Friday's Smile

Something to smile about on a Friday.
Photo by Susanne Behnke, Uganda 2003

Something really important happened to me this week in regards to this blog, some really good news Out of Africa. I've been thinking about it and thinking about for the past few days, and I am gonna think about it some more this weekend. And then I am going to get busy with this new opportunity and together with the bearer of this gift from Africa share it with you, my readers, ASAP.

In the meantime, please check out the other great blogs and sites listed in my blogroll "Hot Blogs & Sites To Go" because there are some excellent blog authors there. Follow Yvette at Inside Somaliland and Ethan Zuckerman at Harvard and the new addition Timbuktu Chronicles and oh yeah, don't forget the folks at University of Southern California's Online Journalism Review. Here is a link to a great article from USC's OJR on Internet Access and Use in Africa.

Good, see you again next week. Have a nice weekend :-) Jeez, how American can this guy get?!

P.S. Hey, you like politics and world affairs? Are you one of those people who go around thinking "If I had a chance to meet President So-and-So I would give him a ...", one of those international affairs pundits? Have you seen this story on Kerry and Bush from the Washington Post, "Kerry is Widely Favored Abroad"? Then you need to visit Priorities & Frivolities over at my blogroll, that's why I put it in there. Got an opinion, tell Robert Garcia Tagorda, not me. I'm not into politics myself (ha-ha-ha-ha- ha-ha-ha-ha). ha.

Iranian Bloggers Protest Government Crackdown

Iranian Bloggers Protest Government Crackdown on Reformist News Sites

"Uhh-Ohh! I think they are on to us (bloggers)?! Oh Schei--- !"
... and you thought that I was only going to write and post about Africa. Hah, fooled you didn't I?

Look, bloggers are fast becoming a force to be reckoned with, online and offline (like in the streets). All kinds of people are trying to follow and understand this fast-developing phenomenon of free speech from the people available for free___ or at least at low cost, requires lot's of sweat-equity from the author(s) & publisher(s) though.

So if you are blogging from behind enemy lines or from within countries where free speech makes the folks-in-charge kinda nervous, watch your step and cover your behind. Pay attention to articles like this one from the Online Journalism Review, an excellent website of the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Journalism.

"You could be next, Buster, so watch what you say in our country!"

Millennium Development Goals 101 - Lesson 1

Social and sustainable economic development for the world, now there is a subject you can sink your teeth into. Thanks to a reader comment on my last posting "U.N. Delegation from Uganda" I have been "yanked-away" from breathing fire at Khartoum and made to focus on a topic which is one of the basis points for starting this blog in the first place. Thanks Mshairi.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDG's) is probably one of the most comprehensive initiatives to come out of the U.N. and its member nations for decades. As Mshairi has so eloquently pointed out in her comment, it is extremely important that we (we = the Whole World) successfully fulfill our promises and responsibilities as set forth in the MDG's for 2015___ and beyond.

I became interested in some MDG progress reports myself after Mshairi brought it up in her comment, so I did a little search (using Google of course, since they support us Blogger bloggers big time). Here is what I was able to find on Google in like 0-comma-zip seconds:

The UNDP (U.N. Development Programme) has all kinds of very good websites, and one of them is focused on Human Development Reports (HDR's). The Human Development Report 2003 has a lot of detailed information on where we (we = the Whole World) are at the moment on the MDG 2015 performance scale and timeline. The complete HDR 2003 is massive folks (6.5+MB pdf-file download) so watchout if you only have a dial-up internet connection, you'll be downloading all day. The report is also broken-down into smaller parts for easier digestion and downloading, fortunately. Smart and very considerate of the web design team at UNDP.

Note also that this UNDP site has some very interesting facts listed on their Do you know webpage. Here is one little factoid from this cool mini-site for your reflection:

Did you know that...
A baby born in Zambia today can have a life expectancy of just 32 years. A baby born in Japan can expect to live until the age of 82. (Ref. HDR 2004)

So, have fun on these excellent UNDP sites, although there is nothing funny about the subject matter. Don't miss the HDR Statistics site and the National HDR sites. Maybe we need to work on making careers in this field not only fulfilling, but also a lot of fun, and economically rewarding.

Hey, I see the UNDP design team is using Macromedia Cold-Fusion for their web development. I wonder what kinda database their running? Ummm, what is this HDR toolkit button... ___ ooh! Online learning courses too, cool.......... .

The U.N. Delegation from Uganda

The U.N. Delegation of the Future from Uganda
Photo by Susanne Behnke, Uganda 2003

Just doing a bit of dreaming about what the future could hold for the kids in the photos I'm posting today. What the future could hold for them in this century if we get behind 'em and get serious about all that talk at the U.N. this week. I wonder what these children dream about in regards to their future? Simple needs or really big dreams?

I wonder how many of my readers have ever heard about the Millinneum Development Goals or the Millinneum Challenge Account? I bet my two new blogger friends from Kenya, Mshairi and Kui, know what these programs are all about. Now the challenge is, how do we make it work for these kids?

The Concierge at the Waldorf

The Concierge at the Waldorf
Photo by Susanne Behnke, Uganda 2003

O.K. for this kid that might be quite a stretch. However, where I come from there are plenty of Rags-to-Riches real life stories, so why not for this little guy? He already has the "warm greetings" part of the job down pat.

The Dance Teacher

The Dance Teacher
Photo by Susanne Behnke, Uganda 2003

Respect for the Rule of Law

Addressing UN Assembly, Annan urges nations to restore respect for rule of law

Are you following the events in New York at the opening session of the 59th U.N. General Assembly? If not, you should be, because your very life may depend on what happens there, and what does or does not happen afterward.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan was in top form while delivering the opening address. You have to respect and admire this man who sincerely cares so much for all people around the world. Annan's speech was very moving and should make everyone do some deep, serious thinking about our responsibilities and actions. Annan is a valuable gift for an undeserving world.

I would suggest that we all not let him down, again. That goes for you too, Omar. We saw your U.N. delegation taking a serious toungue-lashing while they were looking for a hole to crawl into under their seats. 'Aint no hiding places on the floor of the General Assembly when the eyes of the world are upon you. Eyes fed by TV news cameras running live feeds and connected to satellite uplinks and downlinks around the globe.

Now I saw Dr. Condelezza Rice sitting in the General Assembly surrounded by representatives from just about every country in the world, and neither she nor Colin Powell looked none too happy when the subject of Darfur came up. President Bush of the U.S.A. is the only head of state to my knowledge who has had the "canollis" to call the situation in Sudan genocide, and he has done it before the whole world at this U.N. General Assembly. Correct me if I am wrong now. What you whispering about there in the back? Yeah, you!

Dr. Susan Rice from the Brookings Institute (now this Dr. Rice has a real mean streak in her, Omar, she is not so soft-spoken like Condelezza) has called the latest U.N. resolution on Darfur "toothless" on live T.V. yesterday, and she is working for the U.S. Democratic Party presidential candidate John Kerry! Things just aren't looking too rosey for your government over there in Khartoum, so oder so. Better straighten' up over there, quick.

