Children

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has welcomed a proposal for outreach centers throughout South-East Asia to promote the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). “The new center, and its local and regional affiliates, will provide continuity for your initiatives,” he said in a video address to a meeting on achieving the MDGs held by the ASEAN in Bangkok. In reaching the MDGs, Ban stated that South-East Asia has made progress in reducing the number of people living in extreme poverty and the number of children who die of preventable causes. The region has also successfully raised primary school enrollment. However, progress remains uneven between countries and across indicators; income disparities have grown, too many young children are underweight and the environment is threatened, he stated.

Human rights groups sue Ghanaian government over detained refugees , for “gross violation” of the rights of Liberian refugees in reaction to the simmering stand-off over repatriations. Some 630 refugees, mostly women and children, are being detained under heavy police guard following their arrest by the Ministry of Interior on March 17. Of these refugees, 16 have already been stripped of their refugee status and deported to Liberia. The refugees were arrested for holding a protest to draw attention to what they said were unfair condition under which they would be repatriated.

Action Against Hunger’s nutritional surveys indicate alarming rates of malnutrition in Liberia’s capital of Monrovia: more than 12,500 children under five years of age are at risk of severe acute malnutrition. AAH, whose teams run and support nutritional activities in Monrovia, has launched an appeal for funding. AAH/ Action Contre la Faim’s (ACF) latest round of nutritional surveys shows extremely disturbing results that indicate a significant nutritional crisis in Grand Monrovia: of the 800 children weighed, measured, and examined, 17.6% (Z-score) were suffering of acute malnutrition, above the 15% threshold that defines a nutritional crisis. The data indicate that some 12,500 children under 5 years of age are in danger.

Namibian flood victims need more than $1 million of assistance, where floods falling recent above-average rainfall have displaced tens of thousands of people and sparked fears of a surge in infectious diseases. More than 65,000 people could eventually be displaced by the floods, UNICEF said in an update issued this week. UNICEF said it was particularly concerned about the risks faced by orphans and other vulnerable children given that northern Namibia is one of the country’s most densely populated area’s and its HIV rates range from 20 to 40 per cent.

‘Slaves’ saved from Italian circus, two teenage Bulgarian sisters have been rescued by Italian police from a circus in which one of them is said to have been forced to swim with piranhas. Police say that while the 19-year-old sister had to swim in a transparent tank, the 16-year-old had snakes draped across her body and suffered bites. Four members of the family have been freed from what has been described as a “circus of horrors” south of Naples. Three men have been arrested and charged with holding them in slavery.

10,000 health workers stop polio in one of most dangerous places on earth, according to the WHO. Polio appears to have been wiped out from Somalia, the World Health Organization and its partners in the fight against the paralyzing disease said Monday. The “landmark victory” was the result of thousands of health workers and volunteers vaccinating more than 1.8 million Somali children under five years old, said the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, which also includes UNICEF, Rotary International and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

103 children from Abéché return to their families, four and a half months after the French charity, Zoe’s Ark was accused of child trafficking. Eighty-three of the 81 boys and 22 girls left the Abéché orphanage in Eastern Chad where they had been put up by UNICEF and the Ministry of Social Action since 26 October 2007.

UNICEF sends emergency education supplies to Zambia, as part of its emergency response to assist flood affected schools. UNICEF, has flown in 58 schools-in-a-box, each box contains enough supplies for 100 children.

Authorities in the Republic of Congo have lifted a temporary ban imposed four months ago following the arrest on 25 October 2007 in neighboring Chad of members of a French NGO who were charged with abducting 103 children.

Nutrition experts say governments are not investing enough to prevent and treat malnutrition in women and children in poor countries. “The amount donors have given to combating malnutrition is lamentable,” Saul Morris, one of the authors of a series of reports on child survival published recently by The Lancet medical journal.

In Egypt a drive to boost girls’ education, the drive is sponsored by the government and the UN. The goal is to build over 1,000 “girl-friendly” schools in seven provinces, as there due to the low attendence of girls. Many girls do not attend school due to the proximity of schools, poverty, child labor, gender inequality, and early marriage.

