World Refugees 2009 - Lord, I AM My Brother's Keeper!
75There are over 42 million refugees in the world as a result of wars, genocides, ethnic cleansing, religious persecution, climate change, and natural disasters.
Welcome to "World Refugees 101"
What you will learn here may change your life forever, and not for the better - unless it stirs you with compassion and inspires you to help the masses of world refugees in whatever way you possibly can.
If we do not help, then who will?
Learning all of what I am going to share with you, has made me realize how fortunate most of us really are. I appreciate each and every little thing I am lucky enough to have, including such small things as soap, water, and food. These things are out of reach for about 80 million refugee people in the world, who, through no fault of their own, find these things completely unattainable.
I have been having a difficult time putting the faces of these poor people out of my thoughts, and having trouble sleeping at night, for thinking about them and the horror that is their lives. Auschwitz was nothing, compared to what is going on in the world today, in our own times.
Recently, I became curious about the Iraqi and Afghanistani refugees of war, and wanted to know how many of them there were, and where they were. As I conducted this study, I discovered that there are many, many more refugees than I thought there were.
This article represents a small overview of the results of the research I have been doing on the world's refugees - who they are, where they are from, how many there are, where they are living, why they have been forced into their refugee status, who is helping them, what conditions they are living in, and what their prospects are.
The following is only the tip of an enormous iceberg.
What I have found is alarming - no, shocking and frightening! Why is the media not talking about this? We are not hearing the truth about this. We only hear bits and pieces. No one is putting the stories all together in one place so we can see the reality of how many refugees there are, and how many different wars and civil wars there are.
It's as if we are just supposed to go on as if it were not really happening, or as if it were "normal".
But, this is most definitely NOT normal!
Once you put all the facts and statistics together, it becomes very obvious that all these wars are deliberate, and not coincidental, and that the outcomes have been planned, and even prepared for in advance. It would appear that the fomenting of all these civil wars, genocides, ethnic cleansings, etc, is a vast, intentional means of subduing these developing countries in order to render their populations helpless, for the purpose of facilitating the imposition of global government.
The "great powers of the world" seem to be doing the very bare minimum to help these people and seem to want things just "kept quiet". The full reality of what is going on in the world, and the situation that so many millions are in, is certainly not being revealed by mainstream media. Why are the governments of richer, larger countries not raising their voices in an outcry against all the abuses, genocides, and humanitarian crises occurring? Why will they not help these people?
I contend that it is because they don't care, and because they are complicit and in agreement with it.
As in all cases, much can be learned by "following the money". Don't forget there are NATO peacekeeping troops in many of these countries, and so they are thus necessarily involved in the military conflicts occurring in these places. There have even been stories accusing UN-affiliated officials of either backing or financing various military factions involved in civil wars, or of making lucrative deals with sub-contractors and enriching themselves off the misery of the refugees forced into the refugee camps.
Also to be taken into serious account, is that various rebel armies receive substantial financial backing from other governments, or from large corporate interests. This is especially true in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where rebel Generals dress and surround themselves in fantastic finery purchased with stolen and donated money, and grandstand outrageously with international peace mediators.
In 2006, the UN gave an estimate of 12 million refugees in the world. Things have become much, much more desperate since then, and are worsening daily.
On June 20, 2009, World Refugee Day, that figure became 42 million. This statistic is misleading, however, as the 42 million cited, are only the refugees that the UN knows about, that are in UN Refugee Camps, and who have registered with the UN and received UN Refugee Cards. The actual number of refugees is probably twice as high. There are many, many millions more refugees who are not interred in the UN camps, and who have not been counted into the UN official refugee figures.
These refugees are all people who have been forced to flee from their homes because of the violence of wars - either invading armies from other countries, or civil wars in their own countries - or they have escaped from genocide, ethnic cleansings, religious persecution, climate change, or natural disasters.
They are either "internally displaced" ("IDP", having fled their homes and living as refugees in their own countries) or "externally displaced" (having had to flee to other countries).
They are sleeping in the sand or dirt, on beaches, in makeshift tents, abandoned buildings, in refugee camps, or in jails or prisons. Wherever they are, their living conditions are appallingly unsafe and unsanitary. For the most part, they have no running water to bathe or clean with. They is little or no medical care, and there is no way for their children to go to school.
The only food they receive is what they are given by relief workers in the camps where they are, which is usually only barely enough to keep them alive - often they only receive a couple of cups of grain and a little oil per day.
