humanity

On January 9, 2010 Sudan will vote on a referendum that could split the country North and South. The North, the seat of the government, has already threatened that the South will never be independent. The South, a land of different religion, language, and culture from the North has suffered long enough from the North and strives for independence. Sudan hosts the longest civil war in history. The location and motive of war has shifted throughout the decades; it currently resides in Darfur. Needless to say, this will not be a peaceful event whatever the outcome.

Many of the people I work with on a daily basis are from Sudan and have escaped its claws for a number of reasons. Torture, rape, destruction, death, they have out ran it. Now, they sit just a short plane ride away, in Cairo, in sickening anticipation of what awaits their family, friends and homes.

This morning in class at the training institute we addressed the pending referendum and the expectations of further forced migration. UNHCR- Egypt (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) is expecting about 20,000 new “migrants.” History shows it could easily be 2 million displaced. We are planning for a crisis. How do you plan for a crisis? How do you plan for death, destruction and desperation?

UNHCR in Egypt, Uganda, Kenya (all neighboring countries to Sudan) are meeting regularly to budget and plan for food, medical assistance, possible camp sites. Dr. Nancy, part of the negotiations, speaks very pragmatically about it. She’s been there done that before; it’s all part of disaster response. Yet we sit in a circle of chairs a mixture of Sudanese, Eritreans, Ethiopians, Iraqis, Somalis and I…they have all been through this before personally. You can tell hearts are beginning to beat faster as people start to shift in their chairs; rotating between twisting their hands or sitting on them. Feet start to cross and uncross, repeatedly. Then hands go to eyes and heads as the anticipation overflows into tears. Of the 22 trainees, 4 still have family in South Sudan, 3-4 others are from neighboring areas of Nuba Mountains or Darfur. What’s going to happen to their families? Can they get out in time? Many of the team members here do not have the proper documents to go and help, even to the border, thus they must sit and watch…
The heart of psychosocial work is realizing people’s basic needs and that people are intrinsically very pragmatic. The conversation shifts from what options might be to what can we do and how should we prepare…it’s a heavy morning. It’s going to be a tense next few months.

On a similar note, I just found out that my darling pal Lucy, with whom I shared life in Senegal (and can be seen in previous blogs) will be stationed at the heart of the vote where the country divides North and South. After Senegal, she took a post with the World Food Project to provide humanitarian assistance through emergency food delivery in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). She has since climbed to be base manager and recently was given the “opportunity” to serve in Sudan for the referendum. Yes, this sounds crazy to many of you however, these people will need food and she has been called to help deliver it. She and they will need your thoughts and prayers.

Overall, I don’t know what to say except that humanity can be disgustingly greedy and achingly inhumane. I am sickened by the fact that we are preparing for a man made disaster. On the other hand, collections of good hearts will struggle through the ugly to reinstall whatever humanity we can. Even if you’re not called to be part of the direct action, please pray and/or send good energies to Sudan and those serving in and around it during the next few months. Truly, it doesn’t matter if you’re Muslim, Christian, black or white…no human deserves this.