我们的小组提早访问营地,使他们能够陪伴孩子们走路上学. 孩子们唱有关大尔富尔的歌曲开始他们的日子. 一些年纪较大的学生们谈论将他们带到难民营的悲剧,和他们为将来的希望.

歌曲在他们的教育扮演一大角色,这些歌词谈论达尔富尔的局势.

早上的上学典礼中, 女孩们在一群儿童的中间一起来唱.

加布里埃尔采访四位年轻人, 年龄14至18岁.

“我们当然想念我们苏丹,但怎样才能返回家” 这些年轻人唱着.

有些年轻人计划将来当教授,或者是总统!

他们说教育和英语,对他们来说是多么地重要. 他们也有游戏活动,喜欢足球或排球.

其中的男孩告诉我们,他的村庄遭到苏丹政府袭击,所有房屋被焚烧,并抢走了所有的动物及资产. 他说,许多人被杀死,包括他的家人. 他列出了他们的名字.

另一位青年男子再次肯定地说,这些残害人民的士兵是由苏丹政府派出.

Jour 6, 15 Juillet 2007-07-15

Gabriel rend visite à des écoliers dans le camp.

Dans ce camp il y 3 écoles primaires et secondaires avec 1600 élèves.

Le chant tient une large part dans leur éducation, ces chants parlent de la situation au Darfour.

Lors de l’Assemblée du matin, des jeunes filles viennent chanter au milieu du groupe d’enfants.

Gabriel interview quatre jeunes gens entre 14 et 18 ans.

« Nous aimons notre Soudan, mais comment pouvons-nous retourner au Soudan », ce sont les paroles de la chanson proposée par le jeune homme.

Les jeunes envisagent d’être professeurs plus tard, ou président du pays !

Ils disent combien la langue anglaise est importante pour eux.

Ils ont également des activités ludiques et disent aimer le football ou le volley.

L’un des garçons raconte que son village a été attaqué par le Soudan, et il dit connaître beaucoup de gens tués, dans sa famille particulièrement.

Le jeune homme est affirmatif, il répète qu’ils ont été victimes des soldats envoyés par le gouvernement du Soudan.

There are many rituals shared, with subtle variations, by all of humanity. They cut through the man-made barriers that have arisen over time – borders, skin color, amount of wealth – and remind us that we are much more same than different. One of these rituals is school-going. In a refugee camp set in the Chadian desert, every school day children get dressed, pack their books, join their friends and set off to school together. We were fortunate to join as insiders today.

As the school came into view, we saw that many kids were playing in the compound. Ah, that beloved time right before the start of school when great childhood storylines are played out. Some kids caught sight of us, and started coming towards. Within a few moments, it seemed like the entire school population was swarming around us. Everyone was very friendly and greeting us, but I still felt a bit uncomfortable being the object of curiosity for so many people! After a bit more walking we reached the principal’s office, and he brought out chairs for us. So there we were, sitting outside his office, with a few hundred students standing right in front of us. Then with just a few words and hand gestures from the principal, everyone dispersed. Respect of elders (and maybe authority) is clear here, even though it is often at odds with pure youthful exuberance.

After the assembly, which included the singing of songs about Darfur, the kids filed off inside to await their teachers. Connie and I spoke with a few older-looking boys right outside their classroom. One was 18, another was 21 (though he looked more mature than that). They spoke very good English considering they had only started learning it upon arriving at the camp a few years back, but they were all in grade 5. The day before, we spoke to a former Darfuri teacher who said that the government had not spent money on Darfur for a long time. Recently I came upon the average literacy for Darfuri refugees in a group of camps. It was significantly lower than the overall Sudan number. While these statements are by no means solid science, one thing is clear: there were legitimate triggers for the dissent in Darfur, so for there to be a true and lasting peace, there has to be a commitment by those in power to give Darfur its share of physical and human development.

Later, we interviewed four students who had been selected by their teacher to speak with us in English. Two future teachers, a future professor of languages, and a future president of Sudan. Gabriel asked them about the songs they sang, and the boys sang one to us. I thought the lyrics were very moving, so here they are again as translated by Assad, the 18 year old boy:

We love our Sudan, we love our Sudan
But we have desire to return back in our Sudan
But we not have any free, how can we return back, how can we return back in our Sudan
How can we return back in our Sudan
We never have any education, how can we return back in our Sudan
We love our Sudan very much, very much

He really sounded like he meant it. Almost everyone we’ve spoken to, despite the atrocities they experienced, wants to return to Darfur. How many of us can claim so much love for our country? Why should not a government reciprocate this love and by doing so achieve progress through true partnership? Yes, I hear, things are “not so simple”.

As guiding principles, I believe they really are.

Response to Day 6 comments from Mami, Zahara, Karine, Gayle, Wally, Tere, Mimi, Meron, Daniel and Andrez!

Click here to read more »

La Escuelita.

Nos fuimos muy temprano para acompañar a los niños a su escuela en la mañana. Ya nos esperaban. Nos fuimos caminando y a cada paso se unían más y más hasta que eran cientos de niños en camino a la escuelita. Ellos como cualquiera de nuestros niños, se reían, jugaban, se tomaban de la mano y a pesar de que viven en ese ambiente tan horrible, van en busca de algo normal, para así sentir dignidad. Ellos son el futuro. Que futuro pueden tener si el mundo no les ayuda a solucionar este problema tan complicado. Lo que no es complicado y muy sencillo es que genocidio y sostener vidas de esta manera no es HUMANO!

En el video verán una asamblea y también la plática que tuvo Gabriel y Yuen-Lin con algunos alumnos ya más grandes. Yo platiqué con uno de ellos y me preguntó que cuando podía volver a Darfur, y que si nosotros los podíamos ayudar a regresar. Imagínense como me sentí. Pues le contesté que no teníamos poder político pero que habíamos venido a decirles que hay gente en el mundo que si los considera y que también nuestra misión era llevar su mensaje a muchos más. Me sentí tan triste de ver sus caras de resignación. Click here to read more »

Today we started very early we wanted to walk to school with the kids, so we were there by 7:30.As always we were greeted like royalty. Alhafis, he was waiting, to show me a little car he had made out of some plastic bottle and you remember the little girl who showed me her homework? Her name is Guitsma, I gave her and some of the other girls and women some simple bracelets my sister in law Gina and my nieces and nephews made. They were a hit!

As we started our walk, more and more children were joining our group as we passed each of the corridors, soon it was hundreds walking together; I was overwhelmed that all these hundreds of children went about in a very normal way, laughing, playing, it was like seeing any of our kids walk to school with their buddies, and yet in such an awful setting.

We made our way to the head master’s building. They have constructed the only large structures that I have seen here, out of mud bricks, that they make .The usual introductions and we were given permission to film and he also gave us some numbers; there are 1670 children in this school (there are two other schools at the camp) and 18 teachers, they teach up to the 5th grade, and have 18 classrooms. Click here to read more »