Update on Darfur Statistics

Recently, I found out that the death toll in Darfur has grown dramatically. It has reached 400,000 as of April 20th . I was shocked to see this newly discovered information. Analysis of the combined CIJ and WHO surveys reveals that about 15,000 deaths are occurring per month, or about 500 deaths per day.

On Wednesday, I watched Charlie Rose, who had a French philosopher on who recently visited Darfur with a rebel group.He said that what he saw was so far beyond what he imagined, in that the destruction and terror brought on these people was terrifying. He visited destroyed villages where he saw homes destroyed, crops burned, and belongings of natives shattered and strewn along the ground. He said that he could only describe it as "terre rasée" or "terre brulée" which, in english, means scorched or burned earth. It changed his perpective on humankind, in that, he asked himself, "How could one human being do such destruction to another?"

How do you feel about what this philosopher has asked?

Art Piece

For my art piece of the course, I plan on raising awareness by making, selling and distributing, leather bracelets. The bracelets will have the phrase, "Save Two Million," which represents the current amount of surviving Darfurian people. Each bracelet will be sold for five U.S. Dollars. The money I raise by selling each bracelet will be given to a fund supporting the people of Darfur. I have yet to find an exact fund, so if anyone has any suggestions, it would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

Identity of a Darfurian

This is a nine-year-old boy, native to Darfur. He has bruises and cuts from a beating that he received while trying to escape the Janjaweed. His parents were murdered by the Janjaweed, leaving him and his three young sisters to care for themselves alone. He must watch over, feed, and care for his baby sister, whom he holds close to her. He is thrown into an insomniatic state, fueled by fear. And everynight he prays to God, that he and his sister will survive the night. Through the morning he forages for water, being forced to walk miles to provide his siblings with what he can find. He must give his sisters all the food that he scavenged from an abandoned refugee camp, leaving him starving. His cuts become infected and he is in an immense amount of pain, as he slowly dies. He must live in fear, that the Janjaweed will find him and kill him.

Identity of the People of Darfur

The people of Darfur may view themselves as innocent, helpless, defeated, and victimized. Whereas, the Janjaweed people and the government of Sudan, may view them as inferior, subhuman, guilty, and going against God. These two perspectives show that two different groups' perspectives can vary, from being similar to be completely opposite.

How do you view these two groups?

An Outside View

The Government of Sudan had closed Darfur to investigators and aid workers at the beginning of 2003. But at the beginning of 2004 London-based filmaker Philip Cox entered the violence-torn region by crossing the Chad border. The UN estimates the amount of conflict-affected persons in Darfur and eastern Chad now approach 4 million (3.6 million in Darfur; over 350,000 in eastern Chad). This documentary expresses what is happening to the people of Darfur.

Denial of Genocide

Sudan and its allies -- Syria, Saudi Arabia, China -- deny the atrocities in Darfur, and attack the members of the mission on Darfur as headed by Jody Williams. UN Watch confronts Sudan and its allies.