They are There. . . and We are Here

For many years in the arid Darfur region of Western Sudan, African farmers and shepherds in villages and nomadic Arab herders uneasily shared and competed for scarce water and grazing lands. The government of Sudan treated them all mostly with indifference, but in recent years began supporting some groups and others. When two African groups attacked government posts, demanding equality, protection, and rights, the government responded by arming and encouraging the nomadic groups, including the Janjaweed militia, to attack ethnic African villages.

They are there (see map on order of service cover). . . and we are here.

Mohamed Adam Yahya, who will come to speak in our Faith in Action series April 1^st, is a refugee from Darfur. Mr. Yahya was born in a small village in Massaleit, the West Darfur state. In 1993, his village suffered an early attack by the Janjaweed. His home was completely destroyed and most of his relatives and neighbors were killed. Yahya was studying at Al-Azhar University in Cairo at the time his village was destroyed.  He received word that his parents were safe, but he lost 21 other family members.

They are there. . . and we are here.

In just four years in Darfur, over 300,000 people have been killed, most of them not soldiers, and over 2.5 million people have been driven from their homes and into overcrowded refugee camps, especially in neighboring eastern Chad, where they are completely dependent on humanitarian aid. When Janjaweed raiders arrive at a village, the Sudanese military often has helicopters hovering nearby to provide air cover and to keep the villagers bewildered with bombs and gunfire from above.

They are there. . .and we are here.

On a mission along the border of Chad and Darfur, Human Rights Watch researchers gave children notebooks and crayons to keep them occupied while they spoke with the children’s parents. Without any instruction or guidance, the children drew scenes of what it was like to be a child where they lived: the attacks by the Janjaweed, the bombings by Sudanese government forces, the shootings, the burning of entire villages, and the flight to Chad.

They are there. . . and we are here.

Ayeuil is a teenager living in Texas, where he has a job working in a local grocery store. But he was born in Darfur. He was chased away from his village and he walked from one refugee camp to another for years, looking for someplace safe to stay. Finally he managed to get to the U.S., but he didn’t know where anyone in his family was or even if they were alive. He searched and searched, and finally found someone who knew his mother. They moved her to Kenya, where she lives now; Ayeuil sends his mother $250 each month from his little grocery-store paycheck.