Trapped

I never really thought about how refugees are trapped in the camps and towns set up for them until recently. My mind began to open and understand (as much as I could) how refugees are living in these camps or constructed towns through reading the chapters.  I never realized that these refugees are trapped. Trapped from living the way they want to live. Trapped from experiencing the joys of having a worthy income and education opportunities. You would think after having to flee from your home country because of the dangers of the perpetrators’ hatred and persecution towards you, life, as a refugee would be a breeze. These people are living in a circulating wheel with no stopping point and almost no way to jump off and get out. I do agree that these several million people suffering from persecution are living in an open housed museum for the entire world to see.

It is hard to realize how much stress and pain mentally it must be to be a refugee.  These people have to leave their home in fear of being murdered because of their race, religion, etc. And while they are thankful for the camps that are set up for them, it comes to their realization that they have soon lost all identity. I feel that these camps and communities of refugees have saved these people from certain death yet stripped them from living the life they want for themselves and for their family.

I found that refugee organizations and agencies such as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have done exceptional jobs in keeping the refugees safe and protected from the turmoil and war in their homelands. But it is hard to factor out that these refugees are given very precise and small portion of food to survive (with an average of 1700 calories per day). Under the mandate, refugees are unable to leave their camps to find jobs to support their families and potentially enabling themselves to move out of these communities to start a new life outside of being a refugee, due to being unable to receive work permits. They also are unable to seek further education after secondary school (if they were even lucky to go to secondary school). I feel that these organizations are seriously dehumanizing these people with their efforts of “helping” them. They do not have the ability to find jobs that truly will help them succeed in life nor do they have enough freedom to receive the education that they so desire. It seems living in a refugee camp gives you nothing to strife for except hope of the end of civil disputes in their home country. Refugees are stripped of everything that they once knew, to these agencies it feels that all they are are a number; a number that needs food and water, healthcare, and a place to lay their head.

This all relates to a life under transfusion. The term transfusion comes from the medical procedure of transferring blood from one person to another. Refugees are being kept alive by their weekly rations of food and water that are being “transfused” from refugee agencies and donators. They are being carefully watched making sure all their health is fine, their shelter is safe, etc. These people aren’t experiencing life to their fullest due to, as the chapter states being “kept artificiallly alive by the international transfusion.” They are thankful, no doubt, for the caring of their bodies, but any bump in the road could easily misrupt the transfusion causing a “spill” resulting in an accident. These people are dependent on these transfusions, which can be very alarming, as accidents can always happen.

I can understand how people say that refugees live in a bare town with a bare life. No longer do they have things like a home, village, jobs, relatives, and other social ideals. All they have is the body that they were born with and the ration card tied around the neck or wrist. Living in a refugee camp seems to destroy their identity though it doesn’t mean they do not try to make the best out of the situation.

In the Kenyan refugee camps, large fences and barbed wires wrap around the vicinity of the camps. These refugees live in certain groups depending on their ethnicity, arrival time, etc. and soon attempt to use what they have to attempt to recreate their own homes. I feel this is where the idea that these people are a living ethnographic museum as these people seem to not be going anywhere for a long time. They live in these shelters day in and day out, showing the world what the daily life of a refugee could possibly consist of. I honestly would say that these camps could be considered as even “human zoos” for these people are seen to have no identities, nothing in their future.  They are basically being held in captivity. From the descriptions through the chapters, the camps sort of remind me of the ghettos where the Jews were segretated in Nazi-occupied Europe during World War II.

People are living in these camps for many years, some even being born there, never stepping foot in their home country. The younger generation is beginning to forget about their own heritage, their true home outside of the fenced in communities. They are losing all sense of culture and history of their home country, leading to a bare life. These people have already lost everything, they shouldn’t have to lose the pride they have for what is inside of them.

It seems that as Westerners we think of refugees and think “Aw, I’m glad that they got out from the perils in their home country,” and then go on with our daily lives. We see these commercials on tv asking for donations to help those in need in places such as Kenya and Ethiopa but we don’t fully understand what these people are experiencing inside of the camps when the cameras are off. Thankfully after reading several accounts of life in these camps from those living in them, I have been able to understand just how difficult it is to be someone in the camps, to live your life. We need to open our eyes to what is happening outside of our own comfortable safety bubble in America.

Overall, I understand now that refugee camps are not a “home away from home” and can really dehumanize an entire population. We need to become more aware about the corruptness that is found in these camps with them not allowing these refugees (who are human beings) to live their lives just as if they were in their home country. I do agree that refugees are living in ethnographic museums, showing people what its like to live as a refugee. These are real-life people who deserve to have a life just as you and I do so they should not be trapped in a fenced in community resulting them becoming a spectacle for the world to see.

