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The Student News Site of Saint Louis University

The University News

The Student News Site of Saint Louis University

The University News

Darfur: Why You Should Care

Did you know that there is currently a civil war raging in Sudan? Did you know that the majority of the gun-toting soldiers there are not men but rather young boys? Did you know that these young children are abducted from their homes, taken out into the bush and taught to kill? Did you know that in three months’ time in Sudan, 640 civilians were killed and more than 2,000 children abducted?
Did you know all this? I didn’t-not until tonight. How are these children invisible? How do we not know? How do we not see??
I gathered in the student lounge of Tegeler Hall with 25 other students and prepared to watch a documentary that I truly knew nothing about. I had decided to come on a whim and had dragged my boyfriend along. Lately, we’ve been trying to challenge ourselves to step out of our comfort zone, try new things, learn something new. Little did I know what I was about to learn.
The film is a documentary made by three college guys from California who decided to go to Sudan and film the civil war. But it was not until they arrived that they found the true story. This is not a war of men, but a war of children. Boys and girls 6, 10 and 12 years old are abducted from their homes at night, dragged into “the bush” and forced to become fellow killers or wives of the rebels, who have hidden in the bush and fought to overthrow the government for close to 20 years.
And so every night the children make the commute from their isolated, vulnerable homes to the towns, where they convene at bus stops, hospitals and churches to sleep and pray that there is safety in numbers. In America, we do not let our children ride their bikes alone down the street; in Sudan, children walk miles alone each night, through war-torn countrysides, because it is their only chance to survive. They sleep every night on thin blankets thrown over hard, cold and sometimes wet concrete floors, and they are lucky to eat once a day. Instead of hide-and-seek, they play “Rebels vs. Government,” hiding in the bushes, pretending to abduct and kill one another.
And for those who actually are abducted, it is truly “kill or be killed.” During one raid, the rebels stormed into a seminary where many young boys were staying. They pulled them out of bed one by one, and they shot a sleeping 8-year-old boy to show the rest that they meant business. The second they arrive in the bush, the boys are shown brutality and violence that we cannot even begin to comprehend. Some who have escaped talked of the rebels sawing limbs off children who disobeyed and leaving them lying there to die. These children, who should be drawing pictures of cartoons or animals, instead draw decapitated children, gun-yielding soldiers, raped women-and everywhere there is blood.
It is impossible not to cry as you see those who have been caught in the crossfire: girls who have been raped and now carry babies in their arms, a young man whose leg had to be amputated because of gun-shot wounds, boys who lift their shirts to show the machete scars that cover their backs. And yet what is most painful is what you see in their eyes. Or perhaps it is the lack thereof-these are children, and what should be their most defining characteristic, their innocence, is completely missing. It has been destroyed, and all that is left is fear and immense pain.
As I watched the film, I was so certain that I would write this article, that I would try to share with others what I had seen. And yet now, as I sit here writing, I feel as if these are nothing but words. No matter how long I sit here and how hard I try, I simply cannot find the words to express what I have seen.
All I can ask is that you take a few minutes and go see it for yourself. Step out of your comfort zone, try something new, learn something new. See these children, look at their faces, feel their pain and do not let them continue to be invisible. For more information on Sudan, visit www.invisiblechildren.com.

Carolyn Wendel is a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences

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