Author: Emily Jensen
Darfur Diaries, a documentary detailing the genocide in Darfur, was screened on Thursday, March 29 during Genocide and Darfur Awareness and Action Week. The 55-minute documentary, filmed exclusively in abandoned villages and refugee camps in Darfur and surrounding areas of Sudan and Eastern Chad, offers a deftly executed depiction of the shattered and indomitable people of Darfur.
The three independent filmmakers, Aisha Bain, Jen Marlowe and Adam Shapiro, who started making Diaries in October 2004, sought to provide refugees themselves with a platform from which to express their pain and tell their stories. The only voices heard throughout the film are those of the actual people in the crisis, lending the entire endeavor intense, authentic credibility. The majority of the Darfurians’ accounts relate to their own experiences with the conflict, including graphic but matter-of-fact recollections of rape, murder and destruction inflicted by Janjaweed militants. Most of those interviewed perceive their own suffering with disturbing lucidity; one man explains, “One does not know who he is. One does not know where he lives, as if he had no head.”
But perhaps the most thoroughly upsetting stories are those of the younger children, who hold up crayon-drawn pictures of falling bombs and armed soldiers and describe constant nightmares that mirror the reality of their lives. “Some of them wake up and run,” said an older child.
While the filmmakers make no attempt to sugarcoat the situation in Darfur, they also make a point of including moments of laughter, of fond memories and of unyielding men and women rising up to try to save themselves and their people. Many of the adults in the film are teachers who have fully devoted themselves to educating the children, often skipping meals and sacrificing the few resources they have to facilitate learning. They use scrap metal as chalkboards and tents and mud huts as classrooms. “There is no life without education,” said a teacher.
The film was shown as a part of Genocide and Darfur Awareness and Action Week, with the intent of informing students about the crisis. Fortunately for concerned students, there are plenty of simple ways to contribute to the effort to improve the situation in Darfur. Pre-written postcards urging the United Nations Security Council to send in 200,000 peacekeeping troops are available in the ORSL; all students have to do is put their names and addresses on the card. Amnesty International also has a website that offers various quick and constructive ways for Americans to take action as well as more involved options like protest and donations.
To find out more, visit http://www.amnestyusa.org/countries/sudan/index.do.
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