Plenty of good reading at the U.N. News Centre website. Click on their Homepage link to get a rundown on who said what at the 59th General Assembly this week. Oh yeah, here is the latest news on activities of the U.N. special envoys and investigators and what have you on the ground in Sudan today. Ummph, umm, ummm.

Let's see which leaders and nations are going to back up their words with real action; otherwise, there might be some more "serious consequences" coming down the Pike real soon.

Big Vote is In on Darfur

Of course I followed the events at the U.N. Security Council Saturday re: the vote on the new resolution for Darfur. As a matter of fact, I stayed up late to watch the proceedings LIVE on TV (guess what channel?). A vote of 11-0-4 'aint bad, but what will really count is what happens next, and when it happens.

While we wait about 333.333 people a day are dying there, so let's see how fast everyone can get busy. I totally enjoyed the comments of U.N. Ambassador Danforth (Right-On Bro!), thought that the abstention speeches from China-Pakistan-Algeria were a total cop-out and something we all need to remember "down-the-line" when these guys need something, and I threw my shoe at the TV when the Sudanese Ambassador started to speak, then turned the thing off to conserve energy.

On a more positive note re: Sudan I want to let you know that I again attempted to contact the teacher/photographer Tom Gething in Khartoum today in regards to his wonderful photos and commentaries. As a "really nice guy treat" for my readers here is the link to Tom's digital photography portfolio at TrekEarth . There are more online images from Tom, but one link at a time folks. "Don't push and get in line over there, Bub".

Lastly, I want to thank a new visitor and fellow blogger Mshairi for her comment today and direct you to her very nice blog by the same name Mshairi . I think that she is just getting started with Blogger since August and I want to welcome her to the Blogosphere and encourage my readers to visit her weblog. Poetry from a modern Kenyan woman blogger, that should be interesting.

What You Can Do About Darfur

In case you didn't have a chance to read some of my earlier posts on Darfur stating what you can do as an ordinary World Citizen (a.k.a. a mushroom... always kept in the dark and fed a diet of chicken poop), click on the link above to the HRW website.

Don't miss their Crisis in Darfur jumpage for the latest from the HRW point-of-view, which isn't so left of center from my own except for some of the "wimpy" suggestions they have for government and world leaders. I'm a bit more Hawkish (hmmph!, Eagle-ish) than the folks at HRW on most issues of this nature.

You say you don't have any time to write these guys? How much time does it take you to send an email? If the leaders of our respective governments and particularly the bozos in Khartoum get enough email from around the world that could start to really piss them off! It might even motivate them to do something about Darfur and maybe even go after Public Enemy Nr. 1, SPAMMERS!

Today U.N. Votes on Darfur - Again

BBC NEWS Africa Darfur crisis divides press

Well, today is the day when the U.N. Security Council votes on the latest U.S.-sponsored resolution on the Crisis in Darfur. Don't expect much to happen so oder so, but it's worth mentioning.

In the meantime, it may be interesting for you to check out what the leading news media in the region (Sudan, Egypt) are saying about the situation. I was impressed on how open some of Sudan's journalists are expressing their views on the crisis in their country. Checkout the links above for more information.

Here is an excerpt from a Sudan news commentary of particular note:

"Whatever the UN Security Council's verdict is today, the issue, from beginning to end, is a Sudanese one, and is the result of our failure to solve the crisis... We have to work hard and find a comprehensive solution to the Sudanese problem, and to Darfur in particular, as soon as possible."

Commentary by Kamal al-Sadiq in Sudan's al-Ayyam

Don't miss the links to the various newspapers online and to the Arab Leagues backing of the Government of Sudan's position. And these guys claim to be friends and partners with my country? Do we really appear to be that stupid to these guys?

Is she from Darfur?

A beautiful young Sudanese girl in Khartoum.
Photo by Tom Gething, Sudan 2004

She is from the south of Sudan and lives in a refugee camp in or near the city of Khartoum. There are millions of Sudanese just like her living a life of subsitence thousands of kilometers away from their homes which have been destroyed by more than 20 years of war and atrocities such as we can all now clearly see happening in the Darfur region.

Her beauty and dignity as so wonderfully depicted in this photo is a testament to her worth not only to her country but to the whole world. Knowing that the photographer wanted to take her picture, she rushed to dress in her very best for the experience. This photo makes her immortal.

As I promised, there are some real treats coming soon to the blog regarding Sudan and its people and culture. Just waiting for Tom Gething, a teacher and amateur photographer working in Khartoum, to get back to me in regards to his excellent photo portfolios on the country. This is just a sneak preview which I could not resist but to share with you today.

Still Waiting on the U.N...Darfur

I’ve been waiting on the U.N. and the “International Community” along with the rest of the world as patiently as I can. In the meantime I continue to research and archive more information about Sudan and the Tragedy in Darfur for use on this blog. As mentioned in an earlier posting I came across some very interesting material that I want to share with you on the people and history and cultures of Sudan. It's coming so just keep your pants on, Buster.

I want to compose something clever and motivating for my readers in regards to Darfur today but to be honest I cannot. I don’t know if it is my own personal frustration and depression over the situation there or the lack of action within the U.N. Security Council and from governments and peoples around the world, or maybe it is just “writers block”, or just mark "All of the Above".

So I am not going to say (write) much today, just wait and see what our world leaders do this week at the U.N. The talks down in Nigeria under the auspicies of the African Union (AU) or already a bust, but I do appreciate the efforts by President Obansanjo of Nigeria and other African leaders working there. You can’t negotiate any kind of agreement of substance with a regime like that in Khartoum. You are just plain stupid if you would believe otherwise.

The WHO (World Health Organization) just released a report on Darfur where they estimate that between 6,000 and 10,000 people (mainly women and children) are dying in the Darfur region each month now____ dying of what would normally be curable disease and illness if it weren’t for the acute overcrowding in the camps, people dying of continuing violence from Janjaweed militias and the Khartoum regime’s military and para-military attacks, dying from despair and hopelessness while they wait on someone, anyone, to come to their aid.

While we all just sit and wait and watch them die.

NEWS - the latest news from my two favorite online news sources:
BBC News: U.S. Watersdown Draft Resolution for SC “Chumps”
BBC News: Darfur Peace Talks Collapse
BBC News: Analysis – Defining Genocide
CNN News: Colin Powell Tells It Like It Is – “It is Genocide!”
CNN News: WHO Comes Up with the Numbers 333.333 People A Day

World Health Organization: Darfur Health Emergency September 2004
WHO: Health for the People of Darfur w/ Photo Essay

Waiting for the U.N. - Sudan

I told you in my post from yesterday that they (U.N. Security Council) would screw this up! I mean not even Kofi Annan understands what happened in there yesterday___ are there going to be sanctions, are troops (oops!, peacekeepers I mean) going in, is Omar getting the message or what??

