Making a Difference: Sudan: Lost Boys Gathering

I have been privileged to build a friendship with 5 remarkable young men, who are a testimony to the resilience of the human spirit, the reality of faith that moves mountains, and living proof of miracles.  Angelo, James, Mac, Samuel and William have changed my life.  They are each one of the Lost Boys of Sudan.  This weekend, July 6-8, 2006 they will re-gather with many of their brothers to remember and to reconnect, and most importantly to forge ahead to rebuild their country... A country that rejected them, that slaughtered their parents, raped and killed their sisters, and sought to kill them as well... but these lost boys are linked to this land... their home of Southern Sudan, where they long to return and be part of the peace process and rebuilding, thereby shaping the possibilities of the future. 

and i am privileged to sit among them...to listen and to learn, to be humbled and inspired... and then to do a little something to perchance make a difference!!

Overwhelmed with the horrors of genocide in Darfur, Sudan, my small efforts seem almost impossible, even inconsequential to make any difference... and i have heard this angst and lament from others, but i am convinced that if everyone did something, however small, the world would change. 

someone hid Anne Frank, and her story has changed the world

someone was Schindler's first refugee, and many heard of his kindness and followed the path to freedom...

someone began the underground railroad that saved the first slave...

someone harbored the fugitive family from Bethlehem as they fled to Egypt ...

i may not be able to do much... i cannot save the world... honestly, i cannot "save" anyone... but i CAN do SOMETHING!

that is a relief.. that i am only called to "my something"  and to do that work, follow that tug on my heart is my responsibility... nothing more, and certainly nothing less...

so... this weekend, my something has taken shape with the help of many other people following the tug of their "somethings" !!!

JOIN US THIS WEEKEND FOR:

All the information that you will need is available on our website: lostboysgathering.org

and we were recently featured on NBC4!

Lost Boys: Found! A Time of Reunion, Vision, Advocacy & Hope with the Lost Boys of Sudan  July 6-8th @ George Mason University, Fairfax VA will feature Manute Bol, from the Dinka Tribe, of Southern Sudan, as well as the stories of numerous Lost Boys & Girls of Sudan.  We will hear from Congressman Frank Wolf, and representatives from Save Darfur, Africa Action, USAID, and many others. 

Looking forward to seeing you there!!! It will be a rich and meaningful time that you will not want to miss!

If you decide to attend, please email me, so that i can keep an eye out for you and introduce you to my Lost Boy friends!!

Comments

[Jamie Arpin-Ricci]

I'd love to be there. Alas!

[carla manyok]

My husband is one of the Lost boys of Sudan. He is still very lost and needs a lot of help. He wants to see if he has any living family in Sudan. He is very sick with PTSD. How can we find help for him? Take care and GOd bless. Carla Manyok

[Carla Manyok]

If anyone out there knows where I can find more Lost boys of Sudan. Or how I can find info on the families left behind in Sudan. Please let me know. My husband is from Bor. His name is Manyok Deng Manyok. Please contact me at [email protected]

[Jay McGinley]

CALL TO BATTLE: LAUNCH ALL-OUT NONVIOLENT WAR IN JULY TO RESCUE DARFUR. Fast Day #8; Vigil Day #59 - A CONCRETE PROPOSAL

www.standwithdarfurwhitehouseii.blogspot.com

We are years, YEARS behind in stopping this Genocide; a tragic, inexcusable failure of will and humanity on our part. We must bring this to an end. Bashir's Genocide is exterminating 500 people per day, more than one 9/11 per week. We are giving crystal clear signals to Bashir that he has the time to exterminate, NOW, the remaining 3,000,000 people. Oxfam is pulling out, and the other aid groups are on the verge of following – too hostile on the ground. We are training ourselves to the "gradualism" that was Dr. King's greatest enemy and horror. We are fast depleting the energy that was so valiantly raised by so many of you by April 30th.

Nonviolent wars are not started with tricks and manipulation, emails, four hour demonstrations, letters or phone calls (although, brilliantly, the efforts by many of you thus far have set the stage). We can now win the war if we unleash the masses. Now. ALL-OUT NONVIOLENT WARS OF THE MASSES are ALWAYS STARTED by a small group of NONVIOLENT "MARINES", fully acting out their anguish, agony and horror at the suffering of others (In APPENDIX below: Gandhi in India, Civil Rights Movement...). When these "Marines" do so and sufficiently pay an honest price, it is an irresistible media spectacle. The radical self-sacrifice of these "Marines" ignites the hearts of the masses – possessing less vision, imagination and information. Here is the idea:

STAGE #1. IGNITE THE ALL-OUT NONVIOLENT WAR - DEPLOY THE NONVIOLENT "MARINES" to Rescue and Restore Darfur. Nonviolent campaigns need to be started by the few on the nonviolent side.

