Prayers for the people of Darfur

Monroe - Although the March “Month of Witness” is over, the Monroe-Woodbury Clergy Association will continue to speak out on behalf of the beleaguered Black Africans in the Darfur region of Sudan. Two public meetings in the last part of the month highlighted the weekly, and even daily, activities at local houses of worship. Forty people attended a teach-in on March 18 at the Monroe United Methodist Church. The speaker was Marc S. Maxi, executive director of United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). Committee members do not try to make converts; they works only in “trouble spots;” and the organization receives some U.S. Government funds. It is one of several Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) providing aid to the displaced persons in Darfur and refugees in neighboring Chad. In addition to the emergency needs of food, water and shelter, the NGO’s are involved in child protection — most of which is keeping children from joining an armed militia. The next priority is food protection, which involves the distribution of tools and seed. “Fighting takes place through Africa wherever there are valuable resources,” said Maxi, “and the fighting in Sudan — both in the south against the Black African Christians and animist population over fertile farmland and in potentially oil-rich Darfur in the west — is no exception.” Regardless of the spoils, the Sunni-Muslim Arabs in control of the government are fighting against Sunni-Muslim Black Africans in Darfur. “Sudanese soldiers, hardened by years of fighting at home, make up 15 percent of the terrorists in Iraq,” said Maxi. Officials in the capital city of Khartoum deny that the government recruits, trains, arms and directs the Arab militia that is doing much of the fighting against the Black Africans. This militia is called the Janjaweed, which means, “Devil on a Camel.” However, Maxi noted that “the Sudanese Government is susceptible to public opinion, and efforts to publicize this atrocity are worth it.” A community worship service of witness was held on March 26 at the Monroe Temple Beth-El. Many prayers and much music was offered up to God on behalf of the millions in Darfur who have been killed, raped or been made homeless. The evening’s main speaker was Dr. Jerry Ehrlich, a pediatrician who served two months in a Darfur camp for the displaced in the summer of 2004 with Doctors Without Borders, a group that won the 1999 Nobel Peace Prize. Ehrlich’s report included history, medicine, psychology and safety. During the break-up of the British Empire, Darfur became part of Sudan. Therefore, this conflict is a civil war, he said, and not the invasion of another country. This makes any international response, especially by the U.N., much more difficult. Like Rabbi Adam Kligfeld of Congregation Eitz Chaim in Monroe earlier in the month, Ehrlich spoke the words “never again.” Before the Holocaust of the 1940s, genocide happened in Armenia and in Russia; since the Holocaust it has happened in Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda and twice in Sudan. “Never again,” Ehrlich said. The doctor spoke of seeing children by the thousands too weak to do anything but “lie there.” They were underweight and suffering from malnutrition or dehydration. Some had veins so poor that injections of food and medicine had to be made directly into the bone marrow. He showed pictures of some children and adults who offered a blank stare to the photographer. That, Ehrlich said, “was an indication of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.” The doctor was in the camp when Oxfam, another NGO, drilled some wells and purified the water. This created long lines for water, but saved many lives. The U.S. Government is sending some aid, he noted, and told of a shipment of blankets and floor mats that he saw being trucked into the camp from a nearby airport. Safety concerns in the camp included the purity of drinking water, sanitation facilities and the armed forces around the camp. The African Union has several thousand troops in the region as peacekeepers, but they are under-funded and under-equipped. “The African Union forces are totally inadequate, too few and unarmed,” he said. U.N. forces are scheduled to take over the peacekeeping role this October. While in Sudan’s capital of Khartoum, Ehrlich said he saw banners throughout the city with the slogan, “Peace and Unity.” He referred to these as “nothing but a cruel joke.” Rabbi Garry Loeb of the Monroe Temple dismissed the worshipers in the glow of 200 candles, one held by each person present, showing solidarity with the oppressed in Darfur. He then encouraged everyone to join the “Rally to Stop Genocide,” to be held in Washington, D.C. Buses will leave the Monroe Temple parking lot at 314 North Main St. on Sunday, April 30.