A poem from a boy who lived in the Sudan

[blueyedpoet]

Please visit www.darfurgenocide.org and www.savedarfur.org

Rivers are Full

Rivers are full
with our bodies.
Yet the World has not discovered it.
Why?

The land is white,
covered
with our bones.
Yet the World has not seen it.
Why?

Our flesh is the food
of the birds
of prey, and wild animals.
Yet the World doesn’t know it.
Why?

Our blood forms streams
that flow like streams
of water.
Yet the World keeps her eyes away from it.
Why?

We cry.
We scream.
Yet the World has not heard our Voices.
Why?

Our Mothers are Fourth Citizens
in the Country
that they have created.
Yet there are no Women’s Rights.
Why?

The Children of Sudan
abducted,
beaten, and worse.
There are no protections for them.
Why?

The price of a human being that God created
not to be sold
brings three times the price of a goat.
Yet slavery has been abolished.
Why?

The oil that God has blessed us to have
turns as a great Enemy
toward our lives.
Even our Government turns out the villagers.
Why?

Westerners brought our grandparents
Christian beliefs. Now our beliefs are attacked
with guns.
Yet the West does not defend us.
Why?

Curable diseases
claim 100,000 lives.
Yet our Country could buy medicine.
Why?

Hunger starves big numbers
of young and old
every year.
Yet our Country has fertile land
and water to grow enough food for all.
Why?

The Freedom
that God has given
to all living creatures
is denied to us.
Why?

One thing I know:
the World has forgotten us
but God has not, has not forgotten
has not abandoned us.

We need
to be free
like the rest of the World.
We need
the Rights of our Mothers to appear
like the morning star.
We need
the streams of blood
to stop, to dry up.
We need
the long, long tears
to be wiped from our eyes.
We need
to worship
what we believe
as we want.

Agany Kur, Lost Boy Dallas, TX © 2003

 

[Mullen4Prez]

 

[dandy]

why the international community is still sitting on its laurels on this tragedy infuriates me.

would you deny for others what you demand for yourself, indeed.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

 

[verte76]

 

[Scarletwine]

Very powerful. I feel so helpless about the situation there.
I wish the gov't would do more.

 

[blueyedpoet]

write letters to your senators and reps demanding action

 

[Pearl]

The lines where he mentions how the world hasn't noticed anything grips you

 

[blueyedpoet]

what's sad is we have noticed and we don't care

 

[wizard2c]

Reply

Hi!

There is no reason "Why".........the World is too complex......too many problems.....too few answers........there is no reason "Why".

carol
wizard2c

 

[Jamila]

Thank you, blueyedpoet, for posting this VERY disturbing yet very true poem by this young boy.

While the current situation in Darfur is beyond tragic and borders on genocide, we MUST NOT GIVE UP and there are things that we can do to try to help the People of Darfur.

Here is an email I got about two weeks ago regarding some very good actions that we all can take to help the situation in Darfur:




Darfur: Not Another Hotel Rwanda!


Dear Friends,


Despite the attention that the crisis in Darfur has been attracting recently, little to nothing has been done to stop the ongoing genocide that has claimed over 400,000 lives and displaced 2 million people in Sudan.



Despite a statement issued five months ago (September 2004) by the US State Department and the White House that the crimes against humanity being committed in Darfur constituted genocide, the Bush Administration and the US government have failed to live up to the obligation that such a statement carries.



Despite the recommendations of a the recent United Nations report urging immediate action to halt the violence in Darfur, the UN and international community have again failed to act. This is not the first time that the victims of genocide in Africa have been neglected.



While the international community has been largely silent about the genocide in Sudan, Africa Action invites you to speak out on this issue. Join us as we call for a United Nations Chapter 7 mandate for a multinational intervention to stop the genocide in Darfur and protect its innocent civilians.



2 Things You Can Do To Help End The Genocide In Darfur:



1. Send a Letter to President Bush demanding he seek a UN Security Council resolution authorizing a multinational force to intervene in Darfur, with a mandate to protect civilians! Please remind our president that while he sits silent in the face of genocide, you will not! Please write directly to the President with the sample letter we have provided at our Action Center.



2. Go See Hotel Rwanda: Hotel Rwanda, the Oscar nominated film about one man’s heroism in the shadow of the Rwanda genocide that killed 800,000 people vividly highlights the tragedy of the world’s failure to protect Rwandans in their hour of need. This film is especially relevant today, as it seems history is repeating itself in Darfur. Please take 10 friends to see the movie, and have a discussion forum after. Check out our Movie Discussion Questions and Comparisons between the events in Hotel Rwanda and the current crisis in Darfur. At the end of your discussion, please urge your friends to write a letter to President Bush urging him to take action. A sample of the letter is available at our website.



Please let us know if you hold a discussion, and what actions come out of your initiative by writing to africaaction@igc.org. Thank you, for your compassion and your action. Together, we will make a difference.


The Staff @ Africa Action



I encourage everyone to do SOMETHING to help the People of Darfur before it is too late.

http://www.africaaction.org

 

[blueyedpoet]

on one of the websites mentioned a senator states that rwanda would not have happened if congressmen received about 500 letters from their constituents expressing outrage. Please, everyone who reads this forum, write your senators and reps. This is not a red or blue issue - this is a human issue.

 

[blueyedpoet]

thanks jamila, and everyone else for that matter, for your thoughts and care. U2 fans truly are the best.

 

[dandy]

thanks for the informative post, jamila--just the information i was looking for.

 

[A_Wanderer]

HRW has some good advice about who to contact ~ focus should also be on UN Security Council member nations that have vested interests in Sudanese energy supplies.

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/06/24/darfur8954.htm

http://www.usaid.gov/locations/sub-saharan_africa/sudan/map_oil_text.html

The US seems to have no business taking action when it is plain to see that some UN members are preventing it from being done through the UN. Just look at the last US sponsered resolution ~ it was watered down, removing references to genocide and the threat of action all but a distant possibility. What is really tragic about this is that it wouldn't take a huge ammount of force to protect the refugees and eliminate the janjaweed miliitiamen.

 

[dandy]

thanks, A_Wanderer

 

[angel_of_L.A.]

 

[Jamila]

you're very welcome, my friends.