Darfur

2007-06-26T12:59:00.000-07:00

DARFUR
A Sermon Preached by the Rev’d Lorraine Dughi at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Clifton, NJ

KNOW THAT I'M NOT A TRAVEL AGENT, BUT I'M GOING TO
INVITE YOU TO TAKE A JOURNEY WITH ME. DON'T BOTHER PACKING THE BIKINI BECAUSE WHERE WE'RE GOING YOU ARE NOT GOING TO FIND CRYSTAL CLEAR AQUA WATER WITH WHITE SAND BEACHES- LADIES, LEAVE THE DRESSY OUTFIT AT HOME AND GENTLEMEN, FORGET THE SNAZZY SPORTS COAT. YOU WILL NOT BE DINING IN ANY FOUR- STAR RESTAURANTS. MIGHT AS WELL LEAVE BEHIND THE RACY ROMANCE PAPERBACKS AND THE DECKS OF CARDS THAT YOU USUALLY TAKE ON VACATIONS- THEY WILL BE OF NO USE- AND OH YES, LEAVE THE GOLF CLUBS HOME. I DO SUGGEST THAT YOU BRING ALONG A PAIR OF COMFORTABLE WALKING SHOES.
WHERE ARE WE GOING, YOU ASK? WE ARE GOING TO DARFUR-
WHICH IS A REGION ABOUT THE SIZE OF TEXAS IN THE
AFRICAN COUNTRY OF SUDAN. IT'S A PLACE OF UPHEAVAL,
OF TERROR, OF DESTRUCTION, OF GENOCIDE. STILL WANT TO
COME? YOU HAVE TO, IT'S TOO LATE TO BACK OUT. NOT SINCE THE RWANDAN GENOCIDE OF 1994 HAS THE WORLD SEEN SUCH A CALCULATED CAMPAIGN OF DISPLACEMENT, STARVATION, RAPE, AND MASS SLAUGHTER. MEN OF THE VILLAGES KILLED, WOMEN RAPED REPEATEDLY, WOMEN AND CHILDREN TAKEN CAPTIVE AND ABUSED AND MUTILATED.
AS WE APPROACH ONE OF THE VILLAGES, I WANT YOU TO
BE AWARE OF THE SMELL OF FEAR AND DEATH IN THE AIR.THE LOOK OF ABSOLUTE TERROR ON THE EYES OF THOSE REMAINING THERE. THE DEATH AND DESTRUCTION ALL AROUND YOU. YES, THOSE ARE DEAD BODIES LYING OVER
THERE UNDER THOSE TREES, UNBURIED. YES, THIS IS NO PLACE OF COOL LIMPID WATERS, OF BRIGHT WHITE SANDS- NO FOOD HERE- NO POSH HOTELS WITH HOT AND COLD RUNNING WATER- NO WATER HERE, RUNNING OR OTHERWISE. THIS IS DARFUR- THIS IS A PLACE OF DEATH AND DESTRUCTION, A PLACE WHERE GENOCIDE HAS RUN RAMPANT SINCE FEBRUARY OF 2003 AND STILL CONTINUES TO THIS DAY.
PEOPLE STILL BEING KILLED, WOMEN RAPED, AND VILLAGES BURNED AND PLUNDERED. THIS VIOLENT CONFLICT IS MAINLY BETWEEN A MILITIA GROUP CALLED THE JANJAWEED AND BLACK MUSLIMS OF THE AREA.NO, THESE MUSLIMS HAVE NOT POSED A THREAT TO THE SUDANESE- THEY HAVE NOT PERSECUTED THEM, THEY HAVE NOT BLOWN UP GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS, THEY HAVE NOT CREATED HAVOC AND DESTRUCTION WITH CAR BOMBS. THESE ARE PEACEFUL PEOPLE, PEOPLE WHO ARE FOR THE MOST PART FARMERS, LAND- TILLING PEOPLE WHO WANT NOTHING MORE THAN TO BE LEFT IN PEACE TO TILL THEIR LAND, GROW THEIR CROPS AND PRACTICE THEIR RELIGION. THESE PEOPLE HAVE DONE NOTHING WRONG.
IN THE MINDS OF THE MILITIA, THEY ARE DOING WHAT IS
CALLED ETHNIC CLEANSING- GETTING RID OF ALL THOSE
PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT LIKE THEM. ALTHOUGH THE SUDANESE GOVERNMENT DENIES IT, THEY ARE ACTUALLY SUPPORTING THE JANJAWEEDS BY PROVIDING THEM WITH MONEY AND ASSISTANCE, AND HAVE ACTIVILY JOINED IN THE ATTACKS ON THE PEOPLE IN THIS AREA. IT IS ESTIMATED THAT THIS CONFLICT HAS LEFT AS MANY AS 450,000 PEOPLE DEAD FROM VIOLENCE, DISEASE, AND STARVATION.
THOUSANDS OF WOMEN HAVE BEEN RAPED, OVER TWO
MILLION HAVE BEEN DRIVEN FROM THEIR HOMES, THEIR
VILLAGES TORCHED, THEIR PROPERTY STOLEN. 2.5 MILLION
PEOPLE BEEN DISPLACED AS OF OCTOBER 2006. THOUSANDS HAVE DIED FROM LACK OF WATER, FOOD, AND PROPER HEALTH CARE. THOUSANDS MORE HAVE DIED FROM LACK OF SHELTER IN THE HARSH DESERT ENVIRONMENT. MORE THAN 200,000 HAVE ESCAPED TO THE NEIGHBORING COUNTRY OF CHAD, SOMETIMES BEING PURSUED RIGHT TO THE BORDER AND CAUSING CONFLICTS BETWEEN THE JANJAWEEDS
MILITIAMEN AND THE CHADIAN SOLDIERS. IN SPITE OF
THIS, MOST OF THE PEOPLE ARE STILL TRAPPED IN DARFU.

