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Darfur
Diaries - Overview written by Nicole Trecker
Disappointed by mainstream media’s
insufficient coverage of the escalating humanitarian crisis in Darfur,
three filmmakers set out in October 2004 to film a documentary in which
Darfurians could share their thoughts, fears, and hopes about the current
genocide. With members of the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA), they traveled
through northwestern Darfur to film one destroyed village after another.
They interviewed refugees in the camps of eastern Chad. Teachers, students,
parents, SLA soldiers, and other members of the community shared their
stories. The filmmakers’ intent was not to tell the world what is happening
in Darfur, but to provide an opportunity for Darfurians to do so using their
own words. Upon their return to the U.S., the three spent the next year and
a half sifting through their notes and film footage, creating this 260-page
book and 57-minute documentary.
The Film – Darfur
Diaries: Message from Home
The central component of this DVD is
footage from the refugee camps of eastern Chad and the Zaghawa region of
northern Darfur. A slideshow of drawings made by a Darfurian child
depicting atrocities occurring in his homeland begins the film, followed by
frames of text providing the basic geographic and ethnic demographics of
Darfur. Amid these frames are video clips with glimpses of the people and
terrain of Darfur.
The first village we tour is
Muzbat, a village in northern Darfur that was previously home to 5,000
people, many of whom are now dead or in refugee camps. The former mayor of
Muzbat, Abdullah Omdah, shares the story of how the Antonov planes bombed
the village and the Janjaweed soldiers came in after them to continue the
destruction. As he speaks, we view images of homes burnt to the ground and
a village floor littered with mortar shells and shrapnel. Towards the end
of the tour, we hear a drone overhead. Omdah explains that this is the
sounds of an Antonov. The camera catches the few people left in the village
scattering to find cover under a nearby tree or bush, so as not to become
targets.
Numerous other villages that have met the
same fate, such as Fara’wiya and Anka, are also shown throughout the film.
As the camera documents the damages done, Darfurians who once called these
villages home are interviewed. We hear the history of their villages and
families, the character of life before the Antonovs and Janjaweed, of living
through destruction and continuing to survive, and of their understanding of
the current evolution of the conflict. For example, a young woman named
Hawa shares what she remembers from that day Fara’wiya was bombed and her
brothers were killed. She and a handful of other young women share the
nightmares they continue to experience.
The filmmakers were able to provide
fascinating footage of the SLA, documenting a history of the rebel movement
in Darfur, the goals of the SLA, and the controversial involvement of young
boys in the rebellion.
Images of the refugee camps
in eastern Chad and the people who inhabit them reveal the challenges
refugees went through to make it safely into Chad. Especially poignant are
the interviews with those working to create education systems in the camps.
Teachers share their struggle to set up schools in the refugee camps and
begin again the process of education, as well as why they believe that
providing these Darfurian children with an education is so vital.
Although the feature presentation of
Darfur Diaries: Message from Home is its 57-minute documentary, there
are numerous other features found on the main menu. Here is a list of these
other valuable features, their length, and a brief description of what they
include:
Director’s Notes (35 minutes):
Clips of the three film
directors speaking about pre-production, during-production, and
post-production issues, such as why they felt it was important to travel to
Darfur, reactions to Darfurians they met, what they learned from their
experience, and an update on the situation in Darfur since filming ended.
Slide Show (7 minutes):
Photographs of Darfurian
landscape and people taken by the filmmakers during their time in eastern
Chad and Darfur. Background music for the slideshow is a combination of
various contemporary, popular American songs.
Context (24 minutes):
Background and context for
the situation in Darfur which may aid in understanding the context from
which the genocide in Darfur developed. Includes a mix of interviews with
international figures, filmmakers, members of the SLA, and Darfurian people
in order to convey contextual information about those involved in the
conflict, motivations behind the conflict, a history of marginalization in
Darfur, and the response of the international community to the genocide.
For the Educator:
There are many parts of this
film that could be used as resources in the classroom, particularly a social
studies classroom. The main documentary and the “Context” feature would be
especially appropriate for a class studying current international events,
refugees, or genocide.
Showing Darfur Diaries
in the classroom would help students gain a greater understanding of the
genocide in Darfur from the first-hand perspective of those experiencing
it. If time is a factor and you must limit viewing to about 20 minutes, you
may consider showing only the first 23 minutes of the film. The portion of
the film that occurs between 0:00 to 13:57 illustrates what is occurring
inside of Darfur, while the time between 13:58 and 22:25 provides a glimpse
of the life of Darfurian refugees.
It is important to note that
because the 57-minute documentary does not provide significant background
information on the conflict, teachers may want to provide additional context
for the situation in Darfur in order to facilitate student understanding.
The “Context” feature successfully provides this background information from
the perspective of the Darfurians. Viewing this feature before watching the
actual documentary may be beneficial.
Although this DVD deals with
a sensitive topic, it does so in an extremely respectful way. All images
shown are appropriate for viewers in middle or high school. Descriptions of
fighting and destruction are not overly violent or graphic, and there is no
questionable language used. It would be an excellent resource to use in a
classroom setting.
The Book – Darfur
Diaries: Stories of Survival
Marlowe began documenting the entire
process the three filmmakers went through to create the film. The book
follows the three from Aisha Bain’s initial research into the emerging
crisis in Darfur, through their return from Darfur and the challenging
process of turning loose-leaf footage into a documentary. Most of the book
relays the thoughts and experiences of the filmmakers during their
adventure; however, a few sections share the stories of displaced Darfurians
or SLA members. It serves as a great companion for the film, as it provides
additional written accounts of the issues covered in the film.
