Darfur Conflict, How Can You Help?

On April 27th there will be an African dinner in Somer's Hall and a show in the Mitchell. The price is $25 and $10 for students to attend both events. You can also just attend one of the two events for $5. All the proceeds will go to purchasing two stoves for a family in the refugee camp. These stoves enables the people to cook by the sun. The tickets can be purchased by calling Gary Gordon at 723-6396 or by emailing him at ggordon@css.edu. If you would like to help, but will be busy that day, you can also simply donate money with attending the events by contacting Gary Gordon.

I know Krystal covered a little bit about the Darfur conflict but I thought I would give more information about it. In the daily student announcement from Gary Gordon, he mentioned a few good statistics. 2,000,000 people were driven from their homes in Darfur by the Sudanese army and their Janjaweed allies because they were on the wrong side of the tribal divide. Another 400,000 were murdered. The survivors (mostly women and children) escaped to 16 refugee camps in Chad. Camp Touloum has 5,000 families.

Darfur, which means land of the Fur, has faced many years of tension over land and grazing rights between the mostly nomadic Arabs, and farmers from the Fur, Massaleet and Zagawa communities. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3496731.stm) The Darfur conflict is an ongoing armed conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan, mainly between the Janjaweed, a militia group recruited from the tribes of the Abbala Rizeigat (Bedouin Arabs), and the non-Baggara people (mostly land-tilling tribes) of the region. (Wikipedia.com) The estimate of number of deaths is in the hundreds of thousdands by now. As many as 2.5 million are said to have been misplaced by this conflict. The conflict is said to have started when the Darfur Liberation Front claimed credit for an attack on the Jebel Marra District.

Millions of people have fled their villiages to camps near the main towns, but they are struggling to survive because there is not enough food, water, or medicine. Many agencies are working to help Darfur but they are unable to get through because of the fighting. African troops have been deployed to stop the violence but there are too few troops for the amount of fighting that is happening.

Next I would like to inform you of a few ways that you can get involved. There are simple ways that anyone can help. If you ever wanted to make a difference, this would be one good way to do so. The Protect Darfur project lobbies governments to take preventative action to prevent further attacks and seek solutions. The American Jewish World Service is responding with humanitarian aid and advocacy to help end the conflict. These are only two ways to help, but there are many others. The easiest way for St. Scholastica students to get involved is to donate though the school by contacting Gary Gordon. There is a list of ways to help on the following website. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibliography_of_the_Darfur_conflict

Queen Zinga

Queen Nzinga Pande was a 17th century queen born around 1582. She was Queen of the Ndongo and Matamba Kingdoms of the Mbundu people in southern Africa. She was named Nzinga according to tradition because her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck. It was believed that children born with their umbilical cord around their necks will be proud and haughty. She was greatly favored by her father, who allowed her to witness as he governed his kingdom, and who carried her with him to war. She lived during a period when the Atlantic slave trade and the increasing power of the Portuguese was growing in the region. Nzinga first appears in the historical record as the representative of her brother, the Ngola Ngola Mbande, at a peace conference with the Portuguese governor João Correia de Sousa in Luanda in 1622. Her mission was to try and persuade the Portuguese to leave her kingdom in peace and to stop taking slaves from the region. It is said that when she was at the meeting with the Portuguese they placed a mat on the floor for her to seat on but to prove that she was an equal to them she asked on of her servants to go down on all fours and she sat down on him. When her brother committed suicide in 1624 she took over the throne and became Queen Nzinga. In 1657, after a long struggle, Nzinga signed a peace treaty with Portugal. After the wars with Portugal ended, she attempted to reconstruct her nation that had been seriously damaged by years of conflict. She devoted her efforts to resettling former slaves and allowing women to bear children. Nzinga died a peaceful death at age eighty on December 17, 1663 in Matamba. Today she is remembered in Angola for her political and diplomatic good judgment, and intelligence, as well as her brilliant military tactics. In time Portugal, and most of Europe, would come to respect her. A major street in Luanda is named after her, and a statue of her was placed in Kinaxixi on an impressive square. Angolan women are often married near the statue, especially on Thursdays and Fridays.

People of Sudan

What do the people of Sudan do for fun? What type of traditions do they have? Where do they live and what do they do for food? These are some of the questions that will be discussed in this blog.

Sudan is made up of over 300 tribes. According to www.Oxfam.org, "About 60 percent of the population are Muslim, 25 percent are animist, and 15 percent Christian." The people of Sudan are also made up of many different ethnic backgrounds, mainly Arab and African. The official language is Arabic, but there are many different tribes that have their own language.





In northern Sudan, the environment is very dry. The people depend on their livestock to help them survive. In the south, the environment has more water and many of the people are farmers and grow their own food.





Like Americans, the people of Sudan entertain themselves with sports, arts and crafts, and music. Soccer is the most popular sport in Sudan. Basketball and volleyball are also among the favorites with the people of Sudan.



Arts & Crafts are also very popular. Traders often make their goods in the marketplace where they sell them. Sometimes tin cans are made into cooking pans or lamps. They also make bags out by punching holes in leather and stitching them. Other crafts are made using strings and beads (often made from colored glass).



Music is also popular in Sudan. The government however tried to stop people from performing. The lyrics of Sudan music is very important to the people. Sometimes at special occasions, new lyrics are made up on the spot.



Meals of the Sudanese are eaten around a large, communal tray. They eat various meats, vegetables, salads, and different sauces. They also eat flatbread. Sudanese drink coffee, which they spice up with cinnamon or ginger. They also drink herbal and fruit teas. Sometimes people put several teaspoons of sugar in their tea.



If you have any questions about the people of Sudan, please leave a comment.