In Sudan around 650,000 or half of all children in Darfur do not receive an education, despite efforts by various organizations to provide schooling in camps and towns across the western Sudanese region, according to Save the Children.

In Chad many young people desperately seeking sex education. Some of the young people who seek help at the Youth Information and Orientation Centre for Reproductive Health (CIOJ) in N’Djamena, capital of Chad, do not understand how they became pregnant or contracted a sexually transmitted infection (STI). Workers at the center blame the high levels of ignorance on the failure of parents to talk to their children about sex.

Burundi’s teachers are calling for more HIV/AIDS education in schools, to ensure that older primary school pupils and secondary school students, many of whom are sexually active, are properly equipped with the facts about the pandemic. Ernest Mberamiheto, deputy minister in charge of primary and secondary education, said government studies in 2004 revealed that 23 percent of school children had had sexual intercourse by the age of 14.

In the Niger Delta there is no lack of youth ready to join militias. And while many young boys want out of the fight disarment will still leave wages twice or three times less, leaving many feeling that the life of a militant is the only hope for economic stability.

Israel sentences man for “honor” killing of sister, the court handed down a 16-year prison sentence Tuesday against a man accused of participating in the killing of his sister, after women in the family stepped forward to testify against the suspect. The sister was the eighth female family member to be killed in recent years, but this was the first conviction in any of the cases. She was 18 at the time, and was the eighth female member of the Abu Ghanem clan to have been killed in seven years

Meningitis is spreading across the region with the death toll reaching 422 since the beginning of 2008 yet, contrary to several recent reports, a World Health Organization (WHO) official said the figures are lower than previous years and that West Africa is well-prepared to contain the disease. Low cost meningitis vaccine developed, which has proven to be highly effective in trials in West Africa, and will be introduced in 2009.

South African schools are the most dangerous in the world, and if the issue is not addressed it will stunt children’s education and jeopardize the future development of the country, according to the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR). However experts warn that safety is part of a more complex problem.

Twenty-four cities from Atlanta to Tel Aviv to Bangkok have agreed to turn off their lights for one hour on March 29 to draw attention to global warming. Organizers said more cities may join the event and that some 30 million people may participate (Associated Press). In related news UN officials say Human rights threatened by global warming

Central Mozambique is recovering from its worst-ever flood, emergency workers are trying to contain an outbreak of cholera, affecting more than 600 people in Mutarara district, Tete province, leaving ten people dead. ActionAid is working with the government and ngos to improve hygiene in resettlement camps, 100,000 have been evacuated, where many still live in tents or simple shelters.

Bolivia has officially declared a natural disaster, as more than 60,000 families affected by heavy flooding. Many have been rescued and taken to camps, hundreds are suffering from waterborne diseases and acute diarrhea. An estimated 52 people have died, eight are missing and more than 616,000 hectares of crops destroyed as rivers burst their banks (Plan UK).

In Haiti ensuring adequate nutrition for children younger than two is more beneficial than intervening with food assistance after young children show signs of malnourishment, according to a study published this month by the Lancet, a leading medical journal. The study compared the impact of two approaches implemented by US government-funded World Vision programs in Haiti. Researchers found that indicators of malnutrition - stunting, wasting and underweight - were 4% to 6% lower in communities participating in preventive programs, than those that which used recuperative approaches. (ReliefWeb)

In Indonesia poverty in the tsunami struck region of Aceh has fallen below the pre-disaster level, a new World Bank report shows, due to both peace and the large reconstruction effort. The Aceh Poverty Assessment 2008 report shows poverty in Aceh increased slightly in the aftermath of the tsunami, from 28.4% in 2004 to 32.6% in 2005. However, the poverty rate fell again in 2006 to 26.5%, below the pre-tsunami level, suggesting that the short lived rise was due to reconstruction activities. Despite any improvements, poverty in Aceh remains significantly higher than in the rest of Indonesia, with more than 30% of rural households below the poverty line, compared to less than 15% in urban areas.

“There are few more challenging places to have a healthy childhood than Haiti!”

-Adriano González-Regueral, UNICEF’s Country Representative
(UNICEF Press Release: Survival is Greatest Challenge for Haiti’s Children ).

The poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti truly is a country in crisis, plagued by poverty, disease, infant mortality, high illiteracy rates, human trafficking, violence and abuse among high numbers of street children and hunger.

A recent AP article showed the gravity of hunger that Haitians are reduced to…eating mud. Mud cookies, which are made from dirt, salt and vegetable shortening, are many children’s only source of food some days, and are now a staple of a large number of Haitians diets. Increasing food prices, which are mainly due to increased oil prices and hurricane’s, have hit many already fragile Haitians hard. Haiti is a nation which relies on 40% of its food from imports for survival, but rising prices in a nation as poor as Haiti, have only burdened those who cannot carry what has already been placed upon them.

In 2006 UNICEF issued a Child Alert Report for Haiti, highlighting the increased need for support and action in the country and internationally. Haiti has the highest infant mortality rate in the world for children under 5 years old, with diarrhea, respiratory infections, malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS are the leading causes of death. However this is not the only large scale issue facing Haitian children. According to UNICEF; Some 60% of Haitians lack access to basic health-care services. Some 19,000 children are infected with HIV/AIDS. At least 2,000 children are trafficked every year to the Dominican Republic, forced to work as child labors. Less than half of the children attend school, with less than 2% finishing secondary school. In Haiti some 1,000 children are forced to work as messengers, spies and even soldiers for armed gangs in Port Au Prince, in addition there is an estimated 3,000 children enslaved as domestic workers.

The long term future for most Haitian children is one of continued struggle.

Related Links and Articles:

Haiti’s President-elect René Préval pledges to put children on top of political agenda

Haiti: Grim reality for street children

No one needs to tell us that children who have proper diets of nutritious food from an early age will have opportunities at a more prosperous life than their malnourished counter parts. Nutrition directly relates to a child’s health, but what about a child’s future wealth?

According to a recent study in The Lancet, a leading British medical journal, economic growth is directly related to a child’s access to nutrition from an early age. A study of boys in four villages in Guatemala, showed that those receiving atole (a cereal made of skimmed milk powder, sugar and vegetable protein), up to the age of two had 46% higher earnings than those who received atole in their first three years earned 37% higher wages on average, while those who’s diet did not contain atole until after the age of three had no economic benefits as adults.

According John Hoddinott, lead author of The Lancet’s article and a senior research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the research is the first to show direct evidence of the effects of early childhood nutrition programmes on adult economic productivity and incomes…Until the Guatemala study, “substantial, but indirect, evidence from previous research suggested that providing infants and very young children with healthy, nutritious food is a long-term economic investment for developing countries” (Good early nutrition can make you richer).

“The findings provide a strong argument for countries in Africa and Asia to increase investment in child nutrition programmes ‘as they drive long-term economic growth by leading to healthier and more productive adults.’”

Poor nutrition is directly related to a child’s development and other related diseases.  For example iron deficiency in infancy can lead to permanent loss of IQ.  Both iron deficiency and anemia can cause shortened attention span, irritability, fatigue, and difficulty with concentration.  Therefore the corelation between nutrition and a child’s ability to learn is well established, and it must be seen as a key factor in a countries long term development strategy.

Regardless of the studies results it appears an obvious that adequate nutrition should be a number one priority for both the international communities at all levels, as not only the building blocs of a child’s future, but of a nations future. Healthy children equal a healthy global economy and future for all. Sadly while it appears obvious that the solution to sustainability and prosperity lie in the early stages of child development, conflict and instability, poor government and aid infrastructures, and political will continue to hinder the development of millions of children on a daily basis across the globe.

Most anyone knows that the first two years in a child’s life key to adult development, and it is the undernourishment of children and pregnant mothers that is the underlying cause of some 3.5 million preventable child deaths each year. After the age of two much of a child’s life is already permanently imprinted upon them, especially their future health. Children who spend their first two years undernourished face irreversible damage, the effects of which linger the remainder of their lives. The effects of undernourishment of children during their first two years of life can lead to irreversible damage, including stunting, shorter adult height, mental retardation, difficulty in school and with concentration, and decreased birth weight in offspring. Children who are malnourished are at high risk for a number of vitamin deficiencies including; rickets, scurvy, anemia, spina bifida, osteoporosis, and a generally weekend immune system which can leave them susceptible to other diseases and illnesses. All of these causes can thus lead to a shorter life span, and, or a decreased ability to in adulthood to preform and thus effect their income.