The text begins with an author’s note,
preface by Paul Rusesabagina, forward by Dr. Francis Mading Deng (former
ambassador from Sudan to the U.S., current director of Sudan Peace Support
Project in Washington, D.C.), and introduction by Aisha Bain. These four
parts provide readers with background information on the conflict in Darfur
and why the filmmakers decided to pursue this project.
Readers travel alongside Marlowe, Bain, and
Shapiro as they embark on their journey from Washington, D.C. to eastern
Chad. While much of the first third of the text is filled with entertaining
travel stories and descriptions of bureaucratic hoops the three jumped
through, interviews with members of different international and
nongovernmental organizations provide insight into the humanitarian aid
process. General observations of the refugee camps in eastern Chad and the
Darfurians inhabiting them are provided. What is more, there is a focus on
the role of education. Even in the difficult, overcrowded conditions of the
refugee camps, education is a major priority.
Once in Darfur, members of the SLA serve as
the filmmakers’ tour guides. While visiting a seemingly endless string of
destroyed villages, Marlowe tells of the devastation done to homes and
community areas, and the memories shared by those who still live in the
area. Interview after interview reveals a similar pattern of destruction:
government-operated Antonovs dropping bombs, followed by a parade of
Janjaweed finishing the destruction. Villagers are forced to flee in all
directions, blindly finding their way to the Chadian boarder or hiding out
with other displaced villagers. Sometimes villagers are able to return to
what remains of their home; however, the Antonovs continue to fly overhead
searching for signs of life.
Marlowe’s chapter on the SLA provides
powerful insight into Darfur’s main rebel army. Interviews provide a new
perspective on the background of the conflict, the political situation in
Sudan, past and present interaction between different ethnic and tribal
groups and the reasons the SLA is fighting.
A chronicle of the year and a half process
of translating, editing, and organizing hours upon hours of interview
footage allow for an increased appreciation for the challenges of creating a
documentary. Suggestions for what people can do to make a difference and an
update on the situation in Darfur, as of May 2006, are also presented in the
final pages.
For the Educator:
According to the Fry Readability Formula,
Darfur Diaries reads at a 6th-8th grade reading
level. While these results indicate that the book is at an ideal reading
level for middle school students, it can also be effective at the high
school level. The writing style and content are such that most high school
students should find it engaging and beneficial and should be able to read
it independently.
While this book is especially
well-suited for the content covered in a social studies classroom, it may
also be useful in other content areas. Here are several examples of
effective use of the text in a middle or high school classroom:
For classrooms studying the
current genocide in Darfur, numerous passages in chapters two through nine
provide great information about the destruction of villages from the
perspective of Darfurians. For example:
Hussaniya described the attack on Anka…. ‘I was in the village when I heard
a sound like a thunderstorm. I ran out and then just ran away. At least
fifty of my goats were killed by machine guns from the ground, airplanes
from above, and from Janjaweed who slaughtered them by slitting their
throats. Their stomachs were opened and their organs taken. Janjaweed
jumped into the pens where we kept the animals and killed all the animals
from pen to pen until sunset. They stayed until after midnight, killing
people.’… Without missing a beat, he [Hussaniya’s son-in-law] continued
Hussaniya’s story, filling in specific details. ‘We heard information on
the event of February 11 that the government troops and Janjaweed were
moving toward Anka. We told the children and people to go out from the
village because we didn’t know what would happen. On February 12, they
reached Anka. They started firing shells from the west of the village.
Then, they entered the village and stole every single thing. They killed
forty-six people.’ (pp. 136-137)
Classroom teachers wishing to
provide students with an understanding of the nature of the conflict may
find pages 147-148 especially helpful. Here, a Darfurian shares his
thoughts on the Arab people of Sudan, the role of the Sudanese government in
the genocide, and why the situation in Darfur is not simply an ethnic
conflict between Arabs and Africans. Another part of the text that provides
a succinct overview of the conflict is on pages 110-117. Here, SLA members
relay their understanding of the current situation in Darfur.
A study into the current
situation in Darfur would be difficult for students to understand without a
basic knowledge of modern Sudanese history. A short version of this history
is found on pages 107-110, where various members of the SLA speak of what
has happened in Sudan since the end of British colonial rule in 1956. They
also speak of past interactions between the nomadic Arabs and Darfurian
tribes.
Finally, this text would be a
great resource for students studying humanitarian organizations or
refugees. For example, pages 19-21 relay part of an interview with a worker
from CARE (an international aid organization) who speaks about the situation
in the refugee camps and the challenges faced by organizations such as his.
Pages 27-28 detail a conversation between the filmmakers and the head of the
UNICEF mission to Chad. Kareem, a man serving as a teacher in Iridimi
refugee camp provides an account of what it is like to be a refugee:
‘We live with much anxiety. As if, upon becoming refugees, one does not
know who he is, or where he lives. As if he had no head. People look at a
refugee as if he is not human. What is the difference between a citizen and
a refugee? The citizen is free and has ideas for development and work. But
as refugees, our hands are tied. We don’t know where to go. If they were to
cut off the food they give, we would be totally helpless. We don’t have
independent sustenance.’ (pg. 45)
References
Bain, A., Marlowe, J., and Shapiro, A. (Directors and
Producers). (2006). Darfur
diaries: message from home.
[DVD]. New York: Cinema Libre Distribution.
Marlowe, J. with Bain, A. and Shapiro, A. (2006).
Darfur diaries: stories of
survival. New York: Nation Books.
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