January 2007 Archives

Today’s topic was the issue of genocide in Darfur. During class we listened to part of Guiseppe Verdi’s “Messa da Requiem” while looking at pictures of Darfur. They showed the stark reality facing the residences of Darfur. Men and women are brutally killed, many times leaving orphans. Families starve while the soldiers are burning near by food supplies. Dying children are left for the vultures, and grown men are left for dead on the side of the road. Towns are pillaged leaving thousands homeless and wondering for safety.

This class connected with the other pictures we have seen during the past two weeks. Pictures always tell a better story than just words, and when you put music behind pictures they are even more moving.

These pictures have helped show me the truth about what is happening in Darfur. It is sad to see all the destruction and fighting that is going on. It makes me wonder where other people are to help. I have heard about food and clothing being sent there, but how are the citizens being protected? This has made me want to look up more information on Darfur and see what is really being done.

The video “Born Into Brothels” was about Zana Briski who went into Calcutta’s Red Light District and worked with the children that lived in the brothels. She was there for many years teaching the kids about photography. She gave them cameras to keep and taught them how to use them. Over the years she tried to get them out of the brothels and into boarding schools. In the end she placed almost all of them into boarding schools, but in less than a year all but one left them and returned to their homes.

The biggest connection between this movie and what we have been talking about the last week are the pictures. They were taking pictures of what they lived in to show people how it was. Pictures bring real meaning to a subject. Just to say that they were living in brothels and that people were starving was not enough, but if pictures were there then people understood what it really was like.

It is amazing to see what those children had to live with. They saw and heard things that no child should even know about. This really showed me how good my life has really been. “Born Into Brothels” also showed me that it takes hard, persistent work to change things, even if it is only one child having a good life. Change does not come easily even if people want change, but that does not mean that we should not try. People need to continually try to make changes for the better, and one day it will show. Right now it seems sort of hopeless because only one girl stayed in school, but we do not know what the future holds for her. We do not yet know what she will do with the gift that has been given to her. Every change made will bring a ripple effect that will in turn make other changes.

The video, The Silent Killer, presented the devastation that hunger is around the world. It was said that “Hunger is the Holocaust of our time.” Each year millions of people die from starvation. One in three children are malnourished. Some of the problems that lead to starvation are the lack of food, or the way that food is distributed. The lack of food is caused mainly by three things; draught, insects, or diseases. So far things are being done to fight these problems, but the lack of founding is keeping the results to be spread around the world. One way to cut out hunger and poverty is to start with the children. Once they are well nourished they can then focus on school, or helping their families on their farms. Another effort that is helping reduce starvation is direct buying. If the farmers can sell directly to the buyers, then their prices can be lowered, letting people buy more food. Also with this the farmers make more money. By the end of 2015 the Federal Agriculture Organization for the United Nations wants to cut hunger in half.
This video not only talked about starvation and hunger, but also showed it. It also showed why this is happening. This helps in the understanding of The Dress Lodger. I understood that they were the poor were starving in the book, but it gives it such a visual when you see why. Maybe the food is there, but they don’t have the money to buy the food, or the food may be not existent. Furthermore, Jim Wallis’s book “God’s Politics” show that helping reduce hunger is not just something that is good to do, but something that we should do. It was a main point in Jesus’ ministry, and it should be one of the main points in every Christian’s ministry.
It is sad to say that it does not surprise me to know that there are that many starving people in the world. But, what is surprising is to know how little is being done to stop poverty and hunger. It was great to see that people were trying to help themselves get out of poverty and that they weren’t just sitting around hoping for food and money to fall out of the sky. I think that there is a stigma in America that the poor are that way by their own doing, and if they truly wanted a better life they would have it. I think that everyone should get a chance to get out of the cycle of poverty and hunger, and people who are better off should help them. I believe that people inside communities should help each other out, and if they are able help other around the world.