Most generally, they are treated as prisoners, and are not allowed to leave the camps and move around. They are not permitted to contact family or friends, nor to use any forms of communication like internet, phones, mails, etc. Sometimes this is because it is unsafe to leave the camps, and sometimes it is because the government of the hosting country does not permit them to leave the camps. They are usually not allowed to work to try to earn money to help themselves.
For the most part, they are not allowed to have lawyers, nor to avail themselves of the court systems to petition the governments of the countries where they are for asylum.
Children are separated from parents, husbands separated from wives, and friends and families separated. Often family members are located in separate camps a great distance away from each other. That's if they are lucky enough to get into a refugee camp.
More often than not, after arrival in a country where they seek sanctuary, they are arrested and deported back to where they came from against their will, regardless of whether they are in danger of being killed upon re-entering the country they fled from or not. Family members are separated after being arrested, and are deported separately from each other
In some countries, the refugee camps are either attacked by terrorist armies who kill all the refugees within, refugee camps are bombed as in Gaza, or the camps are invaded by soldiers who beat, rape, murder, or kidnap the refugees. In many cases, the refugee camps themselves are infiltrated by representatives of rebel factions who coerce the refugees into leaving the camps to fight with them, or even kidnap refugees from the camps to force them into fighting or to enslave them.
In the case of refugees in the Serbian conflicts, hundreds of thousands of women refugees were "punished" for their ethnic group by being raped by the soldiers. There are many thousands of unwanted orphans there now, products of these rapes. Refugee women of Somalia, Darfur, Congo, and other African countries are also being subjected to this terror. In the Congo, young boys are kidnapped and forced to serve as soldiers, or to work as slaves in coal mines, by the rebel soldiers.
The refugees are charged abusively exorbitant fees for any legal help or permits by the governments of some countries, and for any extra privileges or favors. In a few countries, refugees are used by the governments as slave labor and are not paid for their work. In Malaysia, refugees are even sold on the slave markets - or in the case of the Falun Gong in China, they are used as involuntary organ donors.
Many refugees have been living in displacement camps for many years - some as many as 10-20 years or more, and their situations are beyond hopeless. Often, they have been forced to go from country to country, or have been moved from one camp to another and another, depending on safety issues at the camp locations due to armed conflicts breaking out, if there is not enough water, or when the housing facilities have outlived their limit for usefulness. (Most refugee tent housing has a life span of only about 10 years)
Hundreds of thousands have lived much of their lives in the camps and have necessarily become resigned to their sub-standard existences and "statelessness". A great many who live in the refugee camps were born in the camps and have never known anything else. Once they are in the camps, it is sometimes extremely hard to get out of them and get re-patriated and resettled elsewhere.
There are few countries that will accept asylum-seekers, and if they do, they accept only a very few, compared with the millions who are so desperate to become citizens with rights, and not "stateless". Their fates are completely dependent on politics, treaty results, and international asylum agreements. They are also at the mercy of the hosting country as to whether or not they are permitted to approach the courts for asylum petitions. Also, they may have to remain in the camps for many years while they are waiting for their own countries to decide whether to permit their re-entrance into their homelands.
Life within the refugee camps is very dangerous and uncomfortable, to say the least. Not only are the refugees in danger of being attacked and murdered by armies, raped or beaten, but there is much crime and violence within the camps themselves. Some camps have tens of thousands of people living in them, and bitter rivalries break out between camp internees, or the stress and hardship of living in the camps occasions internal violence and crimes such as robberies, assaults, and rapes.
Living conditions in refugee camps are appalling - there is usually either no water, not enough water, or the water is contaminated. The camps mostly lack facilities for the proper disposal of waste and sewer. Many refugee camps lack electricity and proper cooking facilities, and internees are forced to cook and heat their tents with coal provided by relief agencies, or even with animal manure procured on their own from goats or sheep, which contributes to the general unsanitary conditions of the camps.
All of this, along with the crowded conditions, the malnourished state of the refugees, and the lack of proper medical care and medicines, often results in outbreaks of disease such as cholera and other life-threatening infectious diseases. The chronically ill and disabled find it especially difficult to live in the camps.
The world's refugee situation does not appear to have any chance of improving in the near future. Fresh outbreaks of violence seem to spring up daily. Recent earthquake disasters (HAARP?) in Sumatra and American Samoa, and the alarming new and devastating violence in the civil war in Pakistan, in which many hundreds of thousands more Pakistanis have been displaced, does not bode well for the future of the world's most vulnerable.
My heart bleeds for these people. I don't care what mainstream media says or doesn't say. I don't care what the government says. I don't care if everyone around me pretends they don't notice what is happening. I know what I myself feel when I read the stories of the refugees, and when I see the misery in their faces.
I feel a terrible despair and the most all-encompassing compassion for their plights, and a deep grieving inside, for all of humanity.
These are human beings. They deserve all the same basic rights that any human being deserves anywhere. They deserve those rights regardless of race, national origin, religion, or political affiliation. They deserve to have food, water, hygiene, homes, electricity, heat, freedom from abuse, education, and the opportunity to earn a living. Most of all they deserve to be safe and live with dignity.
I don't know what can be done to help all these people. I don't know how we can stop the raging, Satanic, murdering machine of the NWO, global government, and marauding military madmen.
I do know that wherever, and whoever these people are, they certainly deserve our thoughts, our help, and our compassion, as fellow human beings.
There, but for the Grace of God, go we ourselves.
Who is to say that it won't happen here in the United States before it's all done and over with?
I am sending thoughts of love and caring to all of these refugees, no matter where they are. And I am praying for them all, whoever they may be. There is little else I can do for them due to my own straitened circumstances, and God is the only one who can help them all.
I pray that He does.
I will be uploading a new web site very soon which will deal with world refugees. Perhaps I can at least make more people aware of the plight of refugees, and show others how to help.
I will add the url to that web site here, as soon as it is published.
Thank you for reading this, and I hope that you will pray for these people, as I am doing.
SOME STATISTICS REGARDING WORLD REFUGEES:
http://www.worldrefugeesurvey.org/
(These statistics have been painstakingly pieced together from many different sources - they may not be current, nor entirely accurate, and also, there are many refugees whose numbers and whereabouts are unknown, due to lack of reporting entities, or to the severity of the violence in the areas where they are, which prevents relief agencies from reaching them. The numbers are constantly changing - often UN refugee camps are closed down suddenly, or moved to other locations as a result of unsafe, violent conditions.)
Countries Hosting Refugees with Numbers of Refugees and Origins:
(This is only a very partial list)
Algeria - 96,500 (Western Sahara, Palestine, Niger)
Bangladesh - 193,000 (Rohingya fromMyanmar/Burma) plus another 100-200,000 unregistered living outside the refugee camps
Botswana - 23,100 (Zimbabwe, Namibia)
Brazil - 21,400 (Colombia, Angola)
Burundi - 26,300 (Congo, Rwanda)
Cameroon - 91,900 (Central African Republic, - Chad, Nigeria, Rwanda, Congo, Burundi, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia, and others.
Canada - 72,500 (Mexico, Haiti, Colombia)
Chad - 330,500 (Sudan/Darfur, Central African Republic)
China - 332,000 (Vietnam, North Korea, Myanmar)
Congo-Brazzaville - 40,000 (Congo-Kinshasa, Rwanda, Angola)
Congo-Kinshasa - 192,000 (Angola, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Sudan, Congo-Brazzaville)
Cote d'Ivoire - 26,300 (Liberian)
Ecuador - 135,000 (Colombia, Peru, Cuba, Haiti, Russia, Iraq, Ghana, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Armenia)
Egypt - 152,400 (Palestine, Iraq, Sudan, Somalia)
Ethiopia - 135,000 (Somalia, Eritrea, Sudan, Congo-Kinshasa)
Europe - 302,200 (Iraq, Russia, Somalia, Serbia, Afghanistan)
Ghana - 18,700 (Liberia, Togolese)
Guinea - 28,100 (Liberia, Sierra Leone, Cote d'Ivoire)