A series of reports by The Lancet: Maternal and Child Undernutrition, have shown that over 1/3rd of the deaths of child hood deaths, and 11% of diseases worldwide, are directly caused by maternal and children undernutrion. The series was done in 6 parts focuses on; Nutrition has slipped through the gap, Over a third of child deaths and 11% of global disease burden due to maternal and child undernutrition, Poor fetal growth or stunting in first two years of life leads to huge negative consequences in later life, Maternal and child nutrition interventions could prevent a quarter of child deaths in poor communities, 80% of world’s undernourished children live in just 20 countries, and The international nutrition system: fragmented, dysfunctional and desperately in need of reform.

The final paper calls for reform to the system, which is comprised of donor organizations, governments, academia and the private sector. The papers claims that, “The moment is ripe for these reforms. Their implementation would transform the political salience of undernutrition, and offer the chance of a better, more productive life to the 67 million children born each year in the countries most severely afflicted by undernutrition.” Such reforms that the paper calls for include, an increase in funding and funding flexibility, an increase in human resources, sustainable policies, coordination of and increasing interest in the issues.

With 80% of the world’s undernourished children living in just 20 countries and in only four of the worlds regions, Africa, Asia, western Pacific and the Middle East, one would think that targeting this preventable tragedy from befalling millions more children would be easy. However the truth is that we have stood face to face with this preventable killer year after year, and decade after decade. Will 2008 be the year we head the call of millions of children around the world?

In order to end undernourishment in children we must focus heavily on prenatal and postnatal care and nutrition for mothers, as this is the starting point for a lifetime of undernourishment and disease. Country specific plans to educate prevent and treat undernourishment and all malnutrition related issues must be put into place. But the fight to end hunger is not one based merely on food, it is one based on sustainability and nutrition, so we can not just send food aid and think the problem is solved. As I mention in my earlier post, Can we find an end to poverty in 2008?, that ‘while food aid is an immediate need, it cannot be the end of the solution if we are to find sustainable ways out of poverty. What developing nations need is peace and stability, and this needs to be the number one resolution on the 2008 agenda, if we are going to heal the wound of poverty.’ Without peace and economic stability the cycle of poverty and the undernourishment of millions of children looks like it will continue well into the generations to come.

Please these previous posts for more information:
Poverty’s Children…
A Call to Increase the Use of Ready to Use Foods to Fight Malnutrition
Looking to Kenya: Forecasting, preventing and alleviating famine…can we really do it?
Millions of Children Worldwide Die From Malnutrition, but a Few Dollars a Year Can Save Them!
Is Breastfeeding heading for extinction in the Philippines?
Will We Ever See an end to Hunger in Africa?

Here are some of the headlines from the last few weeks of December:

According to a report entitled, Education Watch 2006, much needs to be done to close the gap between the rich and the poor in the primary educational level. “About 50 percent of primary and 80 percent of secondary level students drop out of school in Bangladesh, according to a report released on 17 December by the Campaign for Popular Education (CAMPE) , a Bangladeshi non-governmental organization (NGO)” (High rate of school dropouts). The report also highlights that the country is not at all on track to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) set for 2015.

The level of malnutrition in West Africa was marginally lower in 2007, and therefore the total aid requests for 2008 are also lower. However concern is not to be put aside as food security remains at an issue of grave concern. “There is less of a malnutrition crisis this year but [structural] problems of food security are still a serious concern,” Hervé Ludovic de Lys the regional head of the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs told IRIN at the launch of the 2008 CAP which called on donors to provide funds for projects costing a total of US$312 million. The good news is that improving food security is cheaper than treating malnutrition,” he said (Slight drop in malnutrition but food remains scarce).

The Ebola out brake that took hold of the Congo appears to be under control, but many worry it will not last long. Health official Sam Okware, stated that a task force was set up to raise awareness and work to end the use of traditional circumcision rituals in the affected areas, until the epidemic has cleared. Okware also stated that those infected who have been discharged from hospital are being informed about the risks of sex, and the spreading of the disease through semen, thus they are advised to abstain for three months (Ebola under control but experts fear re-emergence in Congo).