Mr. Pronk, the U.N. Special Envoy for Darfur tried to slide that wishy-washy report of his through in the best U.N. diplomatic BS style and almost got away with it. Before everybody could adjourn for the day and slip out of the meeting room without accomplishing anything, U.N. Ambassador Danforth from the United States of America made a frontal assault on Mr. Pronk and his findings by stating something on the order of:
"... in regards to your statements re: the Government of Sudan showing improvements by not supporting the various militia groups who continue to attack innocent civillians in Darfur, You Are Flat Wrong!".

This is the equivalent of calling the man a damn liar in American English diplomatic language. U.S. Senator Frist (Senate Majority Leader) who has also visited the region recently (see Sudan - The Crisis in Darfur) was even more blunt about what could and should be the next steps for everyone after yesteday's Security Council meeting, but we don't want to get Omar too nervous while he's seriously thinking about his next move (which is hopefully headin' for the exit).

Today I found some very interesting historical and cultural information on Sudan and ancient Nubia, the Pyramids at Meroe, history of the indigenous tribes of Sudan, and all kinds of really fascinating stuff I want to share with you in the next weeks. It should help throw some more light on the country and its peoples, much of it fascinating. It's part of my own "Carrot and Stick Strategy" for Omar and the Gang. In the meantime, checkout the latest news links below. BBC's Barnaby Philips piece is a real laugh, but follow down the path he has so skillfully laid out in the story for some real historical and cultural surprises. Ciao.

CNN: U.N. Envoy Reports Militias Still Killing Folks
CNN: Interview with the Prez of Sudan, Christianne Gets Cozy with Omar over lunch. Note: I saw this interview on CNNI - Europe August 12th. President Omar al-Beshir was not a happy camper during this interview. Must've been the smell of death from the refugee camps in Darfur still clinging to Christianne's clothing or something.

BBC: Sudan Rejects Darfur Peace Force (What did you expect?)
BBC: Spotlight on Sudan's Red Tape by Barnaby Philips
.

Time is up, Omar!

The latest deadline given to the GoS (Government of Sudan) by the United Nations expired on the 30th of August. I was tempted on that day to begin raging and ranting again about the continuation of atrocities by the Sudanese Army and Police and the Janjaweed Militias against the people of Darfur, but I decided to wait and follow the developing news reports made available by a myriad of institutions and international agencies.

It's a good idea (sometimes) to wait and get all of the facts you can before you criticize and condemn people about a situation as dire and serious as that in Darfur. Taking the time to read reports and news articles can be helpful in understanding what is going through the minds of people like Omar al-Beshir and his many henchmen and international supporters. However with the regime in Khartoum you can get the same insights on how their minds work by reading Stephan King or the psychiatric profiles of famous mass murderers throughout history.

So I have read hundreds of pages and watched hours of Live TV news reports over the past few months. And after all of that reading and watching and hoping and praying I keep coming up empty on Omar's point of view. All that I can see and understand is that we have another outlaw criminal regime led by some self-serving despot idiot deadbent on murdering and slaughtering people in Africa. Below are some new links to the latest news and reports on the Crisis in Darfur. Perhaps you (my readers) can find something positive about the Government of Sudan and the Janjaweed Militias that I have missed___ I just can't find anything like that. Sorry.

CSM on the China / Russia connection: Sudan's Key Ties at the U.N.
HRW latest scathing reports on Sudan: Crisis in Darfur jumpage
BBC article w/ Security Council Report: Deal to Boost Darfur Aid
BBC articles: Sudan's Lost Boys and The Lost Girls of Sudan
International Crisis Group (ICG) latest report: Darfur Deadline

Today the U.N. Securtiy Council is supposed to meet in order to decide what are the next steps to take in regards to Sudan. Mr. Kofi Annan and the U.S. government and the African Union and zillions of people around the world (especially black folks) want to see some serious protection put into place for the peoples of Darfur and refugees in eastern Chad, now. Right Now! Since this is the U.N. Security Council we are talking about, don't expect much in terms of a United World Community Front against Genocide and Slavery. Just check their track record, 'aint much hope there.

So I am going to wait some more before I lash out at Omar and his boyz. Perhaps a miracle will happen today on Manhattan's east-side at the U.N. I am real interested to find out what the 15 member council will do, to see who will truly stand up for justice on behalf of the peoples of Darfur and people throughout the continent of Africa____ and who will stand up only for their own self-serving exploitive interests and historically-proven murderous greed.

I want to also call attention to the excellent reporting on Darfur by the journalists Hilary Anderson of the BBC and Christianne Ammanpour of CNN and the many professional photojournalists, humanitarian organization workers, and even civic leaders who have worked so hard to get the story of the Crisis in Darfur out into the open for the World. Thank you from those who care.

Time is up Omar! Your time to get it together has expired, buddy.

Africans Sending Billions Back Home

Editors Note 27 Aug 2004:
I had to go back and make a few corrections from my posting from August 26th due to some errors I made in stating facts and figures. I also added new information today regarding migrant labor remittances to Africa.

Posting from 26 Aug 2004:
A couple of days ago I really "stepped in it" by giving my opinions and thoughts on African ex-patriates and migrants living in Europe (see: Migration - The Grass is Not Always Greener). Fortunately up to now no one has expressed outrage via my blog's comments tool or otherwise for writing about such a personal and sensitive subject for migrants living abroad.

Did you know that migrant workers from developing countries living in the U.S. and Europe send home more than US$ 73 billion every year?* (source: World Bank Group for year 2001). Correction: The World Bank Group has more recent figures from a November 2003 working paper which estimates this amount worldwide to be much higher. You can download their report Migrant Labor Remittances in Africa and really learn something about this subject.

Did you know that the money African workers send home from abroad exceeds by more than 25% all of the development aid received by African countries from the industrialized nations? Correction: The figure for 2001 (US$ 73 billion) is just under 50% for all foreign investment in Africa and exceeds by more than 40% the amount African nations receive in development aid from industrialized countries.

More importantly, do the people sending money home know about this???

To show another side of the many issues surrounding immigration and migration, I thought it would be wise to provide some links to the debate featured presently at BBC World online. If you are sending money home to help your family or community in Africa or elsewhere, this information could prove to be very helpful. Pay particular attention to the comments from respondents to this debate. Do some of their stories sound real familiar to you?

BBC World Africa Live Debate: Do you send money home?
BBC World news article: Africans sending money back home
BBC World Service (streaming audio): Hidden Aid

There are plenty of resources online covering this important subject. Of particular interest are news stories and case studies on how financial services institutions such as Western Union and Wells Fargo and the big international banks like HSBC (see Yahoo!'s transfer services) are cashing in big on this monetary transfer bonanza!

Recently here in Germany I have begun to see huge billboard advertisements on the sides of Bahnhof (central train station) buildings, trams, and busses prominently featuring graphics of happy Africans with phrases like "Did you wire some money home today?". No joke! However, if you go into one of these money transfer offices you won't find many Africans working behind the counter, or other "Auslanders" for that matter. It 'aint right, you know what I mean?