I pray that anyone that passionately wants to join will emulate the Gandhi/India campaign (APPENDIX) as follows:

We will begin a long, drawn out series of rolling arrests. Where? The White House. Alternate targets could be the Sudan Embassy, Chinese Embassy, Russian Embassy, United Nations in NYC, or one of the network headquarters for their profound non-coverage of Darfur. If it is the White House, this is not a protest aginst the White House, or President Bush. Why?

WE THE PEOPLE ARE THE PROBLEM AND THE ONLY SOLUTION. WE MUST DELIVER A MANDATE THAT 20-30,000 PEACEKEEPERS (preferably African Union and non-Western UN) BE ON THE GROUND IN DARFUR, BEGINNING OCTOBER 1, with sufficient empowerment/funding/support. With an unmistakable outcry from the masses, the administration and congress have given every sign that they will happily comply. They need a "win."

PHASE A: A minimum of 20 people are required for us to enter this phase. We need to dramatically demonstrate and HONESTLY EXPRESS the despair we feel over the agony of our Darfur family.

Every 3 hours (so it stretches over days) one of us nonviolently violates the rules at the White House President's Park so as to get arrested. The law is that for the first arrest there is likely to be a 12 hour or less holding period, a $50 fine, and then release.

Phase B. If by the end of this cycle of arrests (3 days elapsed?) we do NOT see the beginning-of-the-end of Hell for Darfur in sight the same group immediately goes through the process a 2nd time, knowing full well that 6 MONTHS IN PRISON may well be the price. This phase goes on until 1. all of us are in prison, OR, 2. the end of Hell for Darfur is assured.

Obviously numbers count for this initial action. If instead of the example of 20, it is 200 or 2,000 people, the impact goes up astronomically. Maybe "prison" will be avoided, but this CANNOT be our goal.

Those involved must fully accept responsibility for staying the course and make certain over the months and years ahead that US Imperialist Tendencies do not come to bear, and that we Rescue, AND Restore Darfur.

STAGE #2. THE MASSES OF NONVIOLENT WARRIORS BECOME ENGAGED, ORGANIZED AND DEPLOYED IN THE FIGHTING.

For every one of the initial "Marines" (just one riding alone across the battlefield in "Dances with Wolves"/100's walking into swinging clubs in Gandhi's India/100's facing the fire hoses down South - APPENDIX) the numbers multiply: 1,000, 10,000, 100,000. The masses become warriors too. National organizations (Africa Action, Save Darfur Coalition, STAND, Genocide Intervention) and other vehicles exist to register this 2nd tier of 100,000's, 1,000,000's of nonviolent fighters and to effectively utilize and deploy them; radically for the Save Darfur Coalition 9/17 event at the United Nations for example.

HOW TO ORGANIZE THE INITIAL STAND? Some thoughts:

Let's not care whose idea or what idea we implement. Instead, let us care that it is the best possible shot at raising the mass army THAT FIGHTS TO WIN, immediately. We must "be" the Truth Force that Gandhi so powerfully weilded. We must be the Truth of Darfur’s desperate need at the White House, at the United Nations, and wherever we go.

Got any ideas you think are good? Better? AWESOME! Contact me or tell me how to contact YOU! Want me to come and talk with you or your group? Want me to join and follow your group? Let's do it. Contact your friends, associates, acquaintances who might be interested.

Let's make this happen. We're killing time. Lets stop the Genocide This Summer, while there is life in Darfur to save.

Sincerely, Jay McGinley
email: [email protected]
phone: 484 356 6243

………………………………….

Appendix: ADDITIONAL RATIONALE AND PERSPECTIVE

EXAMPLE: Do you remember the scene from "Gandhi" when for days, man after man after man walked headlong into swinging British clubs? Well, so did the millions of India, and the entire civilized world watch and remember, and ACT.

EXAMPLE: Do you remember the beginning scene from the movie "Dances With Wolves," when, impossibly, the hero rode across a Civil War field raging with gunfire, both sides behind stone walls, totally in stalemate? His insane ride miraculously shocked his side out of passivity and denial to follow him across the field and rout the opposition. (Yes, this was a violent war but it still illustrates the dynamic that radically committed leaders cause the masses to fight; no other way does it as well. Ever.)

EXAMPLE: Do you remember the TV images of the Civil Rights marchers getting fire-hosed, beaten, and attacked by Police Dogs then doing it all again? And how only then did the MILLIONS of US Citizens go to war? And, on, and on....

Harvard’s Samantha Power’s Pulitzer Prize winning Genocide study of the last 100 years presents a clear conclusion: “the battle to stop genocide has thus been repeatedly lost… [because] Americans outside the executive branch were largely mute….” From "Problem from Hell."

Isn't God/Goodness/Justice/Humanity/History asking us: "WHY DON’T YOU GO TO ALL-OUT NONVIOLENT WAR FOR YOUR FAMILY IN DARFUR?" We must start BEING THE ANSWER to this question by July’s end.

I am open to any appropriate way to go to nonviolent war as long as it equates to fighting to win and doing the very best that we can do.

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