In the world today, there are many problems. Most of these problems involve violence and are the result of war or genocide. Sudan is facing both of these problems and the population of the country is suffering greatly because of it. A civil war has been raging since 1955 making it the longest running civil war that Africa has ever experienced.
Over 250,000 people have been killed because of a disagreement on the grounds of religion. The Arabic speaking Muslim north are forcing their faith upon the English speaking christian south. This is causing the slaughter of thousands of christian civilians in the south attempting to appose the Muslims.
As if this conflict wasn't already enough for the Sudanese to deal with another severe problem broke out in 2003. The genocide in Darfur. This situation involves a government controlled militia called the Janjaweed. This Arabic influenced group has the job of systematical killing Innocent Darfurian civilians. The victims of these horrific killings are living in poverty and do not have the power necessary to save themselves. The women are raped and sold into slavery while the men are killed by mass murder or starvation. Workers from around the world that are trying to give aid are being killed and stolen from. About 200,000 civilians from the Darfur region have died because of this conflict.
Overall, the two problems combined make Sudan the largest humanitarian emergency in the world today. A conservative estimate of the deaths is about 450,000 since 2003. The number that has been forced leave their homes to live in refugee camps equals approximately 1/3 of the population, 2.7 million at the least. What if you had no choice but to leave your home to live in a refugee camp? Probably because of a reason you do not even understand. How would you feel if your country men betrayed you and left you to live in misery? What if your family was killed before your very eyes and there was nothing you could do to stop it? How could you live your whole life just wishing that your situation was different? trapped in poverty, enslaved by genocide. A vast majority of the victims probably feel this way.
Fortunately, there are some organizations that are trying to help. For example, the United Nations developed a program called the Responsibility to Protect Doctrine. It is designed to help prevent future genocides, react to present ones and rebuild after past genocides. They believe in using no military action unless absolutely necessary and are working on diplomatic ways to solve the problem. If you have any interest in helping then you can donate to or volunteer for the genocide intervention network. You can ignore the problems of the world or you can choose to join the fight against the raging beast of genocide. I hope you choose the latter.