In a BusinessWeek Online article dated December 22, 2003 the figure is estimated to be much higher than that published by the World Bank Group in 2001. The BW Online article quotes a figure for the year 2003 exceeding $150 billion dollars in cross-border remittances from 80 million immigrants/migrants living abroad, with about $100 billion going to their family members and other people anonymously! Check the article out for yourself here:

BusinessWeek Online: Can Western Union Keep on Delivering?

We're talking $150 billion bucks here! Hello? Does anyone out there with financial management training and experience see an opportunity here to do something positive for Africa and earn a few bucks while you're at it?

I wonder what would happen if people would wise-up and consolidate that financial power for democratic and economic change in their home countries? They would have more clout than the U.N., which much of the time is crying they are near bankruptcy again.

Candidates for SchoolNet Africa

We want a SchoolNet Africa project for our school! They could sure use it, along with a new building, learning materials, and electricity, and lot's of support.
Photo by Susanne Behnke, Uganda 2003

Back to School Net in Africa

School Net Africa

I've been following them on the Net for months and just about everything I have read on this not-for-profit organization based in Johannesburg, South Africa is outstanding. You can examine the organization's programs, tools and resources for teachers and school administrators at the link provided above. You can read about their mission statement here and I have provided a brief excerpt from their website below.

If you are involved with or interested in improving the education of youth on the continent of Africa, and haven't checked out School Net Africa's new online portal, then you have been sleeping and not doing your job properly. Here is a second chance to do that and an opportunity to start or expand upon School Net projects in your country. Contact them personally.

Operating in 31 African nations. Publishing in Kiswahili, English, French, Portuguese, and Arabic. Backed by some of the best private and public international partners and sponsors anyone could ever want. No excuses. It's Back to School Time for the children of Africa. Get busy buddy!

Our Organisation
SchoolNet Africa is one of Africa's first African-led, African-based non-government organisations (NGO) that operates across the continent in its endeavour to improve education access, quality and efficiency through the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in African schools. SchoolNet Africa works mainly with learners, teachers, policymakers and practitioners through country-based schoolnet organisations across Africa.

SchoolNet Africa is headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa where it employs staff from different African countries to manage its programs.

Our Vision
SchoolNet Africa's vision is for the empowerment of all of Africa's children and youth through access to quality education, information and knowledge on the basis of their effective use of information and communication technologies (ICTs).

Our Mission
SchoolNet Africa's mission is to support national SchoolNets throughout Africa by mobilizing resources, building effective partnerships and knowledge in promoting education through sustainable use of ICTs in African schools.

• SNA stands for the right of all African youth to education and lifelong learning possibilities.
• SNA stands for the right of every African child to have access to information.
• We stand for affordable and sustainable access to ICTs in African Schools.
• African education content on the Internet.
• We work towards developing online content in local languages.

What We Stand For
SchoolNet Africa supports and promotes

• the right of every African child to have access to education, information and knowledge
• affordable and sustainable ICT access for African schools using a variety of solutions
• the creation of locally developed, digitised education content
• expression through the recognition of indigenous African languages
• multi-stakeholder partnerships within a progressive, development framework
• gender integration and women's empowerment
• the achievement of the Education For All objectives and the UN Millenium Development Goals

Migration - The Grass Is Not Always Greener

I ran across an article about an illeagal immigrant from Uganda living and working in London today which brought up all kinds of memories and thoughts about my own experiences with migrants from Africa living in Europe that I wanted to say something on this subject. This is a very hot, hot subject between peoples in developing countries and the people in the lands of "Milk and Honey".

To my young adult readers in Africa and elsewhere who may be contemplating giving money to some stranger, friend, or relative for a visa or pass or failsafe transport and entry into Europe or North America or Australia or any country for that matter, don't even think about being that stupid! It would be safer to jump into a lake or river filled with hungry crocodiles and other maneating critters!

I will never forget my first experience many moons ago when I observed a group of African "asylum seekers" stranded in a backwater, north German town. Their living conditions were terrible and their chances for the "good life" weren't much better. I became friends with these young men and shared many a joyful day and evening with them, but in no way could I resolve all the new problems they faced here in Europe. There is so much that I and others here in Europe could say on this subject that it would require a 1000 new blogs just on this subject.

It is important to travel and see the world if you have the chance in life to do so, and you should take every opportunity to do it. However, there is the right way to do things and lots of wrong ways to do things which in the end can cost you your future or your life, dashing the hopes and dreams of your people and your country.

So before you strike out with less than savory types for the "promised land" read these online articles and resource sites on Migration carefully, and follow the instructions on the package!

BBC Talking Point Special Report June 2004: Migration

Billy's Journey: Crossing the Sahara and Europe at Last
Gao's (Mali) Deadly Migrant Trade
Guinea: Unstoppable Exodous
Factfile: Global Migration
Migration: Global Village Voices

Some of the saddest memories I will have of my experiences in Europe over the past 24 years will be those memories of the people in search of a better life from faraway lands who ended up in a worse condition than what they left behind. I know that such a statement could draw some vehement fire from those who disagree, but I know what I've seen and have been told by many of the migrants and refugees fleeing Africa and other regions of the world.

If you can, stay in your own country or on the African continent, work hard to get a good education, and build a better future for yourselves and for your people. If you can do that successfully, the world will beat a path to your door. Thereafter, almost everywhere in the world that you may travel you will be made to feel welcome, and you yourself will feel like a queen or king in a foreign land.

I'm doing it for them, that's why!

Young students in one-room rural schoolhouse in southern Uganda.
Photo by Susanne Behnke, Uganda 2003

Sometimes it's a good idea to keep my mouth shut and let the photos do the talking. The image is the message.

Why am I doing this?

Group of rural Ugandan children in song for visitors from abroad.
Photo by Susanne Behnke, Uganda 2003

I was having a nice chat by telephone last evening with my friend Janine Smith, an outstanding multi-talented performing artist from Brooklyn, New York (Yo B.K.!, Yo Man). Janine lives here in Germany and tours with her very popular and funky Blues/Soul/Jazz fusion band Voodoo Child. Janine also instructs and leads inter-racial, multi-national choirs in northern Germany. You can find out more about her on the Voodoo Child website and perhaps iTunes website.

Anyway, Janine is a real intelligent and sympathetic soulmate for me (sometimes), and last night we were discussing Africans living here in Germany and in Africa and all the difficult issues facing them here and there and everywhere.

So I was discussing with her the latest news out of Darfur, the child-trafficking crisis across West and Central Africa and into Europe and the Middle East, gender-related issues for the women and girls of Africa, and the latest atrocities in the D.R.C. and Burundi and Oh My God... you know. This usually bums Janine out because she is a real sensitive artist and a New York sister and so forth.

So Janine says to me,
"...but Bill (that's my other name)...but Bill The Beast is so Big! What can we do to help these people when The Beast is all over the place in Africa?".

So I answered Janine,
"Look here Baby, ordinary people like you and me have to get in there to help 'em out, no matter how small the effort might seem. We have to dance at the edge of the Abyss if necessary and pull 'em out! What are we going to do, let monsters like Omar (al-Beshir) wipe out the people of Darfur and southern Sudan and do nothing, be silent about it and let all these people just die?'