Winnie Mandela

She was born on 26 September 1936 in Bizana, Transkei the area is now known as the Eastern Cape of South Africa. Winnie Mandela is the type of woman who commands attention when she walks into a room full of people. She was one of eight siblings and her mother, Nomathamsanqa Mzaidume taught Home Economics (Domestic Science) at a local school. Winnie experienced her first loss at the tender age of eight when her mother died. Her father worked in the Forestry and Agriculture department of the Transkei government. Transkei is now incorporated as part of the Eastern Cape in South Africa.
Winnie had drive and ambition even in those early years – remember this was during the apartheid years and during a time when women were still oppressed in South Africa: she was both black AND female. Yet she managed to complete a Bachelor of Arts degree, majoring in International Relations, at one of the leading universities in South Africa, The University of Witwatersrand, in Johannesburg.
After her release form a Kroonstad prison in 1975, she was part of the newly formed African National Congress Women’s League – a movement that till today has a powerful political voice. It was not long before the Women’s League was banned as well – this did not deter Winnie and her female comrades – they continued to struggle against the apartheid laws. Against all expectations, she had been re-elected chairperson of the ANC Women's League several times and her voice is still a strong one. She despises the press who understandably relish any opportunity to elaborate on her lifestyle. This woman, this Winnie Mandela, has spent a lifetime being victimized and oppressed. However she has still managed to come out strong.

Easter Baskets

This week in the Union there will be a raffle to win an Easter basket worth over $40. The entry fee is only $1 per ticket. The proceeds of the tickets are going to the Darfur Solar Pots project. The sale started on Monday, it happened today, and it will happen again on Friday from 10:00 am until 1:00 pm in the student union. The drawing for the raffle will happen on April 4th so make sure you keep checking your email to know if you have won. This a great cause and it only takes a small contribution to make a big difference.

Also happening on Wednesday, April 4th at 7:30 pm in the Mitchell Dr. Jean Comaroff will speak. She has received her B.A. from the University of Cape Town and her Ph.D. from the London School of Economics. She has spent the last 30 years working in South Africa an expert on the legacy of missionary activity on the African continent. Two of her books, titled Body of Power, and Spirit of Resistance and of Revelation and Revolution, have impacted the work of anthropologists, historians, and scholars of religion, music, dance, and medicine. She is currently a professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago.

The three subjects she will focus on are the legacy of missions in southern Africa, AIDS, bodily practices, and the cultural politics of healing rituals, and the damaging impact of neo-Pentecostalism throughout Africa today. Her presentation is titled “Commissioning the Past: Evangelism and History-Making in South Africa.” “For anyone interested in the politics of religion and the legacy of missionary activity in Africa, which is by no means finished, she is a mine of information,” said Dr. Neal Keye, an assistant professor of history at The College of St. Scholastica. “Without doubt many missionaries have done a lot of good, but in many cases they have been up to a lot of mischief and have had some disastrous results.”

This event is free and open to the public, so bring your friends from a different school or bring your family. There will also be a reception to follow. This even is the conclusion of the spring events for the Interreligious forum.

Information taken from http://www.css.edu/x19639.xml and the daily students announcements.

Meeting - Monday, March 26, 2007

We discussed about a lot of things during the meeting. For the couple months, the club has a busy schedule.

Rally For Darfur
It takes place in Minneapolis on Friday 03/29/07 Amnesty is doing it and will try to collaborate and see if you can do it with them.

Potluck with Colleges
For the up-coming conference we need to collaborate with other schools (UMD, LSC, UWS). It will take place on Thursday April 19 @ 6:00 pm in the ICC. Rhonda is going to work on the invitation letter and she will sending it to all committee members and feel free to send it to people you have contacts with that can help in the conference.

Nomination For Next Year
The club voted on the new leadership members.

Movie Showing
"Dairy of Darfur" a student from one of Duluth’s high school would like to show this movie this week. He is aware of the situation in Darfur and would like to help, he has been in touch with a member in Amnesty International to do a collaboration.

Potential Funds for the Conference
Student Senate is willing to offer $40,000 to the CJL if the clubs collaborated and did something (activity) on campus, the conference is one activity.

Update on Conference
Sent Kelly our ides 3 weeks ago and still waiting for the final response about our ideas. But we had gotten an email from Kelly confirming that she has gotten the email. Conference date has been decide on and it will on April 18-20, 2008.

Easter Basket Raffle
The club will have the basket out in the union on M-W-F from 10:00 – 1:00 this coming week. Drawing day for the Raffle will be on April 4. Proceeds will go to Darfur Solar pots but we need to decide whether to give 100% or 50% and keep the other half for the conference.

Darfur Conflict

The Darfur Conflict started in 2003 when a rebel group attacked governments targets. Darfur has had a lot of fights over land and grazing rights, and the start of the Darfur conflict was due to the government supposedly favoring the Arabs over the black Africans.

The Darfur Conflict has been going on for many years, causing millions of people to flee and live in camps. The villages have been destroyed and there has been a lack of food, water, and medicine. According to BBC News, men have been killed and women raped if they go out looking for firewood and water.

BBC News reports that it is impossible to know how many people have died from the conflict. This is due to the lack of researchers and aid workers that are able to get to Darfur. There is also an inability to be able to tell how many have died due to conflict and how many due to starvation or diseases.

There are not enough soldiers deployed to cover the area, which is approximately the size of France. The African Union also does not have money to be able to keep the mission going. Sudan does not want the UN to take control of the peacekeeping mission. They would much rather solve the conflict on their own without the help of the world. The newest plan is to double the amount of soldiers and have the UN more involved.

If anyone has anything to add or to comment on this issue, please add a comment. I am sure that I missed a lot of things about this conflict and hope to inform you when I learn more about the issue.