that is either resistant to drugs or not resistant. “First line’ drugs isoniazid and rifampin are most effective to non resistant cases of TB, curing more than 95% of all patients.
Treatment for multidrug resistant TB(MDRTB) requires not only a longer period of doses, but is less effective. It is not easily tolerated by patients and unfortunately costs more.
Countries with a high concentration of TB cases find it hard to treat MDRTB patients due to lack of money to buy the drugs and the extensive laboratory services.

Places like Africa are suffering from diseases that are wiping out millions of people a year. With corrupt governments who extort money into their own pockets, it’s as if the people of Africa will never have a chance for legitimate help. President Thobo Mbeki of South Africa actually denied that AIDS came from the HIV virus, totally neglecting the epidemic. Add the debts of previous dictators, to the denial that there is a problem, how could Africa ever find the money to treat its people?

A Poem-Pick A Number

I cant hear the tears of Katrina.
Nor do I see the fire of the burned buildings of 9/11
Theres a long line of victims that need me,
Im sorry if these tragedies don’t speak to me.

I don’t see the bodies on top of bodies gassed from the Holocaust.
Nor do I feel the pain of the families that have been lost.
You may never forget, but I will never remember you.
In this world, I wouldn’t blame you if you never remembered me too.

Numb to any kind of pain
Tears don’t come out to play.
I come from a long line of survivors and wall makers.
My mother always told me to let no one in,
Especially not them law makers.

In this world no one hears your pain,
You may cry and scream, but its muffled
By what they can gain.
Will saving you, make their money flow change?
Or will making your soul whole again make their financials stay the same?
See, its all a game.

I cant sympthaize with what you want me to pity you for.
My life line has more pain then you can endure.
When I sigh, its not cause of what hurts me presently.
Its my ancestors crying tears through me spiritually.
They don’t cry cause of what’s happen to them,
Not cause they were hung, shot, burned due to the shade of their skin.
They cry cause their death was in vain,
So much struggle, and look how far we’ve came.

Still dancing still singing,
Making them money.
We’re not beautiful,
Unless we have straight hair and a whole lot of money.
We rather fight each other
Rather for each other.
We’ll kill someone
Who looks like our brother.
For ideas that more than likely were planted in our minds
By a white mother lover
Whose only intention is
To kill us
And gets away with it cause
He’s a cop -undercover.

Slavery isn’t over,
Racism still breathes.
The same land our forefathers found,
Is the same land my people bleed.
Even at home, they’ve turned us against each other.

Fighting over borders that only a map they don’t see can determine,
No longer a home, but a battle ground for
What was, could have been but never will be.
My ancestors sigh because this is what THEY see.
Fought for freedom only for the mental enslavement of their offspring.
Would you die for the future, if you knew it wouldn’t mean a thing?

How free are we if we don’t even live in reality?
How real is this world,
When everything is a game of terminology.
Its not genocide by your definition,
Yet my people die, every time you don’t listen.
Every time you close your eyes, thousands close theirs too.
Only you wake up to a new day,
They don’t wake up to a new sky so blue.
A mother wakes up to a child that’s died in her arms
A child wakes up an orphan,
And still finds the peace within to go to school and live on.
Yet Britney Spears seems like in her mind, the lights don’t come on.
Sean Puffy Combs only votes for a year.
I guess he voted and didn’t die and that was the
End of his political career.

Yet, We’re still here.
We’re still shedding tears.
Hears are broken,
Lives are not living.
American dreams are no longer pretty.
White picket fences seem a lot more dirty.
Whats the point in getting up early tomorrow morning?
We’re still in mourning.

I cant cry for you cause my tears are soaking up the pain that’s already been felt.
I cant fix you, cause there’s a long line of people who really need my help.

All I can say is,
pick a number.