'Be silent like people were back in the 1940's when Jews and ethnic groups all across Europe were being rounded-up and trucked away and murdered by the millions, and then pretend we didn't know anything about it. I can't do that, not me. The ghosts of my ancestors__ of my grandmothers and grandfathers won't let me rest if I don't do something, when there is something I can do to help. Not me doggone it___I can't be silent no more!"

I think what I said to Janine last night goes for a lot of us around the world, no matter our color or our nationality or ethnic group or religious beliefs or whatever we think makes us so different from one another. Of course we can't all express it in the rich cultural lingo of the descendents of black African slaves taken from the continent more than 300 years ago, but don't worry about that.

I didn't start this weblog to be some kind of activist or protest website, but as a platform for ideas and communication exchanges and a way to easily publish things on my mind and on the minds of those who visit this blog. It is obviously focused on Africa and her peoples and natural biodiversity.

I've received some very nice and encouraging comments and acclaim about Jewels in the Jungle over the past 90+ days it has been online from people deeply involved with humanitarian and economic development work as well as colleagues and professionals from the technology and academic world. I really appreciate those nice comments and thank all who have offerred them.

I am convinced that such simple and easy-to-use web publishing tools like Blogger and Movable Type and Radio Userland can go a long way in helping peoples in the developing world to connect to one another and to people throughout the (cyber) world.

Blogging can be a solid first step into the exciting world of ICT (Information & Communication Technology) for millions of people who have something to say or to share. The costs to start is either very low or absolutely free.

So stay tuned to our Jewels in the Jungle blog as we dig deeper into the technology and make some changes and improvements over the next months. In the tradition of the great Saint Louis and Chicago blues musicians of my home " we're gonna rock this sucka" over the next many months. Maybe Janine of "Voodoo Child" could write a little song for "Jewels in the Jungle".

I definately intend to mercilessly rock Omar's World down in Khartoum and all of his ilk across the continent, until people like him are gone from Africa for good.

Until we can look at photos like the one of these lovely Ugandan children and know in our hearts that they are going to be allright. We've got some work to do, Baby.

Good News Out of Africa

That's right, Good News Out of Africa. Africa has lot's of good news stories, everyday. It's the bad guys like Omar al-Beshir (el-Bastado of Sudan) that try to steal the light from Africa and her people and the rest of us around the world. Speaking of Sudan, let's start with the good news there today.

Sudan Has More Pyramids than Egypt !!

When I first began to learn about African history in middle school in America (a long, long time ago) we of course were taught a great deal about ancient Egyptian dynasties and civilizations. Back in those days textbooks contained practically nothing about the great cultures and civilizations of sub-Saharan Africa. There of course was a purpose to this madness, which I hear has since been rectified to some extent in American school textbooks for young people.

Anyway, did you know that Sudan has (and had in the past) more pyramids than Egypt? Did you know that they have a culture (on record) dating back more than 200,000 years and that there are artifacts in a museum which prove that? This is news to the culturally and historically illiterate amongst us, probably most of us. This is good news on Friday the 13th! Check out the link above if you don't believe me.

Oh yeah, there is some bad news connected to this story. Certain highly developed and civillized peoples of Egypt (and Europe) robbed "cleaner than a camel's carcass" practically every ancient holy gravesite and pyramid built in Sudan during the last 100,000 years or so. Na ya.

BBC African Photo Essay Contest

More good news out of Africa. Buried in one of my earlier postings this month (see "Sudan's Army Anger Over U.N. War" dated August 02) I made mention of a nice little contest for ameteur photobugs and unemployed pro photographers sponsored by the BBC World News online team. It's a rather easy way to pick up a new digital camera worth USD$ 300.00 bucks (retail, not black market price). In case you didn't catch the original posting perhaps you might check it out today, if you are interested that is and/or need the camera or the money. I'd love to enter, but I am not in Africa, and I would like to see someone there win the prize. I'm also interested in seeing the photography, such as the 11 photos displayed in the BBC Africa Photo Contest Gallery.

Somalians Find a Good Life in the U.S.A.

This is some of the best news "Out of Africa" I've seen all day. Actually it's about some very persecuted folks gettin' the heck out of Africa. It seems that Omar over in Sudan has some real like-minded buddies just across the border in Somalia. What I mean is that apparently there are some black North African "Arabs" (I know, they don't look like Arabs to me either) who have a lighter skin complexion and other dubious differences which give them the right to persecute, murder, rape, and conduct other general human rights abuses against their fellow black countrymen and countrywomen. These incidents over a long period of time would make a movie like "Blackhawk Down" look like a Disney family film. No, I haven't seen the movie Blackhawk Down___waiting for it to come to German T.V. in the next century or so.

Anyway, it seems that the Government of the U.S.A. (GoUSA) made a decision last year to accept the immigration of 12,000 Somali bantus (ooohh, bantu is a controversial word) to the United States. According to this news story things are working out really well for most of the families presently located in New York State and South Carolina. I think that it is a real nice story and I am eager to see life become a success for these new immigrants. I hope that some of the families settle in my hometown, one of the best cities in the world (naturally).

200 years of slavery and persecution under their fellow Africans before they get a break. You need to read this story (see link above) and I need to contact my friend Yvette (author of the weblog Inside Somaliland) to see what she has to say about these people. This is cool enough to encourage me to get back to the States sooner and help out with our new African residents.

Darfur: If you have a voice, use it !

If you thought that you may escape the international traditional media and the international alternative media (i.e. bloggers and the Web) coverage on the Crisis in Darfur, you were wrong and you are on the wrong blog for escape from this important global issue. As far as I am concerned, the plight of the refugees in Darfur and Chad is everybody's business, and I am going to keep trying to do my part including raising people's awareness and knowledge about Sudan through regular postings to this blog.

When you see an emergency of this scale unfolding before you very eyes, and you have a voice, then you damn well need to speak up, loudly! The perpetrators of these crimes in the region of Darfur and the Government of Sudan in Khartoum needs to hear the outraged Voices of the World, and understand what time it is... that it is time for them to backoff and let us help these people, or else.

John Prendergast of the ICG (International Crisis Group) gave a chilling account of what he and renowned Harvard University professor Samantha Powers witnessed firsthand on their recent trip to Northern Darfur. Here is the link to his July 15 report for the New York TImes "Sudan's Ravines of Death". You can find more ICG information and reports on Sudan at their special Crisisweb site Crisis in Darfur.

AllAfrica.com has a recent "must read" interview with John Prendergast here:
To Save Lives in Darfur, Back African Peacekeepers and Demand War Crimes Accountability

Human Rights Watch has just released another scathing report on continued attacks and atrocities by both Janjaweed militias and GoS regular military and police that you can read here:
Darfur: New Atrocities Disprove Khartoum’s Claims

The BBC and CNNI continue their relentless LIVE reporting from within the region of Darfur and Chad including excellent interviews (i.e. BBC's Hardtalk ) with officials from the GoS and experts from the International Community. It's a pleasure to watch some of the excellent female reporters and journalists expose and publicly shame the very world officials who are supposed to be bringing everthing under control in Darfur. Go get 'em girls, dog 'em!

