American small group tries to help peace efforts in Sudan
November 9, 2007 (LENEXA, Kan.) –When Rebecca Mabior left Sudan, she was filled with bitterness toward the Arab Muslims who mistreated her throughout her childhood because she was a black Christian.
Mabior lived in the north, which was dominated by Arabs and Muslims, making her a target for abuse from children and adults.
“Some of (the teachers) showed me love, some of them didn’t,” said Mabior. “They were calling me like I’m a bad person because I was a Christian. They didn’t know how bad an affect that had on me. Because I grew up hating them.”
All that has changed since Mabior arrived in the U.S. five years ago and began rebuilding her life. She is planning to leave her husband and 3-year-old son in the Kansas City suburb of Gladstone for a month, to teach English to Muslims who have fled the violence around Darfur.
While Mabior was growing up in Sudan, a war was raging in the south, where Christians were murdered, captured as slaves or forced to flee by mostly Muslim soldiers sent by a government trying to impose strict Islamic law.
That civil war, which killed more than 2 million people and created 4 million refugees, ended in 2005. By then, Muslims from western Sudan had begun a rebellion against the government. Many of the Muslims now suffering in refugee camps in Darfur and neighboring Chad had been soldiers who inflicted so much pain on southern Christians during the civil war.
It would have been easy, even understandable, for Mabior to get some grim satisfaction from the Muslims’ suffering.
Instead, under the auspices of a small Lenexa-based group called Sudan Sunrise, Mabior and another Sudanese refugee, Ruben Lual of Houston, will teach at the Djabal refugee camp in southeastern Chad. After paperwork and fundraising is done, they hope to go to the camp in January.
The teaching effort is an outgrowth of an ideal that has guided the Sudan Sunrise group since it was founded in 2004. Supporters believe the only way to achieve peace and democracy in Sudan is to convince all tribes, religions and regions to forgive each other for the country’s bloody past and reconcile.
Besides planning the teaching mission, Sudan Sunrise is coordinating another meeting for supporters of the reconciliation movement on Nov. 18 in Washington D.C. After discussing reconciliation, the attendees will march in unity to the Capitol Mall, with the aim of encouraging U.S. and world leaders to require the Sudanese government to abide by the 2005 peace accord and to end oppression of all Sudanese people.
This quixotic mission is being coordinated by Tom Prichard, an Episcopal priest who is executive director of Sudan Sunrise, a mostly unpaid staff of five and an army of volunteers. He was moved to action after visiting the refugee camps with Christians who brought food, clothing and medical supplies to the Muslims.
“Some of the tribal leaders cried when they saw us,” Prichard said. “They said (to the Christian Sudanese) ‘We killed you for 20 years, and that you would come and help us is too wonderful.'”
That reaction led Prichard and others to begin focusing on reconciliation. Group members know that the ideal is simple but the implementation borders on the impossible, given Sudan’s fractious history.
They acknowledge that their effort has met resistance from both Christians and Muslims, who generally do not mingle, even in U.S. cities where they have relocated. One of the largest relocation points is the Kansas City area, where an estimated 3,000 Christian and 200 Muslim refugees from Sudan have relocated.
Atif Mustafa, a Muslim living in Kansas City, said some Sudanese cling to beliefs that certain religions or tribes are superior to others. But he believes most Sudanese want to reconcile, in part to bring democracy to their native country.
“It’s not a political movement, it’s a civil movement,” said Mustafa, who came to the U.S. in 1997 because his anti-government work made it unsafe to live in Sudan. “We are going to work through the people, educate them.
“It’s a big, huge mission. If we start it here, nobody knows, maybe somebody will take advantage of it … over there. That’s the whole idea of reconciliation.”
Mustafa was one of the originators of another precedent-setting Sudan Sunrise-sponsored event. In July, the group gathered Sudanese leaders of all factions for a three-day meeting in Parkville, Mo.
The meeting ended with 24 Sudanese activists of both religions signing a statement pledging to “reconcile and put behind our grievances and differences for the greater good of a complete Sudan.”
The meeting, while little noticed by the general public, resonated with Sudanese, said Abdelgabar Adam, president of the Darfur Human Rights Organization of the USA. He said Sudanese he’s talked to since attending the meeting are excited about what it may have started.
“This was the beginning of what needs to be done over the years to come,” said Adam, a Muslim who lives in Philadelphia. “People have to come together to build bridges. Kansas City was the pioneer in this. It opened a dialogue between us. We are moving forward with the issue of trusting each other.”
Besides the larger international efforts, reconciliation work also is being done in Kansas City. Supporters say they cannot preach reconciliation to Sudan without practicing it in their own backyard.
Mustafa is a leader of the United Sudanese Association in Kansas City, which is trying to build a Sudanese community center for use by members of both faiths.
“And when they come and talk to each other they will find that there is not differences between them,” Mustafa said. “We want to make them sit together and talk together. When we get them there, we will know what to do.”
Mabior said meeting Sudanese Muslims in Kansas City helped her overcome her childhood bitterness. And now she wants to take that message to her native land.
“Going this time is not a Christian thing, not a religious activity, not a political activity,” Mabior said. “It is just like a Sudanese citizen. I want to show them that they are my people and I care for them, no matter where they come from. I want to show them love.”
Summary Box :
WHAT IS SUDAN SUNRISE: A small, grassroots group of Sudanese and their American supporters who are trying innovative steps to promote reconciliation between Sudanese Christians and Muslims.
WHAT’S THE PROBLEM: Sudan has been a country divided by conflict between tribes, religions and regions since its independence in 1956. Christians and Muslims were engaged in a civil war for more than 20 years before a peace treaty was signed in 2005. Now, Muslims in western Africa are in the midst of a rebellion against the government, leaving millions in refugee camps in Darfur and neighboring Chad.
SUDAN SUNRISE SOLUTIONS: The group believes reconciliation is the only possible answer to the ongoing violence. The grassroots group, based in Lenexa, Kan., gathered Sudanese leaders of all factions in July for a meeting to discuss reconciliation. And it’s planning to send Christian Sudanese to refugee camps in Chad to teach English to Muslims.
(AP)