Finally

So it looks like President Bush is finally doing something about the grave situation in the Sudan. This situation has been increasingly devastating. If you're not familiar, a quick summary: For over three years, a governent backed militia known as the Janjaweed (translates to "man with a gun on a horse") has been slaughtering, raping, starving and displacing people. A secret Arab/Muslim extremist group began forming in the 80s, attacking non-arab Africans with the intention to achieve Arab supremacy. The government did not become involved until non-arab Africans began to unite and fight against these attacks. Now, the Janjaweed continues to terrorize the people of this western part of Sudan known as Darfur. Over 400,000 have been killed. 3.5 million have been displaced and now are in refugee camps completely dependent on humanitarian aid. While this sutuation has been depicted at times as Muslims against non-Muslims, this is not exactly the case because there are Muslims on both sides of the confict which has spread into neighboring countries, Chad and the Central African Republic. Arguably, there has not been a humanitarian crisis this severe since the situation in Rwanda.

OK, so it's really bad - we're on the same page now.

The Bush administration has finally decided to act. Here is an article from www.savedarfur.org explaining the recent pledge.

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President Bush ordered new U.S. economic sanctions Tuesday to pressure Sudan's government to halt the bloodshed in Darfur that the administration has condemned as genocide. ''I promise this to the people of Darfur: the United States will not avert our eyes from a crisis that challenges the conscience of the world,'' the president said. The sanctions target government-run companies involved in Sudan's oil industry, and three individuals, including a rebel leader suspected of being involved in the violence in Darfur. ''For too long the people of Darfur have suffered at the hands of a government that is complicit in the bombing, murder and rape of innocent civilians,'' the president said. ''My administration has called these actions by their rightful name: genocide. ''The world has a responsibility to put an end to it,'' Bush said. Beyond the new U.S. sanctions, Bush directed Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to draft a proposed U.N. resolution to strengthen international pressure on the Sudanese government of President Omar al-Bashir. Save Darfur Coalition director David Rubenstein welcomed the sanctions, but said they might be too little, too late. ''President Bush must not give further months to determine whether these outlined measures work -- the Darfuri people don't have that much time,'' he said. ''The president must set a short and firm deadline for fundamental changes in Sudanese behavior, and prepare now to implement immediately further measures should Khartoum continue to stonewall.'' Bush said he delayed imposing sanctions last month to allow more time for diplomacy, but that al-Bashir has continued to make empty promises of cooperation while obstructing international efforts to end the crisis. Over the weekend, however, al-Bashir reiterated his opposition to the deployment of a 22,000-strong joint U.N.-AU force, saying he would only allow a larger African force with technical and logistical support from the United Nations. The new sanctions target 31 companies to be barred from the U.S. banking system. Thirty of the companies are controlled by the government of Sudan; the other one is suspected of shipping arms to Darfur, the officials said. Meanwhile, Liu Guijin, China's new troubleshooter on Africa, defended Chinese investment in Sudan Tuesday as a better way to stop the bloodshed rather than the sanctions advocated by the U.S. and other Western governments. ''I didn't see a desperate scenario of people dying of hunger,'' Liu said at a media briefing. Rather, he said, people in Darfur thanked him for the Chinese government's help in building dams and providing water supply equipment.
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www.savedarfur.org has been organizing people toward activism with various online/email campaigns. I have personally sent many emails at the web site's request to the President to urge him to act. Maybe we're actually getting some results. Sign up at www.savedarfur.org to get involved and get regular updates.

ok, here's a question for you

If you could teach inner city (mostly low income) kids about one concept or issue, what would it be and how would you go about it? I'll give you an example. We started an initiative about three months ago in the after school program that I oversee that combines teaching environmentalism with advocacy - basically teaching the kids about the environment, how to protect it, and how they can be active in getting others to protect it. We had the kids start a recycling program in our agency - they are responsible for putting out the bins, emptying them, reminding people to recycle, etc. We also started a garden project to teach them about growing your own food and how pesticides are bad for the earth, etc. So...what's your idea?

mentoring is where it's at

Since I last blogged on this site, a lot has happened - I've been maried for 8 months and I have a new job. I work at an agency that provides human services in an neighborhood of Pittsburgh. I am the director of the youth programs and I really like it. Every day, I get to see kids and families who are struggling to make it through. The parents look tired and stressed. Many of them, I've never met because overseeing their children's after school care is simply not on their to-do list. The kids, well, they are as unique and diverse as any group of kids. Some are charming, some are disturbed. Some are smart and polite. Some are so unmotivated they complain if they have to get up out of their chairs. I have been thinking about how Oprah decided to put a great deal of money and publicity into her school for girls in Africa. She has been the target of much criticism because she took her resources overseas instead of directing it toward American children. her reason for this is very interesting. She says that she does not see the drive, passion and motivation in American children that she sees in African children. She wanted to give a chance to kids who would grasp it with fervor and make the most out of it. I completely understand what she means. It is frustrating, the sense of entitlement that even America's poor children have. If you buy them a pair of shoes, you may get a look of distaste if they are not the latest, greatest brand that everyone is wearing. Certainly not all, but many of these kids don't have a drive and desire to make it on their own and become educated and successful - they want to be basketball stars and rappers. Television has convinced them that these things are equal to success. Becoming something like a teacher or a carpenter or a mechanic (things well within their reach if they put effort into it) are not of interest.

I think about this constantly and wonder, with my position of influence, how I can mold my program into a catalyst for change. How can I make the goal of becoming a lawyer or an engineer or a construction worker or a radiologist look sexy and appealing?

My husband is a big brother with Big Brothers, Big Sisters. I mentored a couple of boys a couple fo years ago, focusing on the college testing and application process. I am starting as a volunteer for a new program where I will be mentoring two low-income college freshman, helping to encourage them through the challenges they will likely face in their first year. These kids got where they are through a lot of monitoring and hand holding through a program for high achieving, low income students in their high school. Because they will all be first generation college students and most come from unstable homes, the program directors feel that they still need that support so they don't feel abandoned and give up.

I think this program and other mentoring programs are a crucial piece in all of this. I think it is necessary for kids to have regular contact with adults who are caring, responsible and have simply worked hard to get where they are. I encourage all of you reading this to consider how much you have to offer a child who has not been brought up with skills that include goal setting and attainment. This is the part that is missing for these kids. Instilling the value of a work ethic and persistence is not an easy task - you'd have to be in it for the long haul. I think if everyone we know became a mentor, we could change the world.