unspeakable

Imagine fleeing your home, foreced to find shelter in another country, another land, another life. In most cases, refugees are not allowed to work or have access to medical and education services in the country they reside. Due to ethnic, cultural, religious, and historical differences, refugees are rarely, if ever, assimilated or accepted by the host culture. This isn't always a reflection of the people but of politics and economics.

In six days, the following blog will be exactly 1 year old. I posted it on Myspace and now, with tears in my eyes, I share it with you. As I typed from Seattle one year ago, I now type from Cairo: my heart still saddened, tears in my eyes.

11 April 2006

There's not much to say:

Sudanese refugees receive treatment for malnutrition in a hospital in Chad.

The flight from Sudan to Chad took a physical toll on the refugees, particularly on the sick, infants, and the elderly. Some traveled more than a month to reach Chad.

Sudanese refugees rest before continuing their journey to safety in Chad.

A body left unburied outside Jijira Adi Abbe in Darfur, western Sudan, after a government attack.

The body of a teenage boy lies among others outside the African village of Jijira Adi Abbe in Darfur, western Sudan. Bodies left unburied send a message to villagers elsewhere not to resist.

Mass graves encircle the village of Jijira Adi Abbe in Darfur, western Sudan after the government attack

Some of those wounded in attacks by Arab militias in October and November 2006 seek treatment in a hospital in nearby Goz Beida. Many are suffering from gunshot wounds.

A wounded woman is led to shelter. Chadian militia groups have attacked dozens of villages in southeastern Chad in November 2006, killing several hundred civilians, injuring scores more and driving at least 10,000 people from their homes.

The effects of indiscriminate aerial bombardment by the Sudanese government on Chadian and Sudanese villages along the north-west stretch of the border. Bombs were dropped in October 2006 around several villages on both sides of the border and on essential water sources, although there was little or no rebel presence in the area

Bahai is a desert town in Chad on the border with North Darfur, Sudan. The town is a major base for Sudanese rebels fighting the government in Khartoum. Soldiers of the National Redemption Front rebel coalition are mounting a Katyusha rocket launcher on the back of a pick-up truck.

Sudanese refugees live in makeshift shelters in the desert outside Birak, on Chad's border with Sudan. They fled the recent attacks by Sudanese militias in Jebel Moon, West Darfur, Sudan. Dozens of children were killed in the attacks on several villages and a camp for internally displaced persons in late October 2006.

Djorlo in eastern Chad was attacked by Chadian Arab militia on November 8, 2006. The militia burned huts and destroyed harvest storage areas. The village of Damri, attacked on November 12, can be seen burning in the background.


For interactive information including pictures, stories, videos, and the numbers of damaged/destroyed villages, internally displaced persons (idp), and sudanese refugees, check out the product of google earth's collaboration with the united states holocoust memorial museum in dc.

Check out these videos:
1. SMALLEST WITNESSES: THE CRISIS IN DARFUR THROUGH CHILDREN'S EYES

2. WITNESSING DARFUR: RESOURCES AND VIDEO

For more information on what's going on, check out Human Rights Watch. Click on "Africa" and search for "Darfur In Crisis" on the right side of the page.

Also: The Worldpress