By Glenda Emerson is a freelance columnist with the Penticton News
Hundreds of women and girls have been
raped by the Janjaweed, the government-backed militia in the Darfur
region of Western Sudan. A 17-year-old girl who tried to resist, was
raped and then killed, her naked, mutilated body left in the streets of
her village.
To date nearly four million people have been adversely affected by the Janjaweed attacks. The death toll is estimated at around 400,000. Villages have been bombed, looted and burned and water supplies poisoned, forcing the inhabitants to flee for their lives.
This began when, after years of serious hardship and social marginalization under the military-style government, the Fur and Masalit people attempted a protest. The government retaliated by engaging the Janjaweed militia to exterminate the black African civilians they refer to as ‘slaves’ and ‘hyenas’ in an ethnic cleansing eerily reminiscent of the genocide Hitler perpetuated against the Jewish people.
The onslaught of oppression, natural disasters and tragedies such as this one can leave a person inert and apathetic in defense to the unrelenting volume of such events. As a woman I find myself caring almost against my will when I hear the stories of horrifying degradation and crimes, particularly those against women and children. Being halfway across the world and living in relative safety makes it easier to ignore and pretend.
But for David Kilmartin, executive director of the Penticton Arts Council, the issue is much more personal and impossible to forget. Kilmartin’s father, who lived in Haiti for 32 years and was murdered there.
It was Kilmartin who found his father, lying in a pool of his own blood, and the graphic image is indelibly emblazoned in his son’s memory.
Kilmartin also travelled extensively in Northern Africa. It was here that he witnessed first hand what profound poverty and male dominance did to the young girls who at 15 looked closer to 40, if they survived at all.
For the past year and a half, Kilmartin has worked tirelessly, despite health issues and personal challenges to bring this cause to the awareness of the Penticton people and the B.C. government. Towards this end, he has started a petition protesting the atrocities that continue in this region of the western Sudan.
Five thousand people die
each month in Darfur due to starvation, disease, torture and genocide.
If you’d like to cast your vote against this horrifying tragedy, simply
visit Leir House in Penticton to sign the petition in the lobby. Or go
to
Penticton Mayor Jake Kimberley will be on hand when Okanagan Coquihalla MP Stockwell Day accepts this petition in Penticton on Jan. 31.
To directly benefit the people of Darfur, a silent art auction will begin Jan. 31 at 3 p.m. and will continue until Feb. 27. The artwork has been donated by some of the finest artists in the Okanagan and all the proceeds from the event will be presented to Amnesty International to directly assist the victims of the Darfur region.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men (and women) to do nothing.” - Edmund Burke
To learn more about the genocide in Darfur check out these links: