Thoughts on Sudan

I found these drawing that children in Darfur had made on BBC.

One young artist named Aisha said: "It is very kind to send us food, but this is Africa and we are used to being hungry. What I ask is that you please take the guns away from the people who are killing us."

Bakhid was eight years old when he saw his village being attacked and burned by Janjaweed forces on horse back and Sudanese forces in vehicles and tanks.

Today is a nerve wrecking day for people scattered all over the world, who all share one thing together, the hope that their home country of Sudan would be restored and leaders brought to justice. Last year an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was issued by the ICC for crimes against humanity and war crimes. Today, the Hague will decide if Bashir will be charged with the genocide of three groups in Darfur, Sudan, the Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa people groups. He has avoided the arrest warrant, with the help of his Arab supporters. If today he is in fact charged with genocide, it is at least hope for the people of Sudan, that they will no longer have a leader that states he has no control of the actions of the janjaweed and what they do in Darfur, as well as a leader who housed and supported Osama bin Laden. Lord willing, he shall step down. In 2011, the people in south Sudan are voting to have their own sovereign nation of Southern Sudan. Bashir has given them hope of a sovereign nation, but decades of conflict between the north and south over oil and religion has taken the lives of thousands, I'm not convinced in his false attempts at restoring his name.

Everyday I get to witness the aftermath of war and the effects it has on family's. I have the opportunity of talking to Sudanese kids who's parents have be killed, or have illegally ran across bordering countries to try and find work for there families. Most of whom are shot at. The kids put their hope in their education they are receiving, and learning english. I want them to embrace Arabic, but westerners have convinced them english is the way to success. I had the opportunity of helping one girl write her college acceptance essay in the US. We have no idea if she will get in, but she deserves it over me. With all this said, I do not know the plans God has for each person and family. I do not know why I was blessed with a free college education, I do not know if the violence in Sudan will ever be resolved. The only thing I am certain of is that God will triumph in the end, and that He is not "shocked" at everything I have written about. It has all passed through His hands, for His glory and our good. I have hope in a sovereign God, and this is the hope I can celebrate.

Grace,

Sarah