India - 411,000 (Sri Lanka, Tibet/China, Myanmar, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Nepal)
Iran - 993,600 (Afghanistan, Iraq, and others, plus more than one million unregistered Afghans)
Iraq - 39,500 (Turkey, Palestine, Iran)
Israel - 16,500 (Eritrea, Sudan)
Israeli-occupied territories - 1,828,100 (Gaza Strip, West Bank)
Jordan - 621,600 (Iraq, Palestine, former Palestine, plus nearly 2 million Palestinians with Jordanian citizenship and not counted as refugees)
Kenya - 377,400 (Somalia, Nubian, Ethiopia, Sudan, Congo-K, Rwanda, Uganda, Eritrea, Burundi)
Kuwait - 40,000 (Iraq, former Palestine)
Lebanon - 333,500 (former Palestine, Iraq, Sudan)
Libya - 18,900 (Former Palestine, Sudan, Somalia)
Malawi - 11,600 (Congo-Kinshasa, Rwanda, Burundi, Somalia, Ethiopia)
Malaysia - 171,500 (Myanmar, Philippines, Indonesia)
Mauritania - 30,600 (Western Sahara, Mali)
Nepal- 121,300 (Bhutan, China - Tibetans)
Niger - 15,700 (Chad)
Pakistan - 1,775,600 (Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq)
Panama - 11,500 (Colombia, El Salvador, Cuba, NIcaragua)
Russian Federation - 107,000 (Afghanistan, Georgia, Central Asia)
Rwanda - 59,000 (Congo-KInshasa, Burundi)
Saudi Arabia - 291,000 (Former Palestine, others, also hundreds of thousands of Myanmar Rohingya & about 70,000 stateless Bidoons)
Senegal - 35,000 (Mauritania)
Serbia - 96,500 (Croatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina)
South Africa - 256,000 (Zimbabwe, Congo-Kinshasa, Somalia, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India)
Sri Lanka - 250,000-300,000 internally/externally displaced due to civil war Tamil Tigers vs. Sri Lanka Government
Sudan - 310,500 (Eritrea, Chad, Ethiopia, Congo-K, Central African Republic)
Syria - 1,763,900 (Iraq, Former Palestine, Somalia)
Tanzania - 321,900 (Burundi, Congo-Kinshasa)
Thailand - 368,800 (Myanmar, Laos)
Turkey - 18,200 (Iraq, Iran)
Uganda - 155,400 (Congo-K, Sudan, Rwanda, Somalia, Burundi, and others)
United States - 161,200 (Cuba, China, Myanmar, Iraq, Haiti, Iran, Bhutan, Colombia, Somalia)
Venezuela - 211,000 (Colombia plus 200,000 unregistered)
Yemen - 145,700 (Somalia, Iraq, Ethiopia, Sudan)
Zambia - 88,900 (Congo-K, Angola, Zimbabwe, Rwanda)
List of refugees - Countries having citizens who are refugees, or groups that are refugees - refugees from these countries are either internally or externally displaced:
(This list is by no means complete - there are many more)
Sudan, Darfur, Somalia, Zimbabwe, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Angola, Nigeria, Bhutan, Central African Republic, Chad, Libya, Liberia, Namibia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Tamils, India, Kenyan Nubians, Kurds, Malaysia, Rwanda, Haiti, Myanmar (Burma), Muslim Rohingya from Myanmar, Congo-Kinshana (Democratic Republic of Congo), Burundi, Uganda, Mali, Cameroon, Bangladesh, Croatia, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Kosovo, Mauritania, Cuba, Nicaragua, Tibet, China, Uganda, Eritrea, Ghana, Former Palestine, Palestine, Turkey, Serbia, Russia, Sierra Leone, Namibia, Niger, Western Sahara, Cote d'Ivoire, Gaza Strip, West Bank, El Salvador, Georgia, Cameroon, Kenya, Armenia, Laos, North Korea, Philippines, Guinea, Yemen, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Peru, El Salvador, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Sumatra, American Samoa, Nepal, Philippines, Vietnam, Laos, Bidoons of Saudi Arabia, Mali, Sierra Leone, Togolese, Biharis (Bangladesh),
Countries that are hosting refugees from other countries:
(Not a complete list - there are many, many more! Many countries already over-burdened with their own internally displaced refugees, are also hosting refugees from other countries. Syria is past the breaking point and in a humanitarian crisis, with so many refugees from Iraq and Somalia. It would seem that there is no place to go that is safe, for these people...)