AND HERE WE STAND, IN THIS STILL SMOULDERING VILLAGE STRIPPED OF ALL ITEMS OF VALUE, FOOD AND WATER- BODIES LEFT UNBURIED, THE WOMEN PACKING WHAT LITTLE GOODS THEY HAVE LEFT TO TRY TO GET TO THE NEAREST IDP CAMP, THAT IS CAMP KALMA. AN IDP CAMP IS A PLACE OFREFUGE FOR INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS.
JUST HOW MUCH OF THIS DEVESTATION HAS BEEN REPORTED
IN OUR MEDIA? SAD TO SAY, BUT ANNA NICOLE SMITH GOT FAR MORE PUBLICITY IN OUR MEDIA THAN THIS DEPLORABLE SITUATION. .

WAIT A MINUTE- WHERE ARE YOU GOING? NO, WE'RE NOT
GOING BACK YET, OUR JOURNEY IS NOT OVER SO COME BACK HERE AND NOW IS THE TIME FOR YOU TO PUT ON YOUR COMFORTABLE WALKING SHOES, THOSE I RECOMMENDED THAT YOU BRING BECAUSE WE ARE GOING TO ACCOMPANY A MOTHER AND HER SEVEN CHILDREN TO THIS CAMP.THIS IDP CAMP IN HOPES THAT THEY CAN FIND REFUGE.
THIS MOTHER, SHE DID NOT TELL ME HER NAME, BUT IT'S
NOT IMPORTANT, IS FROM THE VILLAGE OF HATTARA WHERE
THE SUDANESE GOVERNMENT LAUNCHED A THREE-DAY
ATTACK, BY GROUND AND BY AIR. HER HUSBAND WAS KILLED
BY A BOMB ALONG WITH MOST MEN FROM THIS VILLAGE.
WOMEN WERE RAPED REPEATEDLY, WOMEN AND CHILDREN
TAKEN CAPTIVE. THE VILLAGE WAS BURNED AND PLUNDERED, BODIES WERE LEFT UNBURIED AS THE FEW SURVIVORS ESCAPED ON FOOT- COMING BACK AFTER THE SOLDIERS HAD LEFT TO SALVAGE WHAT LITTLE THEY COULD. WE WILL ACCOMPANY HER ON THIS LONG THREE DAY TRIP TO TRY TO REACH THE KALMA CAMP- TRAVELING OFTEN AT NIGHT TO ESCAPE THE HARSH DESERT SUN AND TO ESCAPE DETECTION BY THE ENEMY. AFTER TWO DAYS, HER FOUR-YEAR OLD DAUGHTER DIED FROM THIRST, FROM LACK OF WATER.SHE HAD TO LEAVE HER BODY BY THE WAYSIDE- NO TIME FOR A BURIAL. THE CAMP WHERE SHE TOOK REFUGE WAS ATTACKED A FEW WEEKS LATER, LEAVING THE REFUGEES LOOKING YET FOR ANOTHER PLACE OF SAFETY, OF REFUGE.
TELL ME, HOW DID YOU LIKE WALKING ON THE HOT DESERT SAND, WITH LITTLE WATER AND NO FOOD FOR THREE
