By JUDY RATTNER
, a refugee from Darfur who now lives in Brooklyn and drives a New York City cab. His words were a stark reminder that the genocide in the Darfur region of the Sudan is entering its fifth year, and things there are getting worse.
Ibrahim and American Jewish World Service president Ruth Messinger spoke to a large gathering of women -- and men -- last Friday at the annual spring luncheon of the South Shore Section of the National Council of Jewish Women, held at Temple B'nai Sholom. At the luncheon, members of the South Shore Section, celebrating its 85th year, elected a slate of officers, with co-presidents Nancy Richner and Martha Krisel welcoming incoming co-president CeCe Friedman, who will replace Krisel at the end of May. For her many years of dedication to the South Shore Section, Friedman received the Hannah G. Solomon Award, the group's highest honor that is named after the NCJW's founder.
The overall tone of the luncheon was somber, though, as Messinger and Ibrahim each delivered a message urging the group to become knowledgeable, master the issues, and take action to help stop this most recent genocide.
Ibrahim, a victim of torture at the hands of the Sudanese government -- his own -- spoke of the genocide that continues in his native land. He said he is lucky to be alive and happy to be here. Ibrahim described the killings and rapes, the lack of food and adequate santitation, in short, the destruction of his family and his people, in village after village. He said it comes from the "long standing hatred of the government, our government, toward its own people, the black people, since the northern tribes came to Sudan." The situation is bad and deteriorating, as United Nations aid workers and international media -- witnesses to the genocide -- have been forced to pull out due to the increasingly unstable and dangerous situation on the ground. "Please speak to the world and bring pressure to take action," Ibrahim said.
Messinger, former New York City councilwoman and City Council president, reminded the luncheon's attendees of their connection to the world. She said the National Council of Jewish Women, an organization at the forefront of social change, now in its second century of championing the needs of women, children and families, did "great work to help change the world." She urged the group to take responsibility and become members of the global citizenry of the 21st century. The world needs it, she said, and "your faith demands it."
"Yes," Messinger said, "we are our brothers' and our sisters' keepers." Referring to the dangers of silence, Messsinger said this genocide is happening "on our watch" and that we simply are not doing enough to stop it. She urged the audience to support the national Darfurian divestment movement that works to stop investments in companies trafficking in oil, energy and weapons. She specifically mentioned the sale of Sudanese oil to China, because she said 70% of those revenues are used by the Sudanese government to destroy its own people.
"I wanted to give this audience a general sense of our work because the state of life in the developing world is terrible. Most people don't know it because it isn't covered by the media," she said. "The dimensions of poverty are immense."
Messinger explained that her organization, the American Jewish World Service, works to empower all people, supporting women mostly, because they more frequently step forward as agents of change, but men as well. She says her group addresses poverty and helps others to pursue their own version of justice. There's alot we can do, she said, because the American dollar goes a long way. Most of the ideas come from the people in the developing regions. They want to improve their lives with access to health care for themselves and their children, and they want access to education too. "People in the developing world need technical assistance and financial aid. They don't need us to come in and tell them what to do," Messinger said.
"As Americans we have to use our position less to make war and more to build civil society and to create peace," said Messinger. "As Jews, we have both the financial resources and political influence to help make a difference. We also have a faith-based obligation to try to heal the world."
For more information on the American Jewish World Service, and the group's work to stop the genocide in Darfur, check its web site at www.ajws.org/darfur. To learn more about the National Council of Jewish Women, log on to www.ncjw.org.
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