Algeria, Bangladesh, Botswana, Brazil, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Chad, China, Conga-Brazzaville, Congo-Kinshasa, Cote d'Ivoire, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Europe, Ghana, Guinea, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Israeli-occupied territories, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malawi, Malaysia, Mauritania, Nepal, Niger, Pakistan, Panama, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, South Africa, Sudan, Syria, Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda, United States, Venezuela, Yemen, Zambia
REFUGEE LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO HELP WITH AID EFFORTS:
Here are some organizations that work to help refugees all over the world:
(Some links are not provided, but can be easily found by Googling the names of the organizations)
UNHCR - United Nations High Commisioner for Refugees
Is responsible for the overall co-ordination of world-wide refugee services and of the camps. They subcontract to a number of agencies and organizations listed below to provide food and essential services in the camps.
http://unhcr.org
LWF Lutheran World Federation
LWF, as an implementing partner of UNHCR, has been responsible for care and maintenance of shelters, service-centres, water supply and sanitation and community services activities
http://www.lwf.org
International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC)
Organization whose humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of war and internal violence and to provide them with assistance.
http://www.icrc.org/
IRC - International Rescue Committe, provides relief, respect and renewal to refugees and victims of armed conflict around the world, also resettlement assistance
http://www.theirc.org/
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). The IFRC is the world's largest humanitarian organization with 186 members
http://www.ifrc.org/
Save the Children UK
An international children's charity based in the UK which supports both emergency and long-term relief and development projects.
www.savethechildren.org.uk/
International Save the Children Alliance Homepage
Save the Children fights for children's rights, delivers immediate and lasting improvements to children's lives worldwide.
www.savethechildren.net/
Doctors Without Borders | MSF USA
Doctors and nurses volunteer to provide urgent medical care in countries to victims of war and disaster regardless of race, religion, or politics.
http://doctorswithoutborders.org/
Médecins Sans Frontières International Homepage
Is a secular humanitarian-aid non- governmental organization best known for its projects in war-torn regions
http://www.msf.org/
Caritas International - Provides direct aid to refugees of armed conflict and natural disasters
http://caritas.org/
Oxfam International
A group of non-governmental organizations from three continents working worldwide to fight poverty and injustice. Oxfam International is a confederation of 14 organisations working with over 3000 partners in more than 70 countries to find lasting solutions to poverty
http://www.oxfam.org/
Oxfam America
United States branch dedicated to finding long-term solutions to poverty, hunger , and social injustice around the world.
http://www.oxfamamerica.org/
UN Agencies:
United Nations High Commission for Refugees:
http://www.unhcr.org
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights:
http://www.ohchr.org
United Nations Development Programme in Bhutan:
http://www.undp.org.bt
UNICEF - The United Nations Children's Fund - UNICEF - works for children's rights, their survival, development and provides special protection for the most disadvantaged children: victims of war, disasters, extreme poverty, all forms of violence
http://www.unicef.org/
UNDP and the other UN agencies (UNICEF, WFP, UNFPA, and WHO), work together
Non-Governmental Organizations:
Amnesty International:
http://www.amnesty.org
Human Rights Watch:
http://www.hrw.org
South Asian Human Rights Documentation Centre:
http://www.hrdc.net/sahrdc
Habitat International Coalition Housing and Land Rights Network:
http://www.hic-sarp.org
Jesuit Refugee Service:
http://www.jrs.net
Here are some helpful links to learn more about refugees and connect with places that are trying to help them - or at least this is a small start in that direction:
UNHCR - United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees - The UN Refugee Agency
http://www.unhcr.org/
International Rescue Committee
http://www.theirc.org/
UNRefugees.org
http://www.unrefugees.org/
Refugees International
http://www.refugeesinternational.org/
USAid.gov
http://www.usaid.gov
World Refugee Survey
http://www.worldrefugeesurvey.org/
US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI)
http://www.refugees.org/
American Near East Refugee Aid (ANERA) - a 40 year old non-profit organization, provides humanitarian relief aid to Palestinian refugees, and people in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, etc.
http://www.anera.org/
Iraq Veterans Refugee Aid Association
http://www.iraqveteransrefugeeaidassociation.com/
AmeriCares
http://www.americares.org/
THE UNHCR HAS VIDEOS!
SEE VIDEOS BY THE UNHCR ABOUT REFUGEES:
UNHCR YouTube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/user/unhcr
UNHCR also has a video channel at
http://www.Livestation.com
DONATE TO THE UNHCR UN REFUGEE AGENCY
https://www.kintera.org/site/c.lfIQKSOwFqG/b.5019079/apps/ka/sd/donorcustom.asp
URGENT: Humanitarian Crisis in Pakistan NOW!
Pakistan Refugees Facing Humanitarian Crisis
Things are especially dire in Pakistan right now, where there are over 2 million Pakistanis displaced in NW Swat Valley, following recent violent conflict between militants and governmental forces, causing an extreme emergency humanitarian crisis.
