I-Search+by+Joleyne

by Joleyne
 * W ill the innocent people in Darfur ever be SAFE and FREE? **
 * Part I--What I already know about my topic **

I never expected it to happen to Africa. Actually, I never expected it to happen to any country. But one day I am just sitting down and the newspaper lands inn front of me. My dad has finished reading the paper and now hes now going to take a nap. I decide to skim through it (since there is nothing better to do). While I'm skimming I come to a page about Darfur. I was not interested in reading about it and so I continued skimming. It was only mentioned around a few times in my old school but no really went deep into what was really going on and why. Everyone was always saying how they felt bad about the people in Darfur but why? So finally in 7th grade in a Helping Hands meeting at my school BSGE, we watched the movie "The Devil Came on Horseback". It was all about how the incident inn Darfur, Sudan started and what it was resulting too. A man was taping all of the action, for many years. He dealt with the sad emotions, watching Darfur suffer. In the movie, you could see houses sent on fire and villages being bombed. Poor innocent people were running for their lives, trying to save themselves or their family. Some people did not make it out alive though. I almost cried. When the people who escaped came back, their whole village was completely destroyed. They were crying for their dead family members and friends and for their village. Everything was in shambles, with nothing left. It kept happening to other villages, more innocent people dying and suffering. Mysterious men wearing masks riding horses were doing all the harm in Darfur. They were raping women and doing whatever they pleased. I was very mad and wished I could send a lot of help to those people in need.


 * Part II--What I Want to Find Out **

When I watched the movie though, I didn't quite understand everything that was being said. Was the incident in Darfur happening because there were two different kinds of people who didn't like each other? Why would someone do this to people, especially people of a poor country with not much resources? Its very sad to know that someone would do this. Another question I had was why wasn't the United States of America helping Darfur? I mean we have resource's, even though we have an economic crisis going on. In the video, President Bush was saying that the incident in Darfur was a genocide but then I asked myself, well okay however are we going to something about it like help them? We have been sending them supplies but are we going to send them some soldiers for assistance? Another question I had was, was there anyone helping them right now other than the United States? These were all burning questions that I needed to be answered so I could find a way to help them.


 * Part III--The Search **

I wanted my answers to be answered immediately so I could help the people in Darfur. I went to DarfurScores.org and information flashed before me. All these facts burned in my mind. For the next few days, I started to research more and more. I started understanding more and more about the situation in Darfur. I went to the library and borrowed a book called "Not on Our Watch" by Don Cheadle and John Prendergast. I picked up this book in particular because just by the introduction of the book, I was captivated by the wording. It was also because that was the only one book about Darfur. The book was written by two men who visited Darfur refugee camps and wrote of their experiences. Even though I didn't read the whole book but from the first few pages I felt the emotion that they were feeling when they visited Darfur. The book explained vivid details of what was happening there and what the United States was doing. I was filling my brain with knowledge about Darfur. However as all this information has come, I as made ma sad to know all of this information. It has made me realized the great opportunities I have been offered. The next day during Technology class, I was still thirsting for knowledge and wanted to learn more. I searched online for more information and found another website called SaveDarfur.org and then I discovered a few more things about this issue. My plan next was to interview a person that might know a vast amount of knowledge on this genocide. I was thinking of an expert about it. However, If I could not reach anyone, I would interview a person about their feelings on this genocide and how it might affect the world. Well, since I could not reach any proffesionals, i interviewed someone about this. I interviewed my friend Alyssa about the situation.

Interview:

Me: Do you know what Darfur is? Alyssa: No, I do not. Me: Why not? Alyssa: I have never heard of Darfur, so I am not aware of the situation in Darfur. Me: Darfur is a region of Sudan in Africa. A genocide is accuring there right now. Innocent people are getting killed and there losing there houses. Alyssa: What is a genocide? And that sounds like a serious issue. Me: A genocide is " The deliberate and systematic destruction of a racial, political, or cultural group." In other words when someone does something that they intended to do that destroys any of those groups.

From this very short interview, we can see that not a lot of people know about Darfur. They might not even know what a genocide is or if Darfur exists! Shortly after the interview, I went on another website called "Darfur Timeline". It had a timeline of all the events that has happened through the years. It filled my head with knowledge on what exactly had been happeneing through the years.



Part IV--What I Learned **

From this proccess of obtaining information, I realized something. Sometimes, people don't pay attention to issues apperaing on Earth. They disregard them as if its not important. I asked someone about another issue, the Haiti Earthquake, once and they said "Why do they need shoes?" I wanted to knock some sense into him. People in this day in age are becoming careless. One important thing that I learned was that this situation was done for a purpose. In 2003, they made military raid squads called the janjaweed. The janjaweed target ethnic group that support the rebels of the rebel movement going on in Darfur. As an investigator in this inverstigation, I learned that sometimes the truth can hurt. When you read about all the poor people in Darfur and you compare it to your life, you see that your life right now is a million times better than theirs. The whole time I was searching for imformation, I was feeling very sad. People should realize that their are more important things in life other than themselves. Things they should put more attention to.


 * __Attribution/ Bibliography:

Book:__** Cheadle, Don, and John Prendergast. //Not on Our Watch//. 1st. New York: Hyperion, 2007. 252. Print.


 * __//Websites://__**

"Genocide in Darfur, Sudan." //Darfur Scores//. Genocide Intervention Netwrok, n.d. Web. 19 May 2010. .

"Save Darfur." //SaveDarfur.org//. Save Darfur, n.d. Web. 27 Apr 2010. [].

"The UN Responds to the Crisis in Darfur: A Timeline." //Darfur Timeline//. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 May 2010. .