Darfur...through the eyes of children

Human Rights Watch has a site entitled Darfur Drawn:  The Conflict in Darfur Drawn through Childrens Eyes

"On mission along the border of Chad and Darfur, Human Rights Watch researchers gave children notebooks and crayons to keep them occupied while they spoke to the children's parents.  Without any instruction or guidance, the children drew scenes from their experiences of the war in Darfur:  the attacks by the Janjaweed, the bombings by the Sudanese government forces, the shootings, the burning of entire villages, and the flight to Chad.

Jamil, age 12

"The Janjaweed came on camels and horses, very fast.  Sometimes two on one camel, with guns.  Many soldiers, with guns.  This one is a machine gun.  There were shooting us."

In the same exercise book, Jamil had drawn a man with a radio transmitter, drawn larger than the man:  "We needed help.  There was no one to protect us."

Visit the sight for more drawings and stories. All the names have been changed to protect the children.  It is heartbreaking and sobering.  Children are always casualties of adult hatred.

Comments

[gavin]

thanks for the site link. i'll be sure to check it out. the web has many interesting sites that highlight childrens artwork in war torn areas. being an early childhood educator, when i am not doing this stuff, i once did a workshop that highlighted serbian & other easter european drawings of children. the interesting part to those was how the icons of war were almost always drawn matter-a-factly into the landscape of the drawing.

children's drawing & play is a very significant window into the world they view. wish more would look through that window.

[aaron]

thanks for posting this.... its hard stuff to hear, but it needs to be said and we need to hear it (and see it in this case). its far too easy to become numb to this suffering when its not in our face. Lord have mercy....

[fernando]

thanks for the link, very sobering.