BBC World: Sudan Faces New Atrocity Charges

BBC Hardtalk: Interview with Sudan Vice President Ali Osman Taha

CNNI: Khartoum 'worsening Darfur crisis'

Goree Island Slave House Exposed as a Fake!

That's right, I couldn't believe it myself until I read this article in The Seattle Times, and I still can't believe it. I mean how many of us have looked at our TV sets with extreme sadness and tears running down our faces over the story of Goree Island and its famous Slave House and portal, The Door of No Return? Zillions, that's how many!

Everybody who is anybody travelling through West Africa and particularly Senegal over the past few decades has stopped to pay his/her respects at Goree Island___Presidents and Prime Ministers, The Pope, movie stars and famous personalities___ 200,000 people a year visit this landmark and shrine to one of the saddest episodes in human history, The Transatlantic Slave Trade between Africa and The Americas.

Renowned professor Philip Curtin of John Hopkins University, author of more than 24 books on the African Slave Trade and African History, says "The whole story (about Goree Island) is a phony." No, No, No___this can't be. Not only that, the Senegalese government and Senegal historians and other experts on African History have known about this scam for quite some time!

According to the professor, The Slave House on Goree Island was not a depot for slaves awaiting the brutal and inhuman treatment and transport by slavers and their ships sitting off the coast of Dakar, but that it served in the late 1700's as a mansion house for some white French dude. The transport to slave ships of African slaves actually took place at the mouth of the Senegal and Gambia rivers on the mainland, miles away from Goree Island.

Aint nothin' sacred anymore? Now the Senegalese will have to move the whole attraction to the mainland and drop the theatre about the "Door of No Return"; otherwise, the tourists may not return. How am I going to break this news to the folks back home, another lie about our roots? What does the President of Senegal (whom I like from what I've heard and read about him) and his Minister of Culture and Tourism have to say about this? I'm waitin' Monsieur Presidente?

My thanks to the author of Black Looks blog, where I learned about this story first. You need to check out her August 10th posting on the Locust plague in Africa at the moment, that's scary stuff!

Women Emerging: A Tribute to Uganda

Women Emerging: A Tribute to Uganda

I was browsing the blog "Black Looks" authored by a self-described African feminist living in Spain and ran across the link to a website featuring outstanding art by some of Uganda's leading modernist painters. The exhibition took place in 2002 at the University of California - Berkeley's Center for African Studies and a San Francisco gallery named The Art Room.

Do check out this website thoroughly as both the artwork and the many references to literature and documents about the Women's Movement in present day Uganda are very interesting.

In celebration to the Women and Girls of Uganda, and throughout the African continent. Something positive for a change for my readers. Enjoy.

Is he from Darfur?

This photo of a young boy is a strong symbol of why we all must help to support and protect Africa's hope for a bright future...from Sudan to South Africa.
Photo by Susanne Behnke

Looks as if zillions of people around the world have stirred up quite a bit of dust and heat down in Sudan. That's good, but concerned people everywhere need to keep a very close eye on that 30-day countdown for Khartoum and the actions of the U.N and the A.U. and the rest of the "International Community".

The right thing to do in the meantime is to prepare professional military troops to go in and protect those refugees and the aid workers in Darfur and Chad, because the GoS will do nothing but continue their killings of innocent civilians and then lie about it "LIVE on international TV". Khartoum is already attempting to erase the evidence of genocide within the 90 days they have requested of the U.N. and show the world its "behind" while it does it.

Meanwhile, back at the Ranch, down in the Jungle... things have been conspicuously quiet. I'll have more photos and info on Uganda this month and hopefully some new inputs from Tanzania as well. You will get a chance soon to meet "The Professor", an African scholar and intellectual friend of mine. He was born in Tanzania back in the period when Africa was just emerging from European colonization, and he has lots of experience and stories about working with African leaders and governments and their international partners. He is a real treasure who I would like to share with all of you.

I've also added some new weblog links to my blogroll Hot Blogs ToGo today in order to help my visitors learn more about what other people are publishing to the Blogosphere regarding Africa. Check the right-hand side of this homepage for the new additions mostly Africa and Africa Blog and Southern Cross and Ethiopundit. Check my blogroll regularly for new additions.

Well, that's it for now. Have a nice weekend. Boy, it's really hot in Germany today, 30°C plus. The Europeans are really suffering from this heat. Think I'll go have a cold beer and watch 'em. Ciao.

UNSIG - Sudan Country Profile

SIG - Sudan Country Profile

Hey, that U.N. Sudan Information Gateway website has lots of information and uses modern web technologies in a very impressive and easy-to-understand way.

For example, the site has well organized menues including News and Media feeds from various independent sources, a Country Profile section with an excellent Map Centre, loads of downloadable reports and documents, and the STARBASE database and statistical records system. I particularly found the various maps on IDP's (internally displaced persons) from the 20 year-old-war between the Khartoum regime and Southern Sudan interesting, and alarming.

I also learned on the website that I have been mispelling Omar's (President of Sudan) name wrong! Oh my gosh, I must correct that in all my postings about Omar immediately!

Here is an excerpt from a web page in the Country Profile section:

"...In 1989 a coup brought into power a military regime led by Lt. General Umar Hassan Ahmed al-Beshir which was dominated by the National Islamic Front led by Hassan al Turabi, Speaker of the 400 seat National Assembly. Following the 1989 coup the war against the SPLA intensified..."

Do visit the U.N. Sudan Information Gateway site, since many of us are paying for it with our tax dollars (and other currencies) as citizens of the world and member countries in-good-standing with the U.N.

O.K., most member countries don't pay SQUAT to the U.N. At least we should keep their excellent web design teams around.

Last and certainly least of all, In All Fairness to the GoS (Government of Sudan), here is the link to the Sudan Embassy (Washington, D.C.) where you can get the latest news direct from the camel's mouth about what is REALLY GOING ON in Darfur and the rest of Sudan. Enjoy.
Embassy of Sudan website in Washington, D.C.

IRIN - In all fairness to the United Nations

United Nations Integrated Regional Information Networks

Did you know that the U.N. has an excellent, modern news and multimedia information network named IRIN? Well you do now and you can visit them at the link(s) above.

In all fairness to the United Nations___ (yeah, I'm rather pissed-off at the U.N. right now, I know)___ I do use their online resources extensively to help educate myself and others to what's going on in the world.

IRINNEWS.ORG was started by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) back in 1994 during the African Great Lakes regional crisis (Rwanda Genocide, Zaire/Congo War plus Genocide, et. al. stuff) and in the IRIN's own words,

"...IRIN pioneered the use of email and web technology to deliver and receive information to and from some of the most remote and underdeveloped places in Africa..."

Well, the year 1994 was still back in the Stone Age in the Internet Timeline chronology, but I have to admit that in 10 years the U.N. OHCA has built an excellent platform for news and info about the continents and peoples of Africa and Asia___it's a must resource for people who are serious about development and humanitarian issues. IRIN also has a very good broadcast radio network with satellite up/downlink services from Worldspace, an African-owned and operated satellite network provider based in Washington, D.C.

