DARFUR:
UN MESSENGER OF PEACE GEORGE CLOONEY'S VIDEO DIARY: PART 3, BY CAROLINE PATTON:
28/03/2008
(MaximsNews TV)
UNITED
NATIONS - / MaximsNews Network / 28
March 2008 -- When, earlier this month, the WFP faced
being unable to continue aid to Darfur because it did not have enough money to
keep its operations going, the humanitarian initiative was saved not by a
government but by 'Not On Our Watch,' a nonprofit which counts among its members
George Clooney, Don Cheadle, Matt Damon, Brad Pitt.
As
a result of the $500,000 they donated, the first of the year towards its $77
million dollar budget, WFP programs were able to continue. This is only one
example of the role that celebrities have played in raising awareness about
atrocities around the world and in supporting the work of the organizations that
provide humanitarian aid. In the case of Darfur, actor George Clooney has been a
prominent and outspoken advocate of action to stop the killing in the Sudanese
region and has traveled there several times to speak with the people affected by
the violence.
On his 2006 trip he recorded the
experience on film, offering a vivid portrait of the refugees driven from their
homes and the aid workers who struggle to cope with the ongoing attacks.
Among
the people Clooney and his father spoke to while in Darfur ranged from Jillian,
an aid worker in a refugee camp in Chad who described how almost everyone in the
camp knew someone who was raped or killed by the Janjaweed.
On another part of
the trip, Clooney talked to a man who said the Sudanese government wanted to
destroy the black population, leaving the country for the Arab population. When
asked what they wanted from the international community, the Sudanese men said
that they wanted NGOs and international organizations to come quickly to aid the
people of Darfur and help find a solution to the problems plaguing Sudan.
It is difficult
after watching the film to not feel that something must be done to help the
people of Darfur, living in difficult conditions, menaced by violence, and
dependent on international aid. If the violence cannot be stopped the number of
dead will only continue to rise.
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