In mid December a measles outbreak left at least 200 children in Nigeria dead and hundreds more infected, according to the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (“Hundreds” dead in measles outbreak). Measles can cause death, and is also one of the major causes of child blindness in Africa. Measles can also lead to brain damage, which can cause deafness and paralysis.

On December 12th the United States Senate unanimously passed the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act (SADA). The SADA will be sent to the House of Representatives for consideration. In August, the House passed a similar bill, the Darfur Accountability and Divestment Act.

In the 16 days leading up to International Human Rights Day, December 10th, organizations around the globe assisted the the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), raising awareness against gender-based violence (GBV) (Awareness-raising key to tackling gender violence).

Disabilities are always a hindrance to anyone, but in Afghanistan children are being cut by a double edge sword. There is an estimated 24.5 million disabled persons with a disability in Afghanistan, with half under the age of 19. “Over 72 percent of all disabled people over six have not received any education, Afghanistan’s National Disability Survey (NDS) said in 2005. ” (Disabled people have tough time, lack education, jobs). With schools lacking resources and facilities to accommodate those children with a disability, the situation for disabled children looks to remain unchanged until more resources and systems are put into place.

The UN has launched a US$3.8-billion appeal to provide emergency aid to 25 million people next year as they struggle to survive conflict, climate-related disasters and other humanitarian crises. “We live in a world of unprecedented prosperity. But despite this, millions of people continue to endure crises where the essentials of existence - clean water, life-saving drugs, and emergency shelter among others - are denied them and where insecurity is a part of everyday life,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stated in a forward to the 2008 Humanitarian Appeal, launched at the UN’s European headquarters in Geneva on 10 December.

SOMALIA: Aid appeal broadened to cope with massive displacement - The conflict in Somalia has only continued this year, as a result leaving massive displacement, with an estimated 600,000 fleeing Mogadishu, many of which risk death to reach Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Children are facing extreme suffering after years of suffering. “An estimated 83,000 children [excluding those in displaced families] are moderately or severely malnourished in south/central Somalia. These children are at increased risk of death in a country where, already, one in 12 children will die before his or her first birthday and one in seven will die before reaching the age of five,” humanitarian agencies said.

Myanmar deaths higher than U.N. estimate: The death toll following the uprising in Burma has left the a question of the true number lives lost. Posing as tourist a group of Buddhists entered the country in the wake of the September monk-led uprising to research and document the reality of the causalities. Their numbers, at at least 70, appear more than double of the UN’s estimated death toll of 31.

In the past weeks eyes and ears in Sudan, haven’t been on Darfur, but on a British Teacher who was imprisoned over a blasphemous teddy bear. The bear was part of a primary class project and the out lash arose over the children choice of a name, Mohammad. The act by the teacher was seen as a direct insult to Muslims everywhere, despite many who believed it was a silly or innocent mistake. Crowds in Khartoum called for Gillian Gibbons execution, as uproar over the toy’s insult to Islam ensued. Thankfully for Gibbons, she was pardoned by President Bashir and released on December 6th, while many Muslims and non-Muslims alike waited in anticipation for her save return to the UK. “I have great respect for the Islamic religion and would not knowingly offend anyone and I am sorry if I caused any distress. I am looking forward to seeing my family and friends but I am very sorry that I will be unable to return to Sudan and work in Unity High School as the teacher of 2X.”, stated Gibbons after her pardon (Teddy bear teacher leaves Sudan after pardon).

Anti-polio campaign targets four million children in Yemen, as a three-day national anti-polio campaign began on 15 December in to ensure the complete eradication of the disease. Spearheaded by Yemen’s Ministry of Health - with support from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Health Organization (WHO) and USAID - the immunization drive is targeting just over four million children aged five and under.

In Pakistan the eradication of Polio has been a high priority throughout the year, and now the government’s in a further drive to eradicate polio. From December 11th-13th, approximately 14 million children under the age of five, where immunized in 44 high-risk districts, including Swat, where anti-immunization efforts have been met with opposition. The vaccination drive was the joint effort of of the government of Pakistan, WHO and UNICEF.