Recent News in Darfur Conflict

Reported at 12:38 am on March 9, 2007

"THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Women in Darfur continue to be subjected to rape by all sides in the brutal conflict in western Sudanese region, the U.N. human rights chief said Thursday — International Women's Day. "

The minute a woman in Darfur steps outside of a refugee camp, she is subjected to one of the most demeaning, horrible, and life shattering acts another person could inflict upon her.

Rape–noun

1.the unlawful compelling of a woman through physical force or duress to have sexual intercourse.

2. Any act of sexual intercourse that is forced upon a person.

If you’re a female, imagine being forced from your home. Your house was burned down, you witnessed the gruesome murder of some of your neighbors, young children that you use to see walk to school everyday, abducted and forced to go with strange men; probably will become part of a child army. Now you live in a refugee camp. Displaced with no where to go, you now live in a camp with your family. Still, you must carry out essential chores to survive, such as fetching fire wood. Your father or brother would go get it, but your mother fears that they will be murdered if they leave the camp. So instead, you go, at least you have a better chance of coming back alive.

If your a male, imagine being in a similar situation. You’re in a camp. Your ego may even be bruised do to the fact that you couldn’t protect your family from this unfortunate event from happening. To add insult to extreme injury, you must watch your mother or sister leave your side. As she walks out of your protection, away from your watchful eye, you think of all the horrible things that could happen to her on her journey. She's only going because its better that you stay alive, despite the fact that a rebel may take full advantage of her vulnerability.

It seems as if that could never happen, especially when you live in America. However, human beings in this world, in this life, living at this moment, go through this everyday. We take advantage of the fact that we live freely. Our everyday concerns are how we are going to get through school without fighting someone, or how I can get those sneakers with this paycheck. No one can just come and burn down our home. When we go to the store, in the middle of the day, do we really fear being raped by some guy backed by government power? It may cross our mind when we see someone strange, but is it a priority concern? Do you fear your father or brother being murdered just for being a civilian every time they walk out the door to your home?

In addition, some of these women in Darfur are having babies because of these rapes.

""These women have children from these rapes — children to whom they cannot give a name because they're the children of janjaweed," as the government-backed rebels are known, Arbour said. The janjaweed are blamed for some of the worst atrocities in the Darfur conflict."

How would it feel to raise a child without a name? How would it feel to raise a child whose father you barely know, but hate? What do you do in these situations?

After reading this article, my daily concerns and conflicts seem ignorant and childish, almost irrelevant. I almost feel ashamed for living the life I do, knowing that there are probably young women my age living in fear and desperation. It makes you wonder, how do they live? How do they find the strength to go on? The murder rate in Africa is probably higher than it is in America, but I wonder if America's suicide rate is higher than it is in Africa. If it is, why? Compared to the things that Africans go through, Americans have it a lot easier.

When a woman gets raped in America, and God forbids gets pregnant because of it, it becomes a media issue. Even now, that issue is being discussed in Congress. However, these are hypothetical theories being tested- in Africa, its happening. Who’s coming up with laws to help them? Women in America take the morning after pill because of a one night stand. African women in Darfur need the morning after pill after being raped by janjaweed man. I wonder if Bush would still be pro-life, if the same atrocities going on in Africa, were happening here in America...

http://www.unobserver.com/articleimages/Mercy%20Corps%20Darfur%20Lg.jpg

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070309/ap_on_re_af/war_crimes_darfur_1;_ylt=Al9ZwUAZDyyZgadvZNA0nSYShIMA

Dear Mr Bush, Save Darfur

When people want to make a point about an issue they have, they usually do one of two things.
1) Write a bunch of letters to their government.
2) Blow up buildings

But, the humnaitarians who want to stop the genocide in Darfur have done something a little different. With over 170 faith-based humanitarian organizations in alliance with one another working to raise awareness about the genocide taking place in Darfur, this coalition represents 130 million people. Dedicated to the security of the people of Darfur, every member signs a unity statement that describes the conditions and urgencies concerning this issue.

