So many thoughts running through my head...

So many thoughts running through my mind…

SO I have 6 days of teaching left, 13 days left in Uganda. Where has time gone? Have I done any good in Gulu? What will remain after I am gone? What does Denis really think of me, and my strategies? We had a huge victory on Tuesday in the classroom, with the students modeling multiplying fractions on their own, and I felt like he was finally sold on some of the new strategies.
This week, I have been reading the newspaper a ton. People here get their news solely from the radio and the newspaper. There are 2 main newspapers, one is from the government and is many times biased and uses the paper as propaganda, and the other is much more reliable when reporting and quoting the news. It makes me wonder how is the media used in the U.S. to influence the way we Americans think, do we see the true reality of what is happening around the world?
When we are sitting in the staffroom, planning, marking, or just conversing, and someone walks in with the newspaper, it is like they have just walked in with GOLD. Everyone is grabbing at it or looking over eachothers shoulders to read it! Much like how my dad and I used to race for the sports page in the morning at the breakfast table when I was growing up. So this week I have found myself reading a lot of the newspaper with Denis (the reliable news paper). Earlier this week the ICC (International Criminal Court) has put out a request for the arrest of the Sudan President, Bashir. It has made headlines daily. Many of his supporters are protesting, as well as the AU (African Union) which is made up of many African Presidents. The American in me could not believe that anyone would ever support this man! He is a man who had been committing mass genocide through rape and torture in Darfur and Southern Sudan for years! If I was in America, I would say thank God the ICC has finally decided to arrest this man! Being in Uganda, hearing so many different sides of the story, everyone would agree that this man is corrupt, cruel, and has committed numerous crimes against humanity, but many believe that even if Bashir is taken out of power, another power hungry president will come into control. I asked one of our partner teachers, William, how would the ICC actually go about arresting Bashir and he told me that either his own Government would have to turn him over, the surrounding countries could go in and take him out, or they would wait until he is on a trip to another country and that government could turn him over. If the ICC cannot even arrest him themselves and it many times causes severe conflict, meaning war, so what is the point of the ICC? In the paper, many are not supporting the request to arrest Bashir because they feel like it will cause huge conflict if the oppressed Sudanese from Darfur and the South rise up against Bashir and his government…but these people are being massacred! So what are they to do?
There are the Arab Muslim Sudanese in the North that mostly support Bashir and there are the Black African Sudanese in the South that have been oppressed by the North. Then there is Darfur in the West part of Sudan in which the people are also Black African. An estimated 35,000 people in Darfur have been killed (The National Refugee Committee estimates it to be around 2 MILLION) and 2.5 million displaced throughout this war and it still continues. In displaced camps, girls as young as 8 are being raped, 1,000 babies under a year old die weekly, hunger and fear are part of each and every person’s daily life. Even though I have heard these facts before, now after actually seeing the displaced camps and hearing the peoples stories of family and friends being murdered, it hit me. It hit me hard this week. I sat in the staff room deep in thought. Denis asked me if I was ok and I told him that I was thinking about everything I had just read and heard and it was all so terribly sad and overwhelming. He said “ I am sorry Casey, but we are used to hearing and seeing these things every day. That is just how it is in Africa.” After he said that, my heart just broke! They have settled, they have given up.
You may ask what this ‘war’ in Sudan is about. Well many say it is a religious war, between the Muslims and the Christians, others say it is the Arab government using the Janjaweed rebels to wipe out the indigenous Black Africans, some say it is because they have found oil in Southern Sudan so the North is trying to capitalize on the oil by continuing to oppress the South. Several people believe that China is supporting this war because they are heavily invested in the oil in Southern Sudan. There have been numerous accounts of the finding of weapons from China being used in Darfur.
How does this war in Sudan and the request of the arrest of Bashir have an effect on Northern Uganda? The big question that I could not help but ask William. He told me that most people believe that Bashir has supported Joseph Kony and the LRA during the20 year war in Northern Uganda. Bashir is now calling on the President of Uganda, Musevini, to support him. The Sudanese government warned that the indictment of President Bashir on genocide and war crimes charges would have a direct negative impact on the peace talks between Uganda and the LRA. William told me that he feared that Bashir would ally with Kony and that the LRA could be back in Uganda in a day if the Ugandan government did not back Bashir.
Quotes from today’s paper about the situation in Darfur:
- “Bashir has selected his weapons, they are: rape, hunger, fear”
- “They rape women in front of them, children, and fathers.”
- “They kill our males and dilute our blood with rape. They want to finish us as a people, end our history.”
My thoughts are scattered, but I feel like I am no longer naïve or ignorant to what is happening and I cannot just sit back and watch. But where do you even begin to help?
I have asked around and here are some suggestions I’ve received on how to help:

· Read NOT ON OUR WATCH by Don Cheadle (The main actor in Hotel Rwanda) and John Prendergast.
· Go to SaveDarfur.org
· Read ‘They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky’


The prayer of my heart has been the lyrics to this song, ‘From the Inside Out’ by Hillsong.
A thousand times I've failed
Still your mercy remains
And should I stumble again
Still I'm caught in your grace

Everlasting, Your light will shine when all else fades
Never ending, Your glory goes beyond all fame
In my heart, in my soul, Lord I give you control
Consume me from the inside out Lord
LET JUSTICE AND PRAISE BECOME MY EMBRACE
To love You from the inside out

Your will above all else, my purpose remains
The art of losing myself in bringing you praise