In South Africa the rules are simple no registration, no benefits and this includes benefits such as child support. UNICEF estimates that only half of the countries children’s births have been registered, which will prohibit many from receiving benefits as a birth certificate is required to obtain an identity document. However a new outreach program is underway, using schools to reach tens of thousands of rural South Africans get grants and benefit services.

According to a new report, The Yemen Poverty Assessment, which was released on 3 December, poverty is severely effecting the children of Yemen. The report which was jointly prepared by the government of Yemen, the World Bank, and UN Development Program (UNDP), reveled that some 30 percent of children aged 2-5 severely stunted. “According to the UN World Food Program (WFP), child malnutrition rates in Yemen are amongst the highest in the world, with infant and under-five mortality rates estimated at 76 and 102 per 1,000 live births, respectively.”

UN launches regional human rights office, The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) signed an agreement with the Senegalese government on 3 December to set up a regional office in the capital, Dakar. The office which will be the UN’s fourth African regional office in Africa is expected to open in early 2008, and on top of the agenda are issues of human trafficking and violence against women and girls.

Despite years of improvement since the drought of 2005 in Malawi malnutrition is still a threat to the countries children. Inadequate healthcare and food security are largely to blame, as some 39,000 are still being treated for malnutrition and related illnesses. “The scale of the malnutrition problem in Malawi is clearly very large and, given its consequences for economic development and child survival, calls for immediate and large-scale action,” said Aida Girma, UNICEF Resident Representative.

Please find some of the past few weeks news headlines and summaries, related to children:

TACKLING TEENAGE PREGNANCY: UK Women to Get Pill without Prescription - The UK has the highest teen pregnancy rate in Western Europe, and a steadily rising abortion rate, and the government is looking at a new scheme which will allow one to get birth control pills without a prescription, and they are considering letting underage girls onto the scheme. The government also announced that it was looking into making early-stage terminations available in doctors’ offices.

Schoolboy killed in rare Indian school shooting - While school shootings seem to have almost become a phenomenon in the US, in India the thought was seen as absurd, until the unthinkable happened and two boys took turns shooting a fellow classmate to death.

African human traffic is catalyst for child abuse - “There are very few institutions ready to help them … there is no psychological support for these children. Their families do not understand, and sweep it under the carpet,” said Plan’s Serigne Mor Mbaye, who worked on the pilot research program in Togo.

LESOTHO: A desire to learn stifled by hunger - Children crowd into school rooms full of ambition, but soon hunger overcomes them and their concentration fades. Drought has left the country with high levels of food insecurity, and it is the children who are paying the heaviest price. The country has a high level of AIDS orphans, and those children are far worse as their guardians leave feeding them to last, if at all. While aid agencies have begun some feeding schemes, they have yet to begin for secondary school students.

IRAQ: Children with serious illnesses abandoned- Children in war torn Iraq have disproportanatly suffered has the war and instablitiy continues, with around 1.6 million children under 12 years old are now homeless according to the country’s Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. Many due to poverty and violence, however a large portion of children are left as they are sick, and families are abandoning them as they cannot care for them. “The problem is even more serious among new-born babies and there are many cases of children aged 1-12 abandoned,” said Mayada Marouf, a spokesperson for KCA. “Most of them have a life-threatening disease and their families cannot afford treatment.” Many children are not completely abandoned but left with relatives who can bare not to turn them away, and soon find themselves with a house full of children they cannot adequately care for.

DRC: “The blood keeps flowing” -The children of the Congo continue to suffer in large scale numbers as violence continues to tear the country apart. Hunger and disease are taking countless numbers of children, parents are left in fear both from violence and that their children will starve to death. According to MSF’s nutrition center see 40 cases a day - mainly children younger than five, who have been surviving on a diet of sorghum wheat, cassava and maize, which lack the nutrients they need. Additionally the nutrition center runs a ambulatory feeding program, for 1,200 vulnerable children in the district. Save the Children also runs a feeding center for the sickest of the children, children like 8 year old Sekabamdu Utamuleza, who after three weeks of treatment has failed to improve. The aid agencies working in the region are over burdened, and there is not enough medical staff to care for all the needy children.