Help UNHCR's relief efforts in Pakistan
http://www.unhcr.org/emergency/pakistan/global_landing.html
Learn More About This Emergency: "Pakistan : Swat Valley Emergency"
HERE IS WHAT I WROTE WHEN I FIRST SAW ALL THIS:
(I don't know what this is; it is not a poem, it is not prose, nor anything structured whatsoever. It is just what came pouring out after seeing all those refugees, especially after researching Iraqi refugees, victims of the US occupation. I became so angry and full of despair and also ashamed, and yes, even frightened of my country! Please don't try to categorize this as a type of professional writing style - it is purely emotion, and that is all.)
"Lord, I AM My Brother's Keeper"
I AM MY BROTHER'S KEEPER!
It breaks my heart and literally drops me to my knees...
To contemplate what these poor people and others are enduring.
Helpless victims of the satanic hatred of the murderous death-mongers,
They are the blameless targets of the greedy, snarling money-masters.
I can not bear to even imagine their pain and the agony in their hearts.
I can not turn away from their pain,
Nor can I alienate myself from their anguish.
I feel their agony down to the depths of my soul.
My heart cries out to my Father, saying, LORD!
I AM my brother's keeper!!!
And you???
What kind of country has the USA become?
SHAME, SHAME, SHAME!!!
A nation consumed by hatred and paranoia,
Aflame with self-righteousness and cruel intolerance,
Totally bereft of compassion and humanity -
And awash in greed and selfishness.
Let me just ask this one question of you:
Where has your compassion and understanding
For your fellow humans gone?
My whole being cries out to the Universe:
"Where is your love for your brother?"
"Where is your empathy for your own kind?"
"Where IS your brother? Do you know?"
The life force within me shouts:
"Why can you not understand?"
Don't you know that: We are all one and the same -
We are but mirror images of eachother;
Myriad, lovingly-crafted, and essential pieces that, together,
Miraculously form one beautiful, awesome whole -
Each part unique and with its own purpose,
And all together, vibrating with the force of sacred life,
Shining as one in unison, reflecting God's love from above,
Filling the Universe with boundless love and perfect harmony.
What have you done, what have you done?
What have you done, my sisters and brothers,
With the love freely given to you by the Creator?
And what have you done, what have you done?
With the precious lives that were entrusted to your care?
Why will you not accept the power of love?
And the light of goodness and mercy?"
Tell me, my sisters and brothers:
WHERE HAS YOUR LOVE GONE?
Satan, vile and putrescent spawn, defiler of the perfect,
Murderer of God's lambs, and liar from the beginning,
How is it that you have been able to fill the hearts of men
With such horrific hatred and greed, cruelty and murder?
And made God's children to forget their Creator and the Law of Love?
SHAME on those who perpetrate these horrors.
SHAME on the war-mongers and the torturers of the weak
SHAME on those who squander the riches of the world,
While so many millions of innocents are homeless and starving.
SHAME on the murderers, the killers of the innocent,
SHAME on the makers of widows and orphans,
SHAME on the purveyors of violent death to women and little babies!
SHAME on the people of the world everywhere
For their hatred that has caused the murder of their brethren,
And SHAME for tolerating this genocide.
Let us pray for these people who are living in such horrific conditions.
Let us pray for mercy and peace for all those who suffer and are oppressed.
And let us pray that we ourselves are spared from such horrors.
God help us all.
Turn to whoever is standing next to you right now
And tell them that you love them.
That you respect them no matter how different from you they are.
And that you wish nothing but peace and good will for them.
If we would all do that, maybe we could cause peace to reign in the world.
I AM my brother's keeper!!!
And you???
(by MagicStarER)
WHY do we all avert our eyes and pretend we don't see this?
WHY are we all pre-occupied with such trivial things while this is happening?
How to Donate to UNHCR Refugee Efforts:
PLEASE! DONATE TO THE UNHCR REFUGEE AGENCY!!!
It does not have to be a lot - A small donation goes a long way towards alleviating the suffering and hardship that the world's refugees are enduring. Your donations will help provide housing, potable water, blankets, electricity, food, medicines, and education for refugees and their children. You can even choose which country you would like to make a donation to.
Here is where to go to donate to the UNHCR:
https://www.kintera.org/site/c.lfIQKSOwFqG/b.5019079/apps/ka/sd/donorcustom.asp
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United Nations World Refugee News
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Thank you, Chef Jeff, for reading, and for your compassion for these people who are suffering so much. I commend your church members for their caring and action in putting themselves in a place where help is needed so desperately, like Darfur.
