“Why are you here?” voiced a 12 year old boy living in a
refugee camp on the border of Darfur,
Sudan. When Canadian Senator Mobina Jaffer, who at
the time in 2005 was Canada
Upon returning to Canada, when Senator Jaffer told a group of us this story, I asked her what might have been the hidden agenda of the boy -- maybe family trying to make him look special and gain favour, or someone using him to make a political statement? In this particular case, she couldn’t see one – it simply seemed to be a spontaneous, honest reaction.
Wow! – that got my wheels turning . . . what incredible openness!! In the wretched conditions of such a camp, knowing the horrific sights he had witnessed or stories he had heard, and realizing the influence he thought Senator Jaffer had . . . how was it he was willing to sacrifice his own future for the sake of people he would never meet?? Despite all the ugliness and violence in his life, how had he maintained such solid, basic decency and concern for others? So I later explored with her whether the boy might be willing to help highlight the plight in Darfur, not turning him into a poster-child object, but helping the world see, not simply the tragic images of refugee camps or people killed, but real, full-dimensional people, brimming with potential and vitality, but whose potential is stunted due to their impoverished situation.
While I spend much energy at this opposite end of the spectrum to international development such as Outreach International (OI), I am so heartened by its work. For it is able to take people brimming with potential and vitality, and unleash that innate goodness that promotes self-worth and dignity, that treats the whole person and that strengthens the social fabric.
I never found out what happened to the 12-year old boy. We tried to locate him, but Senator Jaffer’s
staff got word that the family had left the camp and headed south. If the boy survives and
Sudan
doesn’t descend into utter chaos, we both felt we had caught a glimpse of real hope for
Darfur
. Similarly when I consider the work of OI, I see the same hope, except it is hope being realized every day in the lives of their partners.
Rod Downing
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