Bringing hope to Darfur, half a world away

David Montero, Rocky Mountain News

Saturday, December 2, 2006

Ahmed Ali's oldest brother was murdered two years ago by government troops in Sudan. Then, that brother's 3-year-old daughter died of starvation in a refugee camp in Chad.

That's the hard truth he has learned about genocide: It often happens one death at a time.

"I will postpone my school. I will postpone my work to talk about this," Ali said.

"This is the most important thing - to stop my people from being murdered." Dressed in a crisp blue suit, the 38-year-old's modest Denver apartment is a world away from his tortured homeland.

But he has learned that in Colorado, allies can pop up in the most unlikely places, offering unexpected compassion and grass-roots support for his country. Allies who try to overcome the sense of hopelessness that goes hand in hand with fighting an enemy waging war on the other side of the planet.

Ali receives text messages every day from those who have managed to live another day in a country whose population is being drained through the systematic targeting of tribes in Sudan's Darfur region.

Sometimes he gets phone calls, including a few from another brother hiding out in the capital, Khartoum. It's a relief to hear from him because government-backed troops called Janjaweed are always on the prowl. If they find him, they will kill him, Ali said.

According to United Nations estimates, more than 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million have been displaced to refugee camps along the border of Sudan and Chad. As with the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, news of this genocide has been slow to travel to the U.S.

When Ali fled in 1995, he started a harrowing journey that led him to Lebanon and through Cuba, Guatemala and Belize before he was granted refugee status and moved to Denver in 2001.

Now he is studying engineering and hopes to graduate from the University of Colorado. He also has a full-time job as an auto mechanic and a part-time job at Federal Express. Between everything - and sometimes instead of - he will give lectures to students on what is happening in Darfur. His personal experience is what galvanizes listeners.

"The people there are living in hell," Ali said. "I must do what I can."

Ali said he hopes someday to return to Sudan, which he left with next to nothing - two shirts, two pairs of pants and the clothes he wore to the airport.

"It was like I was born new into the world," he said of his arrival in America.

His thoughts often drift back to his real home, but he knows that the only thing he can do now is stay here and continue to speak out against the slaughter, urging Americans to get involved.

That's how he met Olivia Watson.

A student's wake-up call

The dorm room at the University of Colorado is typically tiny. Unmade beds cluttered with clothes take up much of the space, and each student has her own little desk. A small television is shared, though Watson said she doesn't have much time to watch movies.

The freshman with fashionable black, square-rimmed glasses and red canvas tennis shoes is a long way from Darfur. So far, in fact, that she didn't even know about what was happening there until a couple of months ago, when she stopped to talk to a guy wearing a Darfur T-shirt on campus.

"I'm not an avid news follower, but when he said there was a genocide going on, I felt bad about it," she said. "How could I not have known this big thing was going on?"

Watson and her friend went to her computer and, after a Google search, she saw the first photos: dead people, maimed people and the bodies of children.

She started reading, then walking around campus and talking to people about it. Watson joined a college group dedicated to making others aware of the genocide.

With no background in activist organizations, she volunteered to do anything to help.

Her first task was to help get the Colorado legislature to divest the state pension fund from any companies doing business with Sudan. Soon, she found herself with other students, sitting in House Speaker Andrew Romanoff's office and talking about the process of divestment.

"The thought that even a single dollar might be going to help the genocide should be disgusting," Romanoff said. "We needed to start working on this yesterday."

Watson, who met Ali through her volunteer work, found herself writing e-mails to journalists, alerting them of the crusade.

She said she was nervous sending off the e-mails.

"I double and triple-checked them for spelling and grammar," she said. "I knew this was important, and it had to look professional because it really mattered."

She said she hopes state lawmakers will introduce legislation in next year's session to divest Colorado funds from Sudan, a small step in a big journey.

Her friend Ilana Fischer, 19, admits it can be difficult to get others their age to be passionate about something that seems so far away geographically.

Fischer said that her Jewish heritage helps drive her desire to stop the killings, and she rejects the argument that geography limits their potential impact.

"I've never felt insignificant, because you just don't know what comes from the things we can do here," she said.

Watson, a novice in tackling world problems, said that the guilt she sometimes feels over her comfortable life in the U.S. pushes her to dig deeper.

"It's what you decide to spend your time on," she said.

In fact, she had two papers due the following morning, and the lure of music and people having fun down the hallway is always a temptation. And how to choose the issue of Darfur over, say, the battle against poverty in the U.S.?

"I care about other issues, but you make choices," she said. "I've made my choice."

'They've suffered so much'

In the basement of the offices of the Colorado Episcopal Foundation in Denver, Anita Sanborn connects to the world through a laptop loaded with images from her recent trip to Darfur.

The 58-year-old can be seen in the photos, standing in the dusty desert outside a large refugee camp in Chad. Sanborn spent four days there, trying to provide aid for those who fled villages scorched and leveled by the Janjaweed.

It was 2005. It was bad then, she said.

