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!