Maw Books

Maw Books – book reviews, book recommendations, book lists, author interviews and more!

Darfur Diaries:  Stories of Survival by Jen Marlowe was written after the success of the documentary film of the same name.  The documentary was filmed by three activist students who visited the refugee camps in eastern Chad and then snuck across the border into Darfur, Sudan to film evidence and testimony from Darfurians about the violence happening to them.    The film is void of any narrator and is simply the voice of the Darfurians telling their stories.  Stories of “their history, hopes, fears, and the resilience and tragedy of their everyday lives.”

After the film was released, Jen wanted to tell the back story of what it was like to actually make the film and set out to tell their story.  From the onset of learning about the genocide in Darfur, to securing funding, and setting off to Africa, the reader follows the filmmakers as they must improvise, conduct interviews, and deal with the emotions that are difficult to push aside.  Both the book and the film do a great job at having the people of Darfur tell you their story in their own words.

There were a lot of great quotes and insight from the book.  It was hard to narrow it down to just a few.  From the preface, written by Paul Rusesabagina (played by Don Cheadle in the movie Hotel Rwanda):

How many more must die, be raped, watch their homes burn, have their livestock stolen, be turned into refugees?  What has the world learned from Rwanda?  Rather than learning from history, we are allowing it to repeat itself.  “Never Again” is an empty slogan as “Again and Again” unfolds. . . Genocide is happening today, in Darfur.  Now that you know, what do you plan to do?

One Darfurian, Salih Bob said

I’m quite sure if this happened in Los Angeles from your own government or in newcastle from the British government . . . all the world will hear you and help would come.  But our case is different.  Nobody is listening.

To one teenager, they asked, “If you could give a message to the kids in America your age, what would it be?”  His answer, especially the ending makes me so sad:

‘I will wish them peace and I will tell them we are here in Darfur.  Our villages were burned, we are in a very bad situation.  We ran to the Sudan Liberation Army.’  He paused, trying to think of what else he could ask his peers in America.  ‘How are you guys doing?’

How are we doing?  Right now we seem to be pretty well off, considering that the majority of us are living from the shade of one tree to another.

After the film came out, the filmmakers were asked “How can anything we do possibly make a difference?”  Their answer:

When the horror is so large, there is a tendency to buy into the fallacy that since you can’t do everything, then it’s pointless to do anything.  If we allow ourselves to fall into that trap, we become completely paralyzed.  A phone call to your congressperson isn’t going to halt the Sudanese government.  A letter to the editor of a newspaper isn’t going ensure access to humanitarian aid for displaced people.  We know this film isn’t going to stop a genocide . . . But it all feeds into a larger effort.  Perhaps it’s true that we can’t possibly do enough.  But what we do does matter.  It matters to people in Darfur and refugees from Darfur who are here.  It’s important for them to know that there are people in the outside world who care about them, who are standing with them and working on their behalf.

They went on to say,

 We wanted to encourage audiences to first learn all they could about Darfur, going past the simplistic portrayal the mainstream media offered, and then to suggest that they research different organizations in order to determine how they wanted to get involved.

I echo that statement and in fact that’s what I had in mind when I started this Darfur Awareness campaign.  I wanted people to learn something, anything, about Darfur that they didn’t know before.  Let that knowledge change them in such a way that they felt the need to get involved.  Even if that involvement was simply to tell a friend or a neighbor what it was that they learned.

So get involved.  Learn something.  Read this book.  Watch this documentary.  Doing something to make a difference is simply that easy.

Would you like to win a copy of Darfur Diaries, Stories of Survival?  Nation  Books has graciously donated two copies to be given away in conjunction with my Darfur awareness campaign.  Click here for details on how to get involved and entered to win. It’s really easy! Check back (you are subscribed to this blog, aren’t you?!) at the end of the month to put your name in the hat for this one.  Prizes will build up throughout the month.

Other resources on this blog about the genocide in Darfur:
Darfur Book Recommendations
Book review of The Translator by Daoud Hari
Book review and author interview of The Sudan Project by Melissa Leembruggen
Book review of Not On Our Watch, The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond by Don Cheadle and John Prendergast
Book review of The Devil Came on Horseback, Bearing Witness to the Genocide in Darfur by Bridan Steidle and Gretchen Wallace Steidle
Videos and links about Darfur
Reading & Blogging for Darfur campaign

Hey you! Yes. You! I've noticed that you've stopped by to visit a few times! But I don't know who you are. Why don't you take a moment and introduce yourself. Don't be scared. I try not to bite. I know you're a lurker but I'd love to hear your thoughts about what's been bringing you here. And if you haven't done so already, don't forget to never miss a post by subscribing to my feed or receiving updates by email. Thanks for visiting!