It's worse now.

"They've suffered so much," she said. "And the idea that we Americans would be sitting on the sidelines - I just couldn't accept that."

She has worked with southern Sudanese who relocated to Denver in the late '90s, after tribes from that region fell under assault from the government. She said that working with them here was how she became aware of the dire situation of Darfurians now.

Going with a small group to the Sudan was an obvious step for her.

"I felt like it was my responsibility to go and be a witness to what I saw and heard - to speak about it and write about it whenever I could when I got back," she said.

Armed with her DVD, photos and passion, she spoke recently to a Boulder community group. About 25 showed up for the early morning presentation.

For Sanborn, that's 25 more people in Colorado who will think about the crisis in Darfur.

But she still sometimes feels paralyzed by how small one person can be in the face of such a large problem. She fights it when she sees her Sudanese friends, like Ali, however. It's a personal connection that propels her forward.

"I know them, I've met them. And when you know them, they connect you to the events," she said. "It's when you know them that their troubles become your troubles - if your heart is open."

Getting out the word

The group of Fort Collins High School students gathered in the classroom of Elaine Holmes to organize a benefit concert to raise money for those suffering in Darfur and Chad.

Called "Jamnesty," the students batted ideas back and forth about getting word out about the show to as wide an audience as possible. All agreed that music could be one of the primary ways to reach their peers for a story that is barely on their radar.

Hank Ditton, 17, said he could print T-shirts.

"Everybody loves T-shirts," one girl said to the class of 20 students.

"The people of Darfur are counting on you, Hank," Daniel Shaw joked.

Welcome to saving the world, Generation Y style.

The chatter in the classroom zeroed in on the cost of tickets, how much will be donated to the cause (it was decided $2 of the $6 ticket price will cover expenses, with the rest going to Darfur) and which bands would participate.

"It's a way for the students to learn about the world and make a difference," Holmes said. "The ones here have a sense of responsibility that's inspiring."

Shaw said he learned from his great aunt, who lived in San Francisco during the '60s and took in 30 street kids. She took part in the Freedom Rides in the South during the Civil Rights struggle.

"She made me care about people," he said.

Several students said that when they graduate, they would like to volunteer to work for a non-governmental agency in Chad to help the displaced. To them, the concert is the first step toward trying to stop the genocide.

"Generally, I'm a pretty empathetic person, and in my heart, I have this need to help people who are not helpable or are beyond help," said Alex Humphreys, 17.

"Part of it is my need to prove people wrong who think one person can't make a difference and at the same time help people," he said.

The concert was Tuesday. It drew 300 people at the Aggie Theater in Fort Collins - largely through word-of-mouth, via MySpace.com.

Holmes said about $1,700 will go to a group working to help Darfurians.

According to the nonprofit group Global Impact - not necessarily the organization the students will donate to - that amount of money could protect more than 250 people from cholera.

"I'm so proud of them," Holmes said.

A spreading darkness

Ali said he is heartened that these loose strands of people are trying to help.

But the massacre continues.

Just last week, according to the Associated Press, the Janjaweed raided a Darfurian village, forced several children into a thatched hut and set it on fire. Then the troops killed parents trying to rescue them.

Other reports say that the Janjaweed are spreading into Chad, keeping the genocide alive for yet another day.

Conflict and chaos in Darfur

• In an Arab-dominated country, Darfur's population is mostly black African. For years, there have been tensions between the mostly African farmers and the mostly Arab herders, who have competed for land.

• The current conflict began in 2003 when rebel groups started attacking government targets. In retaliation, the government launched a military and police campaign in Darfur. More than 2 million people have since fled their homes.

• Many spoke of government aircraft bombing villages, after which the Arab Janjaweed militia would ride in on camels and horses to slaughter, rape and steal. The government admits mobilizing "self-defense militias," but denies links to the Janjaweed and says that problems have been exaggerated. Those who fled the violence are now living in camps across Darfur. About 200,000 refugees have crossed the border into Chad.

• Those living in camps depend on food aid from international donors, but aid agencies have warned that continuing violence is making it difficult, or impossible, for them to provide assistance.

• The African Union - a grouping of African states - has sent 7,000 soldiers to try to monitor a cease-fire, but the small force has been unable to end the violence. Britain and the United States have been pushing for the United Nations to take over the peacekeeping mission, and the African Union says it would be happy to stand aside. Sudan, however, will not allow a U.N. force on its territory.

Source: Bbc News

How to help

Two organizations working to end violence in Darfur:

• Divest Colorado: A group committed to divesting public entities from companies that operate in Sudan and contribute to the government's campaign of genocide. Current campaigns target the state of Colorado's pension fund (PERA) and the endowment at the University of Colorado.

Online: www.divestcolorado.org

• The Save Darfur Coalition: A group of more than 170 faith-based, advocacy and humanitarian organizations that work to raise awareness about the genocide and mobilize a unified response to the atrocities in the Darfur region.

Online: www.savedarfur.org

monterod@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5236