-Joshua

The Struggles of South Sudan

South Sudan is the world’s newest country, gaining its independence from Sudan in 2011, yet there has been telltale signs within the country that a genocide is in the midst. The internal conflict between the two majority groups, the Dinka and the Nuer has created friction resulting in wanting to destroy one another (Lustig, 2014). And to make matters worse, a heavy famine has struck in South Sudan, leaving hundreds of thousand of adults and children without food and water resulting in many deaths (Lustig, 2014; Wire Services, 2014c). I feel that all of this tension and brutality and the role of scarcity inside the South Sudan have really opened up the country to a destructive genocide. As humans, I feel it is our right to attempt to put an end to this genocide by reinforcing the notions that the Genocide Convention put into place. I know that countries such as the United Kingdom, and the United States might not want to call it genocide, but innocent people are being brutally murdered and starved and they need our help!

The South Sudan genocide is seen to have had several visible indicators that could have potentially sparked the event (Maya, 2014).  As I wrote in the previous paragraph, there was already tension between the governance and the people. President Salva Kiir, a Dinka, butted heads with the former vice president now turned rebel leader Riek Machar, a Nuer (Lustig, 2014). The two groups had been fighting since December and with the entire world fearful of the outbreak of genocide, the US and UN created a cease-fire agreement to welcome peace between the two (Wire Services, 2014a). Alas both ethnic majority leaders destroyed the agreement not even two days after they had agreed with both accusing each other (Wire Services, 2014b). Although both sides have seen deaths, most news articles have shown the genocide to be favored towards the Dinkas attempt to destroy the Nuer (CHUOL Puoch, 2014; Puoch Riek Deng, 2014). Kiir and his Dinka militia are seen as cruel, fueled with power and anger resulting in their plans of an “ethnic cleanse”: destroying all other groups in South Sudan (Puoch Riek Deng, 2014).

The Dinkas have used news alerts on radio stations to help influence other Sudanese citizens to go along with the slaughter (Lustig, 2014). No one was safe in Juba, the capital and largest city of South Sudan. Hundreds of Nuer are seen to being tortured and kidnapped with many of the women being raped and killed (Lustig, 2014). People began fleeing to other countries to refugee camps trying to become safe from a life that has already been filled with exile and discrimination (Maya, 2014).

With the fighting that has happened, the South Sudanese people are experiencing a deadly famine with a side of disease. Being unable to find proper medication as well as nourishment due to being driven out of their homes, over seven million South Sudanese are at risk of diseases such as cholera and malaria, and starvation (Wire Services, 2014c). The heavy rains and war has disenabled these people to obtain the health care that they need to survive. I feel that the scarcities found in South Sudan have been able to predict the signs of the makings of genocide. The power struggle between the two majorities affected the entire country, plunging it into a civil war and generating the starvation of their country (Wire Services, 2014c). These people could all perish if they do not get the proper health care, sanitation, food, and water in the next few weeks! Countries need to check themselves and understand the damages they are doing to their people by destroying themselves through war and genocide.

I feel that South Sudan has been plagued with relatively bad luck ever since their introduction as a country. With two hostile ethnic groups fighting over a power struggle, there was no way this situation would end up nicely and peacefully. As things in South Sudan have begun to show more signs of genocide ever since the breaking of cease-fire agreement, I feel that other countries need to continue to relay information and begin to aggressively push for the fighting in the nation to stop in an attempt to save the South Sudanese from starvation and disease. The world does not and should not take the use of genocide lightly so I feel that having more people become aware of what is happening in South Sudan can hopefully help put a stop to the destruction and save a country from certain annihilation.

-Joshua

References below:

The Happenings and Scarcities of Genocide

Genocide does not just happen on a whim. There are several motivators and methods that influence a group of people to put into their minds thoughts of persecution and discrimination that flourishes into genocide. With the use of motivation, the perpetrators believe that the persecuted group has something that they want, which helps them develop a plan into getting what they want by attempting to destroy those that have it. I feel that in some cases, the perpetrators’ view of the situation and motivation can influence the bystanders of their country that aren’t affected by either group, which helps form a stronger bond between the perpetrators and their citizens in the majority. In the reading, I found that leadership was a critical area that affected how a genocide would happen. For example, Hitler was a great speaker and commander with good charisma, which helped him control Germany with an authoritative rule, which then resulted in the mass extermination of the Jews. He was a horrible man, but had great leadership skills. Being able to influence the vast majority of a country as well as having the motivation to getting what they want (with Hitler’s case: exterminating all the Jews, homosexuals, handicapped, etc. to create an Aryan race) is an effective way of how genocide unfolds into a country.

I feel the issue of scarcity is an important topic in terms of genocide in the third world. I feel that the perpetrators of the genocide don’t always look at the big picture and do not understand how much they can be affected by the scarcities that will be found following the genocide. Scarcities include political and economical problems that result in social chaos in the affected country. I feel that these problems really are the tipping point to destruction and poverty of these countries within genocide. Scarcity is a big deal that I feel is hard to control and get rid of. With degradation and the destruction of natural resources during the genocide, these countries are unable to produce products resulting in economic drops and loss of profits. Scarcities play the role of leading lady in the genocidal opera.

