Inspired by several of my friends. Please see the next post for ways to help.

"If you falter in times of trouble, how small is your strength! Rescue those being led away to death; hold back those staggering toward slaughter. If you say, "But we knew nothing about this," does not He who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not He who guards your life know it? Will He not repay each person according to what he has done?"
-Proverbs 24:10-12, quoted recently by a friend of mine.

We wanted to help but...what?

The United Nations wanted to help but...
but China wants their oil more, and so they just sit back and watch.
but Russia wants to sell them weapons, and so they just sit back and watch.

The US wanted to help, but then we forgot. We don't even watch.
Watching would be too hard; forgetting is easy.

But wait, it was the US who took note. We called it genocide when even the UN wouldn't. We stood up where we had not for Rwanda.
Then we patted ourselves on the back, and said job well done? Then we argued over which Court to send the criminals too. Of course, we aren't trying to stop them first...but someone will, right?

The African Union wants to help. They've done what we haven't. They've sent in troops.

Rwanda sent in troops, because it remembers what happened 10 years ago. We remember because of Hollywood and Don Cheadle. They remember because of 800,000 dead.

Nigeria sent in troops, because it has power, because it has the largest population in Africa, because it has played the role of peacekeeper before.

The African Union wanted to help. But they couldn't decide who should go in first. They argued over status, and people died. They went in, but they didn't have...
They didn't have the authority to attack, to disarm, to strike first. Instead, they watch. They monitor.
They didn't have the manpower to police this region. 2000 soldiers for 200,000 square miles.
They didn't have the money or the equipment to be as effective as they could.

And so...
And so the government of Sudan says it didn't start this, and the Janjaweed ("bandits", "devils on horseback") aren't under their control, and they aren't being helped by government soldiers, and yet the soldiers are helping, are fighting next to the militias.

And so they continue killing, and raping, and looting. Is it about race? or land? or politics, or...well, what is genocide ever about?

And so Britain watches. It still has interest in its old colony. It actually pays attention.
And so, the US watches (from time to time). If only its troops weren't already committed elsewhere then...it would have a different excuse. But that excuse might not be quite as good-but we don't have to worry about that, because we have our excuse this time. This isn't like Rwanda.

And so the relief organizations, the charities, they bind the wounds, they feed the hungry. But their bandages are too few, and their food and water are too little. And their weapons-well, they have no weapons. And so those outside their camps are killed. And so those inside their camps are afraid. and hungry. and thirsty. and scarred. And those inside their camps are uprooted, again. Their camps are bulldozed, looted, burned.
Sometimes, aid workers die. And their collegues leave. They have to be alive to return another day, another place, to save lives somewhere, even if not here.

And so the rebels-yes, the rebels who started this conflict. They aren't innocent. They continue to attack, and reject peace. They harass aid workers. And they-they want their own people to continue to suffer? Because if they suffer, the world will watch, and if the world will watch, the world will act, and if the world will act, the rebels will win. The rebels are clever, but they don't know the world, do they? We can watch and not act. We can even choose not to watch.

And when our children ask us, why didn't we help, we'll tell them...
And when their children (those that are left) ask us, why didn't we help, we'll tell them..
And when judgment day comes, and I'm asked, why didn't I help, I'll tell Him...


If you want to help you can:
1. Donate-here are a couple organizations doing good work in Darfur:

World Food Programme
http://www.wfp.org/how_to_help/donate_online/online.asp?section=4&sub_section=5
US Friends of the WFP
PO Box 11856
Washington , D.C. 20008

Doctors without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières
http://www.doctorswithoutborders-usa.org/donate/

2. Write your members of Congress:
To find out who they are, visit www.house.gov and www.senate.gov
For a sample letter, see the following site (letters at the bottom of the page)http://www.genocideinterventionfund.org/action/legislation.php