Washington D.C. Day 2: Ideas for Activism and Optimism

Just now rounding up what has been a busy, busy day!  Don't get me wrong- I'm not at all upset at the busyness, especially when this is exactly the reason that Jo Anne, Rollin, and myself are here. 

Here's a brief rundown of our day:

8am-9am was our breakfast time.  The hotel served the breakfast, which to say the least was extremely lavish.  We enjoyed a slice of bread and a glass of water.  Literally, that was it.  To be fair the bread had either blueberries or poppy seeds in them, and were rather good tasting, but the fact remains that it wasn't terribly filling.  After this, we listened to various speakers during the Sudan Plenary, including Jerry Fowler, the President of the Save Darfur Coalition, Mohammed Ahmed Abdallah, a Physician and Professor of Medicine at el-Fasher University in Darfur, and others.  After this we attended various breakout sessions, including a "Congo 101" session which described the various dynamics of the conflict minerals of the Congo, a "Burma and the Pursuit of International Justice" session which detailed the campaign to establish a Security Council Commission of Inquiry into the Burmese regime's crimes against humanity, a Congo Plenary featuring John Prendergast, a "Peacemaking in Sudan" session, and an "ICC" session.

I would love to go into detail for all of these sessions, but I think to fit everything in a reasonable amount of space here would be very difficult!  But I would like to point out a few of the statistics from my notes that I thought were rather striking.

One of these statistics was brought up in a recent World Health Organization report, which stated that of the roughly 8 million people in Southern Sudan, there are 10 qualified nurses.  If this doesn't show the discrepancy from what the elite in Khartoum receive and what they give to those in Darfur and South Sudan, I don't know what will.  The conditions these people live in are appalling and often unbearable- we can't let apathy keep us down!  We may be tired of reading the same stories in the papers about what is going wrong in the places we are trying to help, but this should really just be a call that we should try to do more and reach out to others who will help us.  Humanitarian efforts are a difficult process, sometimes they may even frustrate us or make us feel hopeless, but when we feel like we aren't making a difference we need to remind ourselves of the persistence that has helped those who came before us.  Continued, energetic, and creative effort will yield positive results.

Some other interesting information that was brought up had to do with the various "proxy wars" throughout Africa.  Without getting too into the details, this topic essentially pointed out the relationships between multiple conflicts throughout Africa; how they spill over into each other and also how African governments will support rebel groups to gain leverage over neighboring countries.  These facts pointed out to me the importance of not only focusing on humanitarian aid, but also on creating alliances and agreements between these African nations as well.  If these governments keep acting solely in their own interest, our efforts will never be able to prevail.  These governments need to realize that peace and stability in their neighboring countries is beneficial for everyone and will lead to better and more legitimate trade, security for civilians, and stability in all governments.  We cannot afford to have everyone pushing their own agenda without looking at the big picture- we need to push for multilateral efforts from the governments dealing with these issues on the ground.

Alright, this blog is getting a bit longer than normal- but I do think I'll go into the specifics of these conflicts at a later time.  If you have any questions about these issues or anything like that, feel free to let me know!  Tomorrow is our last day of learning sessions and training, and then on Monday we will lobby for 3 different bills, which I will explain tomorrow night.  Thanks for reading and thanks again for your continued support and strength!