“Where there is no hope, one must invent hope.” - Albert Camus

Recently I have written a few posts on the situation in Sudan, and I was fortunate enough to attend the prescreening last night of Sand and Sorrow, which premiers on HBO on December 6th at 8pn ET. The event was held Monday, December 3, at the National Cable & Telecommunications Association Theater, in Washington, DC. HBO, in conjunction with Enough and Campus Progress, which is the student arm of the Center for American Progress.

Bodies scattered across the barren land, their outline remains long after they are gone. Blood red sand stained from the bodies who spilled their blood fighting for their land, homes, and futures. Scorched bodies lie like an invisible mass of death, a plague haunting only those who have been forced to bare witness. A plague with no cure in sight!

Images seared on your brain, in your mind, in your heart…They cannot escape your soul, forever etched in your memory, and this is exactly what the films producers want you to walk away with. The film does not gloss over the horrors that plague Sudan, but shows graphic images of the bodies of those who have been burned alive, the faces of those who still cling to life, and burned out villages among the arid land. The film tells the real stories of tragedy from those who have lived to bare witness to the acts of genocide and systematic rapes. For too long the cries of Sudan have fallen on deaf ears, and thus “Sand and Sorrow” “examines the international community’s ‘legacy of failure’ to respond to such profound crimes against humanity in the past.” “Never Again!”, are the words we have failed to live by time and time again. The films Director, Paul Freedman, said in response to our failures to act, even as the ten year anniversary of Rwanda unfolded, and our continuous failure to end the genocide in Sudan;

“We will do it slowly and we will call it Darfur.
Everybody knows, yet we don’t do anything….
we stand idly by and do nothing!”

Narrated by George Clooney, the film relies heavily on the powerful interviews of Samantha Power, John Pendergast and Nick Kristof. However in its brief 93 minutes the producers take you into an American High School, and Capital Hill, to give you some incite into the concern and frustration back home. In the film also follows a contingent of African Union peacekeeping forces in Darfur, which included Sabina Blay, an police woman from Ghana. Blay, organized a forum for rape victims at an IDP camp in Chad, seeing that many sought treatment for the sexual assaults that had been inflicted upon them. “What those children saw is something that human beings should never see”, Blay said with sadness in her eyes.

Burned bodies, utter carnage, terror and despair…that is the description of Darfur…the lives of millions of displaced children, many now without fathers, others the reminders of their mother violent attackers. But their suffering is far from over as those called to protect them are rendered helpless, only able to watch, video and document the horrors that continue to unfold before their very eyes. The innocent civilians of Darfur are far from safe, as under their watchful eyes the camps burn, and innocence continues to die.

Who will end the terror and sorrow in the sand? The US has condemned the acts in Sudan as genocide, yet still we sit sill, and no policies have yet been made. As South African President Mbeki said, “The solution doesn’t lie in making radical statements.” We can not condemn the crisis and then sit back and hope it will fix itself, for five years later we are only facing a new enemy of disease and hunger. Death and violence is common in every day life in Sudan, as IDP’s spend endless days in unknowing anguish, in fear and in hope, and day after day they wait alone and in silence.

“Human lives are heavy or light depending on where they are!” -John Pendergast

Following the film there was a Q&A discussion featuring John Prendergast, co-chair of the ENOUGH Project, and Director Paul Freedman, who also produced and directed “Rwanda—Do Scars Ever Fade?”. The discussion was moderated by Erica Williams the Issue Campaigns Manager at Campus Progress.

What do we do, well John Pendergast made a great statement which says it simply;

“There has to be a cost for committing Genocide…they want to be accepted internationaly . These guys change their behavior if pressured hard enough, lets pressure them!”

Campus Progress and Enough are encouraging people to have a Party with a Purpose . Gather your friends, family, students and classmates, then register your party and get discussion materials. Following the film you will have the opportunity to participate in ‘Join a Call’ with John Prendergast, Samantha Power and Nick Kristof after the film.

Related Articles and Links:
HBO buys Darfur docu ‘Sand and Sorrow’
Save Darfur
Smallest Witnesses