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Sudan: Darfur and the Orphans of Mygoma

Categories: Sub-Saharan Africa, Sudan, Elections, Freedom of Speech, Human Rights, Media & Journalism, Migration & Immigration, Politics, Youth

In this roundup, we delve into the most recent thoughts streamed from the consciousness of the relatively small but intriguing Sudanese blogosphere.

After a period of absence, AK comes back with a blog post about a deeply moving documentary [1] called “Orphans of Mygoma” which was originally televised by Aljazeera International. It tells the story of an orphanage in Sudan and illegitimate children.

Great documentery by Aljazeera's Witness program. Please watch both parts below.

To get a decent understanding about the social stigma surrounding illegitimate children in Sudan, read this comment [2] by optimist on AK's blog:

The Mygoma oprhanage is truly one of the saddest aspects of Sudan. I think people might overlook the fact that not only are those children starved for affection and good health care, they are also faced with the biggest challange (if they survive to face it,) which is the intese social stigma of being a born-out-of-wedlock child. The Sudanese society is decidedly biased against illigitimate children, even though such behavior is not supported by Islam.

I really do hope things will change for the orphans of Mygoma.

Next, we have DZA with something more cheerful. Apparently, YouTube's block in Sudan [3] has been lifted [4].

Youtube is unblocked in Sudan now, I don't know who to thank, maybe me for starting that group :p lol .. but ey, thank god
anyways ..

Meanwhile, Path2Hope was lucky enough to be in Kenya to witness all the celebrations [5] there after Obama was announced winner of the US elections:

It's only been a few weeks since I arrived in lovely Nairobi but it already feels like home. I am surprised the place has grown on me this fast, especially after all the security briefing madness that I had to go through before coming here…but it was all worth it.

And how lucky am I to be here when they announced Obama's win? You really should have seen and felt the amount of joy that consumed this country! It was amazing to be part of it all.

When it comes to Obama's victory, not every Sudanese is happy like Path2Hope [5] or Black Kush [6] though. John Akec is more cautious [7]:

President Clinton in most part had maintained a hand-off approach to Sudan conflict. His Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright once said: “Sudan war is not viable.” During his time, Al Qaeda was founded and fared. His actions in most parts were nothing but knee-jerk reactions such as missile strike of Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum in August 1998 as retaliation to bombing of two US embassies in East Africa that year. That action did nothing to promote the cause of peace and freedom in Sudan but only added fuel to the fire of anti-Americanism without serving any purpose.

With this abysmal Democratic record in view, the author fears that the coming Obama administration will be nothing but Clinton 2, courtesy of Obama.

Lastly, Drima makes a point [8] about “the Muslim and Arab hypocrisy in regards to the Darfur conflict” in the following comic way:

Muslim minority: Hey, there are Muslims getting killed in Darfur.

Muslim majority: Really? By the evil Joooz?

Muslim minority: No, by other Muslims.

Muslim majority: