No Holiday For The Children of Darfur

While most children are getting excited for the holidays and presents, the children of Darfur are hoping for safety and the return to a normal life. "In September, there were 40 cases of sexually transmitted diseases reported in children under five. “ (voanews.com/English/12/12/2007)

It’s a horrible time to be a child in Darfur. It’s deplorable for anyone especially children to live under constant threat of rape and death.

If only Santa could reach Darfur.

When Your Children Ask about the Genocide in Darfur, What will YOU say?

When your children, and grandchildren study the genocide of Darfur in the future, what will you tell them when they ask why no one helped? As a child reading about the holocaust made me angry, seeing a film like Sophie’s Choice made me sick, and I couldn’t imagine living in a time in which something as vile as genocide was allowed to occur.

Now, whether people want to acknowledge it as a genocide the reality is, the people of Darfur, have been rapped, beaten and murdered. They have been driven from their homes. Those that have survived initially are living in overcrowded refugee camps. They depend on food from relief organizations to survive. If forces are able to halt the relief efforts and prohibit them from completing their deliveries the people in the camps will not eat, and they will die.

They cannot survive indefinitely in the camps. There is not enough sanitation, or even living space. The story of Darfur will be written in history books, and our children will ask how we let this happen.

There is a PBS Frontline special on Tuesday, November 20 9pm on Darfur called On Our Watch.