Why are we so indifferent about countries like Sudan?

I have pondered about this earlier, wondering why the world is so selective about what and whom we care about. Why is it that the UN, a body that is supposed to care about every country, every human being, focuses almost exclusively on Israel? Why are only the Gaza events "unacceptable"?

Do you remember hearing much about Sudan in the last several years now (15 years, to be exact)? Do you know that by now close to 3 million people got slowly "eliminated" there? Do you know that the children of the victims are often "spared" only to be sold into slavery? Yes, you are reading it right! Slavery is alive and well in the Muslim world. From Philippine maids in the rich Arab states whose passports are taken away and then the women made to work without pay, to actual slaves who have been bought and sold as children, and then most of them kept in slavery for the rest of their lives. And then there are the kidnapped children who are expected to be bought back by their families from the slave traders.

I urge you to listen to a former slave, Simon Deng, snatched away as a child and given as a "gift" to someone, then bought back by his family later. He is in America now and does what he can to raise awareness of the plight of the people of Southern Sudan.







In today's day and age it really is unacceptable for us to sit by idly, and accept and parrot whatever meager information the media provides us. They are human, too, they will not go to the really dangerous areas, they prefer the comfier missions, like reporting from Israel, where they can wait in air-conditioned hotels to report on the plight of the "innocent" Gazans.

There are people who try to do something, like the Baroness Caroline Cox, or our Canadian Reverend Cal Bombay who is still fighting the slave trade in Sudan (see bottom of his web page). But such individuals are scarce and their methods are questionable. I, for one, do not agree with the practice of "re-purchasing" of slaves because in my opinion this practice actually creates a supply and demand situation, further encouraging slave trade. But then we all do whatever we think of as a possible solution. One thing is sure: we have to find solutions!

Children of Gaza are given new lease on life in Israel

In spite of the present state of war between Israel and Gaza, the lifesaving work of the Save a Child's Heart foundation goes on. This is a project run in the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, Israel, where children from around the world are operated on for major heart problems entirely free of charge. The little patients come mostly from underdeveloped countries where they would not have any chance for this kind of life saving treatment. There are children from Iraq, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, and quite often from Gaza. The doctors there have a good working relationship with the Israeli doctors, and all it takes is a phone call to have their little patients admitted to the Wolfson Center. And this service is not, cannot be stopped by any military crisis, they get the necessary help no matter what.



The medical team is headed by Dr. Amran Cohen, and the the project is mostly funded by Iraqi born Israeli philanthropist, Sami Shamoon, although its needs for further donations is growing by the day as the number of children in need of help is growing. Hillary Clinton is also a supporter of the project which gets a lot of praise around the world, including Al Jazeera TV. Let us hope that the SACH project will prove to spread the message of its intended goodwill far and wide. To quote one of the doctors, "What I hope is that when a healthy child returns home, the effect of it will be greater than the work of 1000 diplomats."

Gaza or Darfur?

I am confused. For a long time now I have been agonizing over the crises in Sudan. The warfare claimed 2 million lives there in the last 15 years, 300 000 in Darfur in this last conflict alone. And what about the Zimbabwe humanitarian crisis? Did/do we hear much about either of them? Not much.

But here comes the Gaza crisis - do we hear about it? You bet! Around the clock CNN coverage, pro and con demonstrations, fiery pro and con reports and commentaries, "the works".

The only explanation I can come up with for this unbalanced media attention is that in Israel journalists camp out in air conditioned comfy hotels, literally just a few kilometres from the war zone, so it is very easy for them to be at interesting spots within minutes, to put together literally a flood of visually compelling, technically perfect reports. They could not possibly do the same in Sudan. After all, it is "too dangerous" there. Better just ignore it...

But what is the result of this unbalanced reporting? Unbalanced response from the public, of course! Do media people ever think of such things? I wonder. Most people do not consciously seek out all the necessary information that would allow them to have a good overall view of the World at any given time. Most people are satisfied to follow the headlines and adjust their "emotion du jour" accordingly.

Media people keep forgetting the essence of their work in all this rush for making a living by digging up the hottest morsels the easiest way possible. They not only influence the general public, their reports, together with the public opinion, have tremendous influence on politicians, also, and this way they impact and to a certain degree shape history. They are the ones who tell us what is important in the world at any given moment. Unfortunately the impression is that Africans are considered by far less important than Palestinians and/or Israelis.