I-Search+by+Grace

​ by Grace Darfur is a place located in Sudan that has a government that harasses the citizens. The government sends people to various places in Darfur and has them kill citizens and burn down their houses. The citizens frantically try to escape often losing their family in the process. Most citizens who managed to survive have seen the death of their loved ones at the hands of the governments and their agents almost. The government is supposed to be the thing that maintains peace in a country and the government of Sudan seems to be doing the opposite. The citizens are in constant fear and most try to escape, but for those who want to wait to see if they can be reunited with their family or are to scared to live are basically insuring their death. There are camps set up to house those who have managed to cross the border and are hiding in Chad, but they may not even be safe at all times. The U.S are the ones who are helping the citizens in Darfur the most. They are unable to run to the government in their time of need because of the governments part in the citizens suffering. George W. Bush did one good thing during his presidency which was declare the events occurring in Darfur genocide which allows our government to step in and help Darfur. We have been trying to help Darfur, but the fights and deaths continue. Our school plays a bigger part than most of us know. B.S.G.E has an annual concert dedicated to raising money for Darfur in hope of a better future for the citizens who struggle to survive. Darfur is relaying on the U.S to help them and stop the constant state of fear that the citizens are in because of their government. How did Darfur come to the situation that it is now in? How and why did the government decide to terrorize the citizens in Darfur? What motivated the " agents" of the government to do the job that they are doing which are to burn down villages and kill citizens? How did the citizens first realize that they would not be safe in their homes? Where did the attacks start in Darfur? When did we officially start to help Darfur? When will our efforts stop the fighting and pain that the government of Darfur is causing? Who else around the world is helping Darfur? How many citizens lost their lives because of the attacks by the government? How many citizens were able to reach somewhere where they would truly be safe? Does a place that offers complete safety really exist? Is the U.S doing a lot or at least putting in a significant amount of effort towards helping Darfur or are they doing something small to prove that they are at least doing something? Why are the event sat Darfur not well known even here? Are the people in Darfur insignificant to the people around the world which is the reason why they invest little to no effort in doing something to help out? When will enough help be given to have Darfur completely safe and ridded of everything that caused pain and suffering?
 * At War With The Government **
 * Part I--What I already know about my topic **
 * Part II--What I Want to Find Out **

I choose the book __Darfur African Genocide​__ because it talks about the history of Darfur and how that escalated to the problem that is still at hand today. It has a large range of information that I feel will definately help me answer some of the big questions that I had about my topic. It was hard to find a book that focused on Darfur and this was one of the only books that I could find and it had most of the inforation that I was looking for, but it is still kind of short so it makes me think information is left out. This worries me because during this project I want to find out as much as I can about my topic and also be as accurate as possible. This book does show the troubles that are being faced, but I feel like this book doesn't really show how bad it is in Darfur because it doesn't show all the deaths and sorrow that are currently filling up the citizens of Darfur's lives. This book does show one thing that I thought was very important and that was the term "genocide" and one of the chapters is titled History Repeats itself. This is important because the term genocide is terrible, but is exactly what is happening in Darfur. I find it sad that so few people know about Darfur and before this school year I was one of those people. Also the part tnat talks about history repeating itself makes me think of Rowanda and how what occured there was never supposed to happen again, but obviously that was not true because the people in Darfur are facing deaths and the problem is not recent. This book covers most of the topics that I wish to learn about and share with others through the game that I will create. The first chapter in the book is titled __An Overview of the Crisis in Darfur__. It talks about the history of fighting and the reason behind many people's rebellion against the government. I was unaware of why people were unhappy with the government andf why the government started fights, but because of the book I understand why the problem started and I will be able to include it in the beginning of my game. I know from this first chapter many statistics about how manypeople were killed and what punishment was given to them so it gives me a lot of information to include in my game. This information will help me achieve my goal with this game which is to make people aware of what is happening because although we are on the same planet this has been going on for a while and then it disappears completely from the news. After it disappears few people continue to help the cause that is in need. This chapter proved to be very useful when thinking about the design of the game I plan to make. One of the internet sources that I found extremely useful was []. I found this website particularly useful because it focused on what I thought was the most important issue which was the governments part in the current conflict. Not only did they do this, but they also mentioned statistics which I find suprising and they make me more aware vof how serious this problem has gotten. The statistics make it more real to me thinking about how many people have actually did rather than just reading something with some information and no statistics whatsoever. This website has a lot of the information that I would want to share to show people what is going in this world that they don't even know about. Those are definately the two sources that I know will help me along the way. A third website that I also found very useful was []. I found this website useful because it was a very detailed time line that shows how the situation has progressed and escalated over time. It says what as been done to start this problem and also the steps that have been taken that may improve the current situation in the end. This has all of the important events that have occurred and these events will help me when creating my game. In the game I will have something like chance cards that include all of these events. That is why that website was helpful to me.
 * Part III--The Search **

Here is where my interview with Mr. Peter Wilson about the help being given to Darfur will go.

While researching this topic I learned many things about Darfur and what had been done to help. I learned the origins of the problem which was the government having islamic laws being the center of the government and conflict about land, money, guns, drought, famine, and disease. I also learned that the citizens were under attack by the janjaweed which means devils on horseback. These people came into villages and mufdered men, raped women and children, stole possessions from the houses that they invaded, and burned anything that was still standing. These people did these things because like many of those who lived in Darfur they were poor and homeless and if they killed people who didn't agree with the government they would get to keep the things they stole from the houses. In Darfur everybody needs to drastic things to stay alive, but some people did more extreme things than others wanted to. While this was going on people were living regular peaceful lives and had no idea about what was happening in Darfur. The U.S was the only country that did something to help Darfur. George W. Bush was the one who declared that what was happening in Darfur a genocide. This was supposed to help the people there and stop the genocide, but it had little affect. Today if asked very fewpeople would know what is happening in Darfur. In that sentence I said "what is happening in Darfur" which means that the genocide is still going on. It hasn't stopped and isn't close to stopping either because of the lack of awareness. If more people knew of the horrible things that happened in Darfur they would be more motivated to do something for they fellow human beings. I learned about how this has been continuing for years and how we are the only hope these people have. This makes me very sad because of the fact that we have barely done anything to help Darfur. We have standards to meet now because a large group of people are depending on us to save many lives and stop the destruction of peoples' homes and families. I learned that when people have such horrible things happening to them for a very unimportant reason something needs to be done to bring justice back to their lives.
 * Part IV--What I Learned **

Amnesty International USA,. "History of the Darfur Conflict." Amnesty International USA - Protect Human Rights. Amnesty International USA, 2010. Web. 21 Apr 2010. <[]>.
 * Part V Works Cited**

Darfur Timeline,. "The UN Responds to the Crisis in Darfur: A Timeline." //Darfur Timeline//. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 April 2010. .

Xavier, John. Darfur African Genocide. 1st edition. NYC, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2008. 0-55. Print.