Pay particular attention to the IRIN Web Specials with downloadable reports and online multimedia presentations. I just dumped the IRIN Web Special reports on Northern Uganda and Child Soldiers in the D.R.C. to my PC today. Oh yeah, there is also lot's of news and reports on Darfur as well.

The United Nations has also setup a whole new website just for the Sudan Crisis named the "Sudan Information Gateway" which I haven't had the chance to visit yet, but you should. Remember, we've got to keep the pressure up on Omar, 'cause Omar el-Beshir is not too bright you see and he needs that kind of help to remember what he is supposed to be doing.

Sudan army's anger over UN 'war'

BBC NEWS Africa Sudan army's anger over UN 'war'

Well, here's the latest official word from the Government of Sudan (a.k.a. GoS):

"The Security Council resolution about the Darfur issue is a declaration of war on the Sudan and its people," armed forces spokesman General Mohamed Beshir Suleiman told the official Al Anbaa daily newspaper..." (see link above for full article)

Well, my answer to the General after reading his statements and his declaration of another Holy Jihad in Sudan against "The West" is, "Fine with me, Dude, let's get it on right now, screw the 30 days. Move the women and children to safety, and let's get it on."

The BBC has some other interesting articles and features on its Africa homepage today, BBC News Africa August 02, 2004 . Of special note are the following features:

Darfur: What's the Way Forward (a BBC Africa Live debate on August 4th at 16:30 and 18:30 GMT, email and audio participation)

Africa Photo Essay Contest (see Photo Journals link and dropdown menue) ( Teaching in Uganda - essay on a school for HIV/AIDS orphans in Kampala)

Finally, I found this article published in the online version of the U.K. newspaper "The Scotsman" not only an interesting point of view on the Crisis in Darfur, but a scathing criticism of the United Nations Security Council limited actions and failure to head off the crisis in time:
The Scotsman (online) - U.N. Takes the Path of Least Resistance

According to the latest Blogosphere Stats from Technorati, there are over 3.3 million blogs (weblogs) being tracked just by that service since July 7th, and there are between 8,000 - 17,000 new blogs being created around the world every day. My first casual search on blog articles related to the Darfur Crisis today yielded 308 postings, many of them excellently written.

Now that's what I call an alternative movement to mainstream media! The crescendo of voices is rising in volume and numbers against Khartoum and the Janjaweed Arab Militias, every day.

U.S. Holocaust Museum Issues First Ever 'Genocide Emergency'

allAfrica.com: Sudan:

No sleep for you Omar el-Beshir, no sleep for your government ministers, nor for your henchmen militias. We're gonna keep increasing the pressure and volume of voices until you get the job done that many of us in the world demand.

When a U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum Conscience Committee condemns your actions as modern-day genocide, what you gonna say, that they don't know what they are talking about? I'd be careful how I responded to this charge Omar, millions of Africa.com's readers will be watching and listening, and millions more of us around the world.

Even Kofi Annan is beginning to show some backbone in his public condemnation of Sudan's behavior toward its indigenous peoples. Speak up Mr. Annan, call it what it is, and show the government in Khartoum you mean business this time. Here's the link to the U.N. Secretary-General's very own website if you never visited before:

The U.N. Secretary-General Homepage

Darfur Photo 5

These children don't have 30 days time left...
Photo by USAID

...to wait and see if the Government of Sudan will protect them as promised. Many children refugees in Darfur and Chad don't have even 30 hours left, while we wait.

Darfur Photo 4

Family of women and children survivors of the Janjaweed raids in Darfur.
Photo by USAID July 2004


These people were farmers, able to fend for themselves in an already most inhospitable arid climate, tending their fields and producing food for their villages. Now they are totally dependant upon the world community for their very existence, their menfolk young and old gone, brutally murdered by their own government.

The U.N. Secretary Gerneral, Kofi Annan, is pleading with donor nations for financial pledges from member countries to be honored. The U.N. has received less than 50% of the aid it requested to care for the more than 1 million IDP's presently in Darfur and Chad.

Here is a July 26th report from CNN's Chief International Correspondent Christianne Amanpour filed from Chad: Sudan's Hellish Humanitarian Crisis

World wants Sudan militias disarmed - Now!

CNN.com - U.S. wants Sudan militias disarmed - Jul 30, 2004

We are waiting on the vote today U.N. Security Council, it's 16:46 here in Europe and no word out of New York yet. Which countries will be for the refugees of Darfur, which countries will be against them, and which countries are too much of a coward or too complicit in the crimes themselves to vote either way?

Well the vote is finally in, a 13-0-2 vote in favor of sanctions, and again we find China in the shadows of rampant exploitation and human misery in Africa. Pakistan simply is between a rock and a hard place again re: another failed Islamic state.

CNN article on the U.N.S.C. vote: U.N. Council O.K.'s Resolution

BBC's article on the S.C. resolution: U.N. Resolution on Darfur - Full Text

Turning Up the Heat on Khartoum

I've been agonizing for days about how to compose my next posting to this blog regarding the Crisis in Darfur.  The focus of the blog at present has shifted away from our friends down in southern Uganda north by a thousand or more kilometers across the border into western Sudan.  The emergency there is too great to ignore, too great for the whole civilized world to ignore.  I'm sure our friends in Uganda would agree.
 
My last posting on Darfur was intended to provide some useful links to online resources about the dire situation in Sudan and information about how ordinary people can help and how to take meaningful action.  I wanted to do more with this posting, I wanted to help "Turn up the Volume and the Heat to Maximum" on the Janjaweed militias and the Killers in Khartoum.  To let 'em know that lots of people around the world are not going to stand for this crap anymore, that we are drawing a line in the sand between those poor frightened and starving refugees from Darfur and you, their killers!"
 
A few days ago there was a news video showing Omar al-Beshir, present Dictator of Sudan, working his followers up into a frenzy for war.  The TV news report stated that  5-6,000 Sudanese troops, including the very soldiers and militia guilty of the atrocities against the refugees, were marching into camps in Darfur under the pretense that they were there to protect the innocent.
 
Some of Omar's warriors performed before the TV news cameras a "traditional ritual" of devouring live chickens, knowing that this bloodthirsty display was sending yet another terrifying message to the frightened women and children looking on.  Women and children who are severly traumitized, exhausted, sick, hungry, confused, and already near death.

Now Omar al-Beshir and his government ministers want to intimidate the U.N., the U.S.A., the African Union, the European Union, and other international bodies by declaring that the sending of international troops to protect the people of Darfur and the international humanitarian workers there would be considered an "act of war against Sudan".
 
Of course many nations and regional political and religious bodies have had conspicuously little or nothing to say up to now.  What's even worse some countries at the U.N. want to block punitive emergency actions against Sudan by the U.N. Security Council.  Of course this is on behalf of their own economic self-interest (oil and money) and guilt of supporting these scumbags.  I mean, if the world community can stop the ongoing genocide in the Sudan, then such a movement could spread rapidly to their own countries!  This would be a real disaster, for them. 
 
