SMU’s Human Rights Education Program presented “Voices From the Sudan” Monday night. The event featured several Sudanese speakers who shared stories of courage and survival from their journeys to America.
Sudan consists of over 250 ethnic groups. Sixty-five percent of the population is Muslim, while 23 percent is Christian.
In 1956 Sudan received its independence from Great Britain and Egypt. Since then, Sudan has experienced two civil wars and the crisis in Darfur. The United Nations estimates that more than 200,000 people have died and at least two million have been displaced from their homes in Darfur since fighting broke out in 2003 between Government of Sudan forces, allied militia and rebel groups.
A panel of six Sudan natives opened viewers’ eyes to the atrocities taking place in today’s world. The speakers’ diverse backgrounds illustrated the importance of American assistance with the genocide.
“The silence can be broken, not by a loud voice, but by the voice in our hearts,” Rev. Dr. Celestin Musekura, president and founder of African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries, Inc., said.
Abuk Mauac, an immigrant from the village on Awuanig in Southern Sudan, began her journey to America when she was 20. After finding safety in a refugee camp in Ethiopia, she and her family came to the United States. Now Mauac serves as a national representative of the Women’s League of the Sudanese Peoples Liberations Movement (SPLM).
“We don’t need America to feel bad, we need America to help with the problems in Sudan,” Mauac said.
The people in Sudan are suffering. The women are victims of rape and abuse, and the children are under-educated and malnourished.
Another speaker, Santino Athian, fled Sudan when he was eight. One of the lost boys of Sudan, Athian moved from concentration camp to concentration camp along with more than 27,000 young boys who were displaced or orphaned during the Second Sudanese Civil War. The audience realized the severity of the speaker’s hardship as he showed several photographs of other lost boys who shared his past.
At the conclusion of the presentation, the panelists opened the floor to questions. Following the question-and-answer session, the audience was invited to view a video made by Amnesty International entitled “A Nation Scarred.”
Despite America’s ongoing efforts, the problems in Darfur, a western region of Sudan, have not ceased. In the last three months, close to 600 villages burned to the ground. On Nov. 7, South Africa offered support for the UN-AU peacekeeping force in Darfur and urged rebel leaders to join in negotiations. A joint peacekeeping force of 26,000 is meant to replace an under-equipped, 7,000-strong African Union force by Dec. 31.