When I think of the violence and poverty held in third world countries such as Rwanda and Ethiopia, I think of what I see in media, like the commercials where you can save a child or give them fresh water for a week. They give off a very one-dimensional aspect to the many dimensional life these people are actually going through. This reading went against the idea that these countries are struggling with more than just material issues. The role of scarcity goes further into the process of dismantling political groups resulting in attempting to maintain the power over the country. This, in return continues to keep the division of the majority and minority farther away from one another. Overall, I feel that my understanding of the role of scarcity has changed in response to genocide.

 -Joshua 

Excited to be a part of change by Ally

I have never been so excited to be enrolled in a class. I have not only been excited, but also so eager to start this since last summer when Aaron and I began speaking about this class. I am the kind of student who loves to learn, and is put off when I am in a class where either the other students, or the professor, do not care about the material. I believe that in order to make anything count, you need to put in as much effort and passionate as possible. The fact that Aaron is so passionate about this topic, and that all of students in our class are so eager to learn, makes so proud to be a part of our special topics class.

Genocide is important to me because I know that there needs to be a change. Although I need to still learn why and how it is caused, and what advocacy has been done, I want to be a part of that change. I feel that one of the toughest aspect of genocide is the media. Problems are only as big as we make them, and they are not publicized or talked about, they might never be solved. In this week’s reading, the article “RTLM: A TOOL FOR MASS MURDER” truly stood out to me. It frustrated me that the media had so much to do with the genocide and caused that much of an impact. The same can be said about many problems elsewhere in the world- yet how do we make those changes? I could ponder that topic and become frustrated to no extent. On the other hand, the reading from last week which spoke about one person’s first hand encounter with escaping genocide had a huge impact on its audience (our class, and anyone else who read it). If only we could take stories and experiences like that the make them more public.

Although Jake and I are leading this trip, I still am at the beginning stages of learning about genocide (I believe Jake knows a good amount more than me, since he has previously taken a class on the topic). I am actually happy that most of us are learning about genocide from the same beginning level, so we can learn and feed off of one another. On that same note, I am so proud to have a class in conjunction with our trip (we are only the second trip ever at JMU to do that!). I feel that by learning so intensely about genocide, we will be able to do our best work possible while being in Phoenix. It is not only important to feel the need to volunteer, but to know and care about the issues concerning the reason you are helping the in the first.

I am so excited to get to know all of you and learn so much from everyone!

I Want to Make the World a Better Place – by Lauren

For as long as I can remember I have always studied and found interest in the topics such as third-world countries, poverty in other countries, genocides, children in third world countries and more.  I can remember talking about Darfur and my friends look at me as if I was talking about such a foreign topic.  It was always so weird to me that my friends didn’t know about these things happening in other countries and even though I did have an idea, I couldn’t give the information I wanted to give on such important and poignant topics.

For where I live and the way I grew up is 100% different than so many other people.  I think this is what makes me so frustrated.  Why and how at the same time, with so many advancements in our everyday life can genocides be still going on.  How come there and not here?  How can it not stop?  How can we let it all happen again?

All of these questions race through my head as I inquire more and more knowledge about such a heart-breaking topic.  It is flabbergasting to me that more people don’t know about something so big and over-taking, yet all of the world can know when Kim Kardashian and her husband get a divorce.  This, is why I want to study genocides.  I want to bridge the gap between the ignorance, stereotypes and turned shoulder to the actual truth and devastation of the matter.

I am beyond blessed and thankful for the life I am living.  I have the best family and friends, a continuing education, a great home and endless amounts of food.  It is beyond sad to say that so many people do not even have that and that is the least of their worries.   Their worry each day is to survive and make it through another day hoping and praying to see their family again.  How can this even happen? It blows my mind.

Hopefully throughout this course I will be able to see that genocides are not just killing sprees, and that is so much more.  I want to be able to know this knowledge that is so important, tell others and get others heated about it so therefore one day maybe genocides can be put to an end.

There is so much going on in our world, with knowledge and ideas and concepts being pushed beyond limits.  You would think that the concept of killing a whole race, ethnicity or any category would not be able to happen anymore.  I know that there are so many concepts that are put into play as to why genocides still occur such as sovereignty and more but I think the underlying problem of it all is a huge underlying issue.   An issue that no matter where you live, how much money you have, the color of your skin or anything still affects people day to day.  The issue that we need to be more open to other people, no one is better than you and you are not better than anyone else.

Diversity is everywhere.  It is not something we should turn our back to or be scared of, it is something that we should embrace and be proud of.  Accepting people is not only necessary but is what will make the whole world a better place.

I know I have a lot of views and thoughts and desires to make the world a better place.  I hope this class can open my mind, expand my knowledge and help me make a difference.  I am excited for everything that is in store for this class this semester, and the opportunity to open my mind and expand my knowledge.

Lauren