Strawberry Kiwi

People in Darfur need your help. To try and get a feel for how scary and hard their life is like in refugee camp, play darfur is dying. Although this is a virtual experience, you feel really bad for the refugees, and want to do something to help. Hopefully, all of the information I have put on my blog about the Darfur genocide, and playing this game, will encourage you to fullfill your duty as a global citizen. Since the U.S. is such a rich and developped country, we should help out other cultures, nations, and groups around the world that need our protection and help, like Darfur. You can help spread awarness about Darfur by joining our International Blog for Darfur Day, on March 6th. To help out, you can also donate money to organizations that are sending supplies and help to Darfur. Please help out the Darfurians!  

Main points in articles about China and Darfur: 

1. China is encouraging the rebelling groups in Darfur to have more peace talks with the Sudanese government.

2. The Chinese think that the reluctance of the rebelling Darfur groups is preventing a political agreement.

3. China is the leading buyer of oil from Sudan, and is a major supplier of arms  for Sudan. China is being accused by civil rights activists of not using their influence with the Sudanese government to stop the genocide in Darfur.

4. Around 200,000 people have been killed in Darfur.

5. Steven Spielberg quit his post as artistic advisor to the Beijing Summer Olympics because of what China is doing in Darfur, well, more like what China isn’t doing in Darfur.

6. The UN reports new bombings in Darfur on Sunday. 

7. Recently, China unexpectedly encouraged the Sudanese government to allow foreign peacekeepers to go into Darfur. There was no break in the fighting though.

8.  Around 2.5 million have been driven from their homes since 2003.

9. The Sudanese still don’t want any non- African troops in Sudan, until all of the African soldiers have been sent to Darfur.

10. So far, just 9,000 of 26,000 troops are in Sudan.

11.  Darfur rebels say they began their fight due to a lack of attention from Khartoum, Sudan’s capital.   

1. My favorite blog post from this year is my poem about snow that I wrote in September. It is titled Being Here.2. I think that using blogs in the classroom is a good idea for a few reasons. First of all, you can easily access everyone’s writing, and you can fond all of your writing from earlier in the year because it’s all stored in the same place. I also think that blogs are a good idea because everyone all around the world has access to your writing, so you pay a little more attention to how you write. I make sure that what I write is clear, and I try to not write too much, but I always end up writing a lot.3. Over the year, I think my writing has improved. I tend to write more clearly, and its becoming easier and easier to type out my ideas on the page. Its getting a little easier to use less words to describe things, which is good, because then my posts aren’t quite as long.  I think that one thing I do well is explaining. I tend to write too much when I try to explain things clearly though. One thing that I still need to work on even more is not writing too much. I need to cut out the extra and unnecessary words to make my writing easier to understand, and more to the point.  

1. Classification: Dividing a culture or society into groups by race, religion, or ethnicity

2. Symbolization: Giving groups symbols that stick and are sometimes involuntary

3. Dehumanization: When one group starts to consider the other or opposing group as not human. Sometimes the opposing group is compared to animals, insects, diseases, or vermin. At this stage, hate messages are broadcast through public speaking, newspapers, and other media.

4. Organization: Plans are made for genocide or mass killings, and people and militia start forming groups.

5. Polarization: The opposing groups are driven as far apart as possible, and sometimes extremist terrorism targets undecided or neutral people or groups in the middle.

6. Identification: Members of victim groups are forced to wear symbols. They are identified and separated, and forced into concentration camps. 

7. Extermination: Mass killings begin, and it is legally referred to as genocide.  When sponsored by the state, armed forces often work with militias to do the killing. 

8. Denial: Always follows genocide. Leaders of killing groups deny having done anything wrong or committing any crimes.  

Frederick Douglass was a human and woman’s  rights activist, and an abolitionist, among other things. He had a big impact on American society. He dedicated his life to finding justice for all Americans. Douglass also served as an advisor to multiple presidents, but it was many years before other African Americans would follow in his footsteps. Frederick Douglass was born into slavery, and taught himself to read and write as a child. When he was 20 years old, he escaped to freedom in Massachusetts . There he married Anna Murray Douglass and joined the abolitionist movement. Douglass was a skilled orator, and abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison hired him as a speaker for the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society. Frederick Douglass started his own abolitionist newspaper, which became a major voice for the African American opinion. Later, Douglass started focusing more on promoting women’s rights. He died in February 1895. 

Summary of notes on Darfur presentation:

Where? Darfur, an area in Sudan, Africa.

Who? The people of Darfur (from the south of Sudan, and of African descent). The Janjaweed (from the north of Sudan, and of Arab descent) and Sudanese government are  fighting against the people of Darfur to try and destroy their whole race.

When? The conflict started in early 2003, and is still going on today, 5 years

What? Only 2 weeks after the end of Sudan’s 2nd civil war, conflict erupts in Darfur. First, Sudanese military helicopters come and bomb villages in Darfur. Then, the Janjaweed come in to the bombed villages on foot or in trucks or on horseback. They carry guns provided by the Sudanese government and provided indirectly by China and enterprises around the world. The Janjaweed shoot at the fleeing villagers to cause as much chaos as possible, and try to kill as many villagers as they can because they want to wipe out the whole race of people who live in Darfur.

Why? The Janjaweed and the people of Darfur have different ethnic backgrounds, and the current conflict between the two races has stemmed from disagreements and some other problems in the past. The Janjaweed want to kill all of the people of Darfur, because they think it will solve all of the problems.

Visit our project site at manyvoicesdarfur.blogspot.com to find ways to help stop this genocide. By joining our cause, you can  make a difference.

As 21st century global citizens, it is our responsibility to spread awareness about problems and issues in our world today. We need to get information out there that bad things are happening. We need to try to help out, especially in poorer places like Darfur, since the US is such a rich country.  

An overview of what’s going on in Darfur:

Who? Over 200,000 people, all the same race, killed. 

What? Genocide. An entire race that the military and Janjaweed are trying to destroy.

Where? Darfur, a region in Sudan, which is a country in Africa.

When? Right now. The conflict started between 2002 and 2003.

Why?  The military and Janjaweed are trying to destroy the whole race of people that oppose them. Drought. Overpopulation. 

Learn more:

 Darfur Conflict

Visit our site and learn about our project:

Save Darfur