According to Savedarfur.com, Darfur has become one of the biggest genocide chalenges since the Rwanda genocide that took place in 1994. Militia supported by the governemnt have taken over and destroyed villages, raped women and girls, killed men and boys, and have purposely detroyed essential life utilities such as food and water. Over a million people have moved away from their homes, and thousands have died due to the 'Janjaweed' militia's violence.

An estimated 350,000 people are expected to die within the next months, and according to organizations such ass Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders), this number may be 'conservative'. Doctors Without Borders suggest that the figure presented by USAID,The United States Agency for International Development , may need to rise at as many as a million people if something is not done to help the situation.

The SaveDarfur organization tries to raise awareness through advertisements, their website, and project plans. Apparently Plan A has not worked, so now, they are asking their members to start calling Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates and demand that they launch “Plan B”.

The Kimberley Process

The fight to keep diamonds conflict free has apparently been effective. Due to the Kimberley Process, the once 4% of diamonds being used to fund conflicts is now down to less than 1%, and this was reported in 2004. Now, 99% of internationally traded diamonds are conflict free. The Kimberley Process was established in 2003, with the goal of preventing rebels from using diamond revenue to fund their wars. Adopting its name from the African state in South Africa in which the original meeting was held to begin this scheme, the Kimberley Process is designed to certify the origin of diamonds of conflict free sources. They do this by “…rough diamonds are sealed in tamper-resistant containers and accompanied by forgery resistant, conflict free certificates with unique serial numbers each time they cross an international border. This was enshrined into national law in the participants”. Countries become apart of this process under 3 conditions:

1. That any diamond originating from the country does not finance a rebel group or other entity seeking to overthrow a UN-recognized government.
2. That every diamond export be accompanied by a Kimberley Process certificate proving
3. That no diamond is imported from, or exported to, a non-member of the scheme.

I wanted to see what the Hip Hop world had done in response to what was going on with the Kimberley Process. So I went to prohiphop.com and found that Hip Hop trendsetter Russell Simmons had his hand in the pot as well. I found that there was a lot Russell Simmons was doing, and there was a lot of information to be sorted out. Simmons had a press conference on December 6, 2006 to “reveal the results of his fact- finding Africa mission”, however I found that others disagreed with his efforts.

http://annansi.com/blog/2006/12/african-diamond-facts-according-to-russell-simmons/

http://www.diamondfacts.org/facts/fact_02.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimberley_Process

Bling'd: Blood, Diamonds and Hip Hop- Raising Awareness among Hip Hop Artists

On Thursday, February 22, 2007 Vh1 aired an interesting documentary on the crisis going on in Africa. Vh1 sent 3 well known artists in the Hip Hop world on a trip to Africa to witness first hand the struggle Africans. The significance of this trip was in the irony that the diamonds that Hip Hop artists flaunt and make their hit songs about, are the same diamonds that are dug up by the working hands of struggling Africans. The diamond industry apparently was funding the bloody war that involved rebels. Rebels did things such as invade villages and cut off the hands of anyone who lived there. One man who lost both his hands, told this story, and mentioned that they carried around a bag of hands.
After watching this documentary, and witnessing grown men who claim to have ‘seen it all’ in their struggle here in America, it was evident that this documentary would leave footprints on American hearts and minds. It made me make this blog, in hopes of raising awareness among my own peers.

At one point in the documentary, the rappers sat down with young African men, and tried to explained why diamonds were so important. The reason was apparently, was that since they grew up poor and without anything, they looked up to the men in their community who had

I think on of the most defining points in this documentary was when one of the rappers felt the need to stay in the car, because he couldn’t bare to see the suffering. That same rapper challenged a white man who facilitated some of the diamond mining going on.
I think this documentary is important, as any documentary is important because it has the responsibility of raising the public’s awareness of issues going on around the world. This document fulfilled that responsibility.

http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/vh1_rock_docs/115835/episode.jhtml