Since I have been an activist for Darfur I have had to try to make sense of everything going on in Darfur. The Who's, What's, Why's and Whens of this conflict are really enough to make your head spin. But being committed I stuck with it and now I feel that I have a pretty firm grasp on the Darfur conflict.
I have always tried to educate others about what was happening in Darfur and why. The unfortunate truth is that the majority of people I talk to about Darfur look confused and ask what or where Darfur is. They simply do not know.
Now in no way am I blaming those that don't know. The main stream media has had a strangle hold on "reality" for Americans for quite sometime. They simply choke African issues out of the headlines and poof....Africa doesn't exist. The truth is people live in their bubbles. They don't want to deal with the real ugly stuff (like genocide), they simply want to turn on the news and let them tell us what is important. Basically some people don't care because they haven't been told to or why they should and others have given up because the whole thing is just so damn confusing. You got the Janjaweed, S.L.A., Al-Bashir, North-South War, Russia, China, Oil, Chad, ICC, J.E.M., and that's just the short list. It's a whirlwind of acronyms and atrocities.
I strongly believe that the vast majority of people in this world, after finding out about the horrible things people in Darfur are forced to go through, they want to help but the truth is they just don't know how. There are so many organizations involved and people get worried that their donation will go in someone's pocket instead of to the people that need it. Essentially, some people get frozen by confusion and fear, they give up and they end up do nothing.
There are so many ways that people can, and should, get involved so to help you get started I created two lists, On the Ground and On the Hill.
"On the Ground" is a list of agencies that are currently on the ground helping the refugees from the this conflict. These people are the ones dealing with this mess and seeing the results first hand. These are the people dealing with the malnutrition, starvation, disease, and sexual violence. This list will help you find a way to help the people directly.
"On the Hill" is a list of agencies currently lobbying our government to do something to help the people of Darfur. These people organize the rallies, inform our leaders, press the media, and refuse to let this conflict slip off into the abyss. This list will help you find a way to make some noise and get our government involved.
Now I am sure that there are more organizations that should be on these lists so if you know any that you think should be listed, please leave a comment and I will add them on my website www.championdarfur.com.
I made these lists in hopes that it will help people get involved, that is will help clear up some of the confusion. The situation in Darfur, the conflict, it is confusing in itself, helping those in need really shouldn't be hard. Get involved, get active.
0 comments:
Post a Comment