Saturday, March 10, 2007

Darfur's demize

It's now almost five in the morning and I'm all awake sitting here on my computer, drinking ice water, while in another time zone, a young girl of boy are either running away from the Jangaweed or starving at a refugee camp. I often find myself wondering two things: what would it be like to suffer what they are going through? And if I was given the chance to go to Darfur, would I go at the risk of me being hurt or killed? No matter how hard I try to make believe, I can never know how much the Darfurians are suffering and although I would jump at the opportunity at going to Darfur, it's easier said than done, I guess. While I'm on the subject, here's an update on Darfur:

*The Intenational Criminal Court has already said it's first war crimes suspects on charges of genocide. This is music to my ears, since this is a very important milestone towards bring those responcible to justice. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=21692&Cr=darfur&Cr1=

*Actress and UN High Commissioner for Refugees Angelina Jolie recently went to Chad's border to visit refugees from Darfur. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=21707&Cr=Sudan&Cr1=

*The U.S. State Department reported on human rights abuses happening worldwide, which they mention Darfur being the worst human rights abuse in the world. As for the U.S. own assement on the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuses and Gitmo? Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice notes that the U.S. doesn't "think ourselves perfect.'' http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/16874451.htm

As for me? All this week, I've been posting flyer's all around my school and telling my teachers about what's happening. My Algebra teacher told me about how whenever she see's on of the flyer's, she thinks of me and now knows about Darfur. I remember early on last year, before undertaking the intiative that if I can get at least one person to know about Darfur, then I'd have done my job. I know I still have a long way to go, but at least in my heart, I'm doing my part in helping Darfur. I'm just a person among the hundreds of thousands of dedicated activists worldwide who aren't backing down and won't stop anytime soon. If all of us want to honer the memory of victims of genocide in place like Rwanda, Bosnia, and the Holocaust, then instead of feeling sad, we should take action. It the least we can do.