Hannah's Introduction

Hi! I would also like to introduce myself before posting my first blog.

I'm Hannah Baldwin and a sophomore at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities in January. Previously, I attended St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, where I was an active member of Amnesty International. I plan on starting a chapter of STAND in January and planning awareness-raising and advocacy events on campus. My goal is to raise $400,000 for Darfur, one dollar for every person who has died, and increase advocacy among students at the University of Minnesota.

I am thrilled to be working as a member of the Holocaust Museum's Committee on Conscience Student Genocide Prevention Board. In this blog I will be posting about the genocide in Darfur, Sudan and human rights issues throughout West Africa.

Time Out

The U.S. is patting itself on the back because it really came down hard on Khartoum this month. U.S. Special Envoy to Darfur, Andrew Natsios, told Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir that this was it, he had to accept a UN team/hybrid force by the end of the year... or else! Or else what? While there's speculation about what Sudan's punishment might be if it does not behave, no direct sanctions were laid out on the table. It sure doesn't seem like the U.S. is confident that Sudan will comply. When asked whether she thought Khartoum would heed the U.S. warning, Condi replied, "We will see."

Meanwhile, after an attack on aid workers and more cross-border attacks, the humanitarian situation turns so grim that the refugees are fleeing from Chad and the Central African Republic back into war-torn Darfur.

When we didn't listen to our teachers in kindergarten, we were given a time out, isolated from the group, not allowed to play with the toys. Meanwhile, Sudan doesn't behave, and it gets away with murder.

Depression rates among women in Darfur lower than in other conflicts?

International Medical Corps recently released a report on depression rates among women in a Darfurian IDP camp. The report found that 31% suffered from Major Depressive Disorder, while 63% showed the emotional symptoms of depression.

Yet, as Ms. Magazine pointed out, depression rates are often much higher in other areas ravaged by conflict or genocide. For example, in 2004, a study found Major Depressive Disorder rates in Afghanistan were at about 70% for the general population, and even higher for women-- more than twice the rates found in Darfur. This seems somewhat puzzling at first. After all, Darfur is one of the worst humanitarian crises of our time!

But the Ms. Magazine article also hypothesized about the causes of this strange inconsistency:

The recent Darfur Medical Corps study was conducted in a camp where people were already receiving aid; additionally, the camp had excellent conditions, compared to other refugee and IDP camps. Therefore, the mental conditions of the majority of Darfurians who still are not receiving aid-- and are still displaced, hungry and homeless in Darfur-- are incalculably worse than the statistics reveal.

These same demographic inconsistencies plague many media reports on Darfur that I've read: journalists and statisticians can often only gain access to refugee camps, sometimes as far away as Chad, because of unsafe conditions in Darfur; yet they present their findings as representative of all the genocide's victims. In reality, although there are still grave issues within camps, conditions must be incomparably horrible in Darfur, where basic survival can be an insurmountable challenge.

This is certainly something to keep in mind when reading media and statistical reports from "Darfur"...or the camps nearby.

Ana's Introduction :)

Hi! Before I begin my first post, I'd like to introduce myself:

My name is Ana Halper. I'm a freshman at Florida Atlantic University in South Florida, and I've been participating in human rights activism for about 3 and a half years, and Darfur activism for about two. I am the vice president of my school's chapter of Amnesty International, and I plan to pursue a career in human rights or international aid. I am currently working on several Darfur projects, including selling t-shirts for an incredible cause, planning a community rally, and collaborating with MTVU to bring a benefit concert to my campus.

As an activist, I am very honored to be a part of the Museum's Student Genocide Prevention Board, and as a writer, I look forward to contributing to this blog. I plan to explore the issues surrounding the Darfur genocide, as well as a humans rights concern that hits closer to home: the torture debate in the United States.

From Memory to Action

It is my pleasure to begin this conversation of the Student Board on Genocide Prevention of the Committee on Conscience at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. We hope this forum provides a space for open discussion on Darfur and other conflict areas, and that it will continue to motivate students to take action.

The Committee on Conscience of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum seeks to honor the memory of the victims of the Holocaust by responding to threats of genocide and crimes against humanity today and to preventing genocide in the future. The Museum, located on the National Mall, stands as a reminder to what can happen in the face of indifference. In a report that led to the creation of the Museum, Nobel-prize winner Elie Wiesel wrote, “a memorial unresponsive to the future would also violate the memory of the past.”

Our Student Board on Genocide Prevention, representing a diverse group of students from across the United States and Canada, will use this blog to discuss the situation in Darfur and other conflict areas and what students can do. While only the Board can contribute entries, we hope that everyone will take the time to comment on these posts.

The Way to End Loneliness

You say that in your mind,
you stop time.
You slide
between moments
and sleep for hours
under sheets made out of magic powers.

No rush of schedule,
no crush of dread
is pulling you awake.
So you lie in bed and make love
with everyone you've ever loved.

Your kisses are stories, unfolding
and you sip your conversations slowly,
the metaphors and moonlight swishing between your teeth, like tea.

You stroll down New York City streets
with your hands in peacoat pockets
the clocks are only faceless sockets
and music's sweeping, softly,
through the frozen streams of cars.

The sky is full of constellations
and the seconds are as still as stars.

But in our conversations
that all take place in time,
you tell me everyone you love
can't die.

They will be lined
with tears and wrinkles
like years faded to
torn poetry.

Time gives us our frailty.
But I,
I am grateful
time will only let me know you

Briefly

Like the flicker of stars, cracking open,
like our lives bending, broken
our fears spoken
to music, soaking in the deep night

Like a precious dream
Bared in the light.