I don't agree with all the points he made (although I do agree with most of them), but I think it's a great document, and I want to have it here:
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THE ADDRESS
Ladies and Gentlemen of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus: as you know, the people of Darfur are suffering from tremendous loss: their homes, their villages, the lives of too many loved ones. And yet I believe there is hope for the future, and it lies in giving them a chance to be educated.
My name is Daowd Salih, and I am from Darfur. My father worked and sacrificed so that I could get an education, first in southern Sudan, and then to the north when civil war forced us to flee. I had to escape Sudan due to my advocacy work on behalf of my tribe, the Massaleit, and other Darfurian ethnic groups. In 1999, while in Egypt, I co-authored an open letter to the international community entitled "The Hidden Slaughter and Ethnic Cleansing in Western Sudan"; this was one of the first efforts to focus global attention on the crisis in Darfur.
In the early 1980's and again starting in 1994 to the present, Darfurians have been targeted and killed by the Sudanese government. While you hear mostly about the genocide of the last 4 years, my people have suffered for decades.
I am one of the lucky few; I managed to come to this country as a United Nations refugee in exile from Darfur. Since 2000, I have been speaking to groups large and small, from classrooms to the United Nations, about the slaughter of my people and the need to end it. This past April 10, I spoke at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's press conference on "Google Earth", which showed aerial views of the destruction of my village. My hope is that this will inspire policy makers to take further action. I applaud the efforts of this caucus to end the genocide in Darfur.
But ladies and gentlemen, we must also look ahead to the rebuilding of Darfur. Out of chaos and destruction, we will need to recreate communities where peace and justice will flourish. It is to this end that I seek your help.
My vision begins with the training of teachers. I seek scholarship funds to send students out of Darfur and Chad to learn the essential skills of reading, writing, mathematics, science - and to learn how to teach what they have learned. These teachers will then return to the refugee camps of Chad, where they will help a new generation learn and build leadership within their communities.
I would like to see the first priority given to reading and writing, and the preservation of native languages. Many major tribes dwell together in the camps, including Zawara, Daju, Massaleit, Fur, Tama, Borgo tribes, as well as many others. By learning each others' languages, we can build understanding and inclusiveness. By writing these languages, we can ensure that they will be preserved. And we can preserve the heritage that each tribe brings, history and culture that have been decimated by death and displacement. English would also be taught as a common language, thus helping to expand educational opportunities and cultural exchange.
This beginning step would enable Darfur survivors to tell their stories, and to start to heal. Ideally these stories would be recorded as an Oral History project; also the languages, culture, and history of Darfur should be recorded and documented. America is a country of people bringing their stories, seeking a better life. As education has been a key to success in this country, so can it be for the people of Darfur.
Teaching in the refugee camps is just a first step. With the basic skills mastered, Darfurian youth can then go to universities in the West to learn to be engineers, economists, lawyers, doctors, professions needed to rebuild our country. They can learn principles of land reclamation and irrigation, so that the land can once again be habitable. As education spreads, schools can move beyond the refugee camps and into Darfur itself. Eventually a university can be created to teach our youth at home; we look to draw on the knowledge and experience of existing institutions to help us achieve this goal.
This effort has important implications for the West. The model I propose will counter the radical madrassas (known as khallawa) of the National Islamic Front. Our people need to know more than the Koran to be able to communicate with the rest of the world. We need to learn diplomatic tools to counter the Sudanese government's efforts to spread Arab rule in Africa, and to strengthen our African voices in governing our land.
I am committed to make this dream a reality through Damanga: Coalition for Freedom and Democracy. The mission of Damanga is to promote the human rights of the people of Darfur and to ensure the preservation of their ethnic communities. Damanga seeks guarantees of equality, freedom and democracy for all people in Sudan and elsewhere throughout the world. As President of this organization, I will work in partnership with my co-presenter today, Abdelgabr Adam of the Darfur Human Rights Organization of the USA. From you we seek support, guidance, and funds for this essential effort.
Let me review the goals of educating our people, so that you can feel the enormity of its impact. Through education, we aim to:
• Create hope
• Unite our people through educational opportunity
• Build for our future
• Help tribes communicate with each other
• Preserve languages and culture
• Promote English as a common language
• Help people tell their stories
• Enable participation in the government
As members of this caucus, you well understand that protecting human rights goes beyond ending atrocities, and must include restoring dignity and a stable, meaningful life. The great scholar Moses Maimonides noted that the highest form of charity is to help people to help themselves. Please help us to ask the world to open its educational doors, so that we can do just that.
Thank you for your time and commitment to human rights.
Daowd Salih
Co-Founder and Board President of Damanga
Co-Founder of Save Darfur Coalition
Political Advisor for Darfur People Alliance of USA
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