DAYS. NOT QUITE WHAT YOU ARE USE TO, WAS IT? AND YOU AT LEAST HAD SHOES! ALL RIGHT, I WILL TAKE YOU BACK TO CLIFTON NOW, TO YOUR COMFORTABLE HOUSES, TO YOUR SECURE NEIGHBORHOOD, YOUR WELL-STOCKED SUPERMARKETS, AND TO YOUR HOT AND COLD RUNNING WATER, KNOWING FULL WELL THAT I WILL NEVER MAKE IT AS A TRAVEL AGENT, BUT HOPING THAT I HAVE MADE ALL OF YOU PRESENT AWARE OF DARFUR, OF THE VIOLENCE, OF THE
INJUSTICE, OF THE DESTRUCTION THAT IS GOING ON. I HOPE
THAT I HAVE MADE YOU AWARE OF THE ATROCITIES THAT
HAVE BEEN GOING ON THERE SINCE 2003, AND ARE GOING ON TO THIS DAY? I CAN ONLY HOPE THAT YOU WILL SHARE WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED TODAY WITH OTHERS BECAUSE THERE ARE SO MANY PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT EVEN AWARE OF WHAT IS HAPPENING IN OUR WORLD- WHO HAVE NEVER HEARD OF DARFUR- THEY NEED TO KNOW.
HOW CAN WE, AS CHRISTIANS, AS HUMANS, SIT BY AND
ALLOW THIS SORT OF THING TO GO ON? OUR BAPTISMAL COVENENT ASKS US TO STRIVE FOR JUSTICE AND PEACE AMONG ALL PEOPLE AND RESPECT THE DIGNITY OF EVERY HUMAN BEING. WE NEED TO TAKE THIS TO HEART. AND WE NEED TO, AS CHRISTIANS, TO MAKE SOMETHING HAPPEN.
YOU WILL BE GIVEN A PACKET IN WHICH YOU WILL FIND
LETTERS TO OUR GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS, ASKING THEM TO PLEASE MAKE THE PEOPLE OF THISTHIS COUNTRY AWARE OF WHAT IS GOING ON AND TO PLEASE ACT ON IT. ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS SIGN THESE LETTERS AND MAIL THEM.
BUT ABOVE ALL, YOU NEED TO PRAY FOR THESE PEOPLE- ALL OF THEM. FOR THOSE WHO ARE BEING PERSECUTED THAT
THEY MAY BE ALLOWED TO LIVE IN PEACE AND SAFETY. AND IT IS JUST AS IMPORTANT THAT YOU PRAY FOR THOSE WHO ARE PERSECUTING THEM- THAT THEY MAY TURN AWAY FROM VIOLENCE AND FROM RACISIM AND TURN TO GOD FOR GUIDANCE.
I WOULD LIKE TO CONCLUDE BY INVITING YOU TO JOIN
ME IN A PRAYER. A PRAYER WRITTEN BY ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU ESPECIALLY FOR THIS DAY. YOU WILL FIND
THIS PRAYER ON A SEPARATE SHEET OF PAPER GIVEN TO YOU
ALONG WITH YOUR BULLETIN. PLEASE RESPOND BY READING
THE SECTIONS WRITTEN IN BOLD-PRINT.
LET US PRAY.

Christ in Hearts of All

Darfur