Out of Africa

One of the first stories I wrote for the Medill News Service was about the Darfur crisis in northern Sudan. The crisis is a continuation of two civil wars Sudan has already gone through. It’s almost been like non-stop violence and fighting has gone on in this country. And although the perpetrators and aggressors have changed faces, more or less over time, the victims remain the same – millions of children displaced, families split up and separated, the general collateral damage of war.

During the second civil war in Sudan, the collateral damage bared the face of thousands of boys who became known as The Lost Boys of Sudan. Unlike the whimsical Lost Boys in the pages of ‘Peter Pan,’ very little about their lives is envious or wonderfully exciting. (this New York Times story is amazing, really compelling).

Here’s a recording of Mabouc Mabouc, a Lost Boy who resides in Chicago and acts as a social worker for the Pan African Association and a spokesperson for the Darfur crisis. He tells an abbreviated version of his story – from being seperated from his family, walking across multiple countries, living in refugee camps and eventually making it to the United States.

His story is sad, but as Mabouc points out: He is one of the lucky ones.

Audio

It’s amazing how many African countries are currently undergoing one conflict or another. And often times, living outside of the continent disconnects us to these perils and the effects on a country’s people.

The Loyola University Museum of Art, here in Chicago, has an exhibit called “Be a Witness.” It’s a mix of drawings, letters, poems and artwork created by children in northern Uganda. While a lot of the artwork is basic pencil and crayon drawings that only a mother would find a masterpiece, they tell a story of a generation that needs a better tomorrow.

In the pictures, the children depicted a lot of violence — machete-wielding men, stick figures shooting each other, chemicals being dumped into a lake. And unlike children in the Western world who draw sometimes disturbing images as recreations of what they see on TV or in movies — these are images that northern Ugandan children have seen, have experienced.

The drawings are also of happy things — images of family, children playing. The dichotomy of it all amazed me. And for those of you in the Chicago area, the exhibit is well worth checking out.

There are also photographs of the children and their lives in Uganda taken by Dave Thatcher. He and Nathan Mustain are member of the student group, Invisible Conflicts, that brought the exhibit to Loyola.

I had a chance to speak with Nathan and Dave and learn a little more about their organization earlier this week. Its mission is to tell the stories of conflict that are ignored by governments and media. They also wanted the group to be about personal growth, recognizing that everyone has individual conflicts in his or her lives.

For more details about the exhibit and Invisible Conflicts, you can read my story.

Uganda is just one of many African countries suffering from conflict.  The Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia and Sudan are listed as conflict zones. And Keven Sites, yahoo’s “In the Hot Zone” reporter, has Chad, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Zimbabwe, Nigeria, Angola, Burundi and Angola on his watch list for potential and/or brooding conflict.  

When and how will all this end? I must say that I am thankful for groups like Invisible Conflicts that seek to provide aid, not just for the major necessities (like food, clothing, etc), but for the future of these countries.