We have all heard a lot about Darfur, by now, and realized that there are many refugees there that need help.
But what I am hoping to show to as many people as I possibly can, is that there are many, many more displaced populations in many, many other countries, who are going through the same or even worse.
I don't think that people, as a rule, realize just how many refugees there are, nor how many countries have refugees. Nor are most people aware of what the refugee camps are like, nor of the conditions these people are living in.
I know that I, myself, was not aware of how many there were, until I researched this. What I discovered has shocked me. I consider myself to be well-informed, so if I was not aware, then I know that most other people are not aware of the scope of it, either.
I feel it is my moral obligation to tell people the truth, so they can see for themselves, and hopefully, many will be able to help, even if only a little bit.
I, for myself, would be scared to death to put myself physically into one of these countries right now, with all the violence happening there. So I highly applaud anyone who is willing to go there personally to help.
This is an important hub that really deserves to be read. The scale is truly shocking. Thank you for highlighting this mass suffering. Like you I consider myself to be well informed and I am certainly well travelled but I was totally unaware of just how many refugees there were. An eye opener.
Thank you for reading, Catherine. Yes, it is shocking, isn't it? I did not know, either.
We can blame mainstream media for not telling us the real world news. We are not hearing the truth anymore on the news. I don't know if they are purposely hiding it from us, or if there is something else wrong, but something is wrong, that is for sure.
You have to dig and search nowadays to get to the truth.
There are appalling forces at work in the world today.
How to fight them? It makes you feel so helpless.
The timing is uncanny - I just found this hub of yours hours after watching the movie "Beyond Borders" which is a lovestory but the backdrop is a relief group trying to help refugees. Have you seen it? (Angelina Jolie plays the leading part and in the movie she works for the UNHCR. The movie was heartwrenching to watch and it really got me to thinking about why things are the way they are in these countries. This really is an excellent hub.
This is an issue I feel very strongly about too, and so can relate to everything you've said. I must say, you've done a brilliant job here...and written a most through and powerful hub! if only more people were aware of the cost of these wars (and the lives of ordinary people that are destroyed along the way) they would stop supporting these invasions! anyway, thank you ever so much for sharing this...!
MagicStarER, your anger and compassion at these images, facts and figures is good. Anger is a useful emotion in the right context. It gets us ready for action. It moves us to do something. Likewise compassion.
I'm glad you're angry about it. I wish more people were angry about it and showed such empathy. Although the solutions are complex with many political and socio-economic factors, the drive to find solutions begins with anger and compassion. That's what drove you to write this hub, and that's what drives others to get off there asses and do something. Thanks for this hub, I only hope it makes more people angry and determined for compassion to win through.
Thanks for reading, CariJean - I looked at your review of Beyond Borders - it looks like a good movie,I would like to see it - your review was excellent! Angelina Jolie is actually presently the UN ambassador for refugees, and has made many trips to refugee camps all over the world. I applaud her efforts, along with those of many others like Mary J. Blige, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and countless others who are struggling to help refugees and let the world know what is going on.
Thanks myownworld - I am glad there are still people out there like you, who care about others. We are the salt of the earth. You are right, it is insanity to support the murder of innocent people anywhere.
To DonW:
Yes, you are right, it makes me angry to see the plights of these people. But more, it is also despair - that I can not do anything to help or stop it. I can't disassociate myself from their suffering, and nor should any of us. It is only chance that makes it be them and not ourselves. Those of us who are able to feel empathy for our fellow human beings must try to help. Even if only a little. Who will do it if we don't?
There is so much callousness and lack of caring in the world today... It makes me physically ill, and feel so helpless to change anything. I thank Hubpages for giving me this avenue to inform. :)









Chef Jeff says:
6 weeks ago
At our church we sponsor medical personnel to go to Darfur to help out people there. We also co-sponsor our outreach church to help people try to survive spiritually as well as getting food and clothing to them. Our priest went there personally and came back with wonderful tales of humanity as well as frightening stories of death and destruction. Ours is but one of many churches that have sent aid in any form needed.
But there is so much more yet to be done! And not just in Darfur! Everywhere from our own poor communities to those around the world, more people need to help. Thanks for your excellent hub! I hope many more people read it and find it in their hearts to give aid to the suffering.
Cheers!
Chef Jeff