So here is my personal message to Omar al-Bastado of Khartoum and his ilk:

"You are going to back away from those people you lowlife 'cause we are coming in, and you and your killers will be made to stay away from them forever.  If you want to threaten us by sending in your so-called police to stand against the international community as we are desperately working to rescue the people of Darfur, I want to be the first to sign-up to fight against you and your troops.  You and your boys are going down Omar, and the time for it is long overdue"
 
For my visitors and readers who are not yet so hot under the collar as I am right now and would like to read more reports and testimony on Darfur, the following links might be of help to you: 
 
USAID: Response to the Humanitarian Crisis in Darfur 
USAID: Testimony before Committee on Foreign Relations  June 15, 2004
UNICEF: Darfur/Chad Frontline Diary Entries (May-July 2004)
BBC World News:  Photo Gallery of Bredjing Refugee Camp, Chad 
Passion of the Present.org: Sudan News Blog (activist blog on Darfur)
 

Photos from Darfur 3

Children at Abu Shouk refugee camp undergoing art drawing therapy.
Photo by Dan Scandling, Office of U.S. Representative Frank Wolf

This type of therapy administered by the few humanitarian workers able to have access to these children is hopefully a way for these youngsters to help forget what they have witnessed in their villages and during the flight to some kind of safety and shelter.

Photos from Darfur 2

Young girl with infant child at refugee camp in Darfur.
Photo by Dan Scandling, Office of U.S. Representative Frank Wolf

Photos from Darfur 1

Two young boys attempting to rest at the Abu Shouk Refugee Camp.
Photo by Dan Scandling, Office of U.S. Representative Frank Wolf

They have had a very long and harrowing journey across the desert of Western Sudan. Their village is burned to the ground, many relatives and friends have been murdered by the Janjaweed militias, including their parents.

Sudan - The Crisis in Darfur

Human Rights Watch - Sudan - Crisis in Darfur

Above is a link to some online resources from Human Rights Watch on the Crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan. Pay particular attention to the reports "Darfur Destroyed" and "Darfur in Flames", with the accompanying multimedia presentations (photos and video).

Then ask yourself the very important question, "Can I just sit here and do nothing about these types of atrocities, again?".
 
Answer: "If you've got a voice, Use It Damnit!!  If you can do more than just complain, then do more, right now."
 
What I particularly like about the HRW resource page on the Darfur Crisis is the list of recommendations on what you can actually do to help these people in taking direct action with your respective governments and international organizations i.e. the United Nations Security Council.
 
If that is not enough to get your butt moving on this critically important global issue which we and our concerned world leaders all swore would never be allowed to happen again in our lifetimes (Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing, Rwanda, Auschwitz), perhaps the following links might help:
 
U.S. Congressional Visit to Darfur June 2004 by U.S. Senator Sam Brownbeck and U.S. Representative Frank Wolf:
News article and report
Photos by Dan Scandling 
 
AllAfrica.com newswire and article directory for the Sudan Crisis
 
CNNI articles on the Darfur Crisis
 
BBC World articles and resources on the Darfur Crisis
 
Where are the millions of people around the world now who were so eager over the past few years to"go on the streets and storm the barricades" in vehement protest against unjust War??
 
Is it not that the people of Darfur deserve our support through intervention actions and humanitarian assistance, and our collective expressions of outrage and condemnation toward the government in Khartoum and their "shady" backers?
 
Are the Black Africans of Darfur made to suffer unbearable atrocities while much of the world remains silent for the same reasons that the Janjaweed Arab militias hunt them down like animals, because their skin is black, is that it?

Four Jewels in Jinja

These young girls represent to me Uganda's hope for the present and the future...and hope for many of us around the world concerning their own bright futures as well.
Photo by Susanne Behnke, Uganda 2003

Saturday's Smile No. 2

...and another great smile from this beautiful young lady.
Photo by Susanne Behnke, Uganda 2003

Saturday's Smile No. 1

A most beautiful jewel of a smile from young lady in Uganda.
Photo by Susanne Behnke, Uganda 2003

The three photos in this posting are portraits of Ugandan youth modelling handcrafted jewelry designed by aspiring artists in Germany. The photos were taken to support fund-rasing activities by the Jewels-Juwelen Project for HIV/AIDS orphans in Jinja District, Uganda as described in one of my May 2004 postings (see Archives).

As you can see for yourself, the real jewels are these young people, so proudly and skillfully showing off their amateur modelling skills before the camera.

The Water Carrier

Young girls with watercan on their way home.
Photo by Susanne Behnke, Uganda 2003

It's difficult to attend school regularly when you are forced to carry water back and forth to your village everyday. The older girl needs to be in school and the two of them should not be out on this road. In this particular photo series by Susanne there are a number of scenes like this one where small children are alone along this stretch of dirt road, sent to fetch fresh water.

I have no details on the children in this photograph other than what we all can see, that the young girl in the dirty blue dress is tired from carrying a half-full container of water down a long and dusty road. She is most likely not in the best of health and the two of them may possibly be fending for themselves or living with relatives too weak or too old to carry water back-and-forth, every single day.

The Long Road to Fresh Water

The road to a community water well in rural southern Uganda.
Photo by Susanne Behnke, Uganda 2003

Today My Heart is Joyful!

Dancing for Joy in Uganda
Photo by Susanne Behnke, Uganda 2003

Today my heart is full of joy and hope! An important event I have been patiently waiting for in the Sudan, in the region of Darfur, has finally taken place. I can only hope that actions will quickly follow the strong words of warning issued there today.

I have watched two great Sons of Africa, Colin Powell and Kofi Annan, walk on the hard-baked earth of the western Sudan and be with the suffering people there, to see for themselves and meet face-to-face with the survivors of the atrocities committed there, to witness what international journalists and aid workers and others around the world have been crying out about so loudly and urgently. Genocide!

I watched Powell, who I personally regard with admiration and pride as a great leader, fight back tears as he was finally able to approach the crowds of cheering children and adults in that desolate desert, greeting him with joy and hope in their eyes and with smiles on their beautiful little black faces_____and I knew what Powell was feeling in his heart at that moment and I could not hold back my own tears as I watched them on CNNI today.

And I remembered my stern words to a group of Ugandans visiting Europe almost one year ago, that "...we see you and hear your cries for help, that we know of the crimes and atrocities which have been and are being committed against you by very evil people and many of us can no longer remain silent and frozen in our fear and in our shame."

"...That we are coming, in ways that you could never imagine and in numbers which you alone cannot count, to stand with you and help you defeat this evil we all see so clearly. To help you stand tall and proud again and to achieve freedom and a bright and secure future for yourselves and your children and your countries."

I know that friends in Jinja will remember those words I spoke long ago today, and begin to finally understand what I meant then, that we with the power to affect change mean business down on the continent of Africa____ so help me God!

In solidarity with the suffering peoples and victims of unspeakable violence in Northern Uganda, in the Sudan, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and all corners of Afirca.