Sudan Freedom Walk by Hisham

The Sudan freedom walk is an organized coalition march to promote public awareness of the problems which are effecting the region of Dar fur ad Southern Sudan. Both regions continue to suffer massive loses in both economic stability and political upheaval; genocide against the local population which threatens to disrupt their society; and the continued oppression of the Sudanese people who have been forced from their homes to live in concentration camps. This march held on may 5th is one of the many attempts to put an end to this deviance of war criminals who hold their continued position of power


Preparing myself i made way to the location of Sudan freedom walk Chicago which was to take place directly in front of the government federal building. What better way to insist action towards the adoption of a Dar fur peace agreement: by challenging the lack of action and confronting the UN by organizing the march directly in front of a government building the message is made all the more clear... the politicians of the united states are urged to take the necessary actions to heal and stabilize the institutions of Sudan


I noticed the crowds of people who had gathered around each with their own banners and signs to display their messages of disapproval to the on going violence, or hand written signs with pleas for help and the need to give aid to the people of Sudan. off to the other side was a line which had been set for the donations drive; participants were urged to give a minimum donation of 5$ and would be awarded a Sudan freedom walk bracelet.. I donated myself but i personally am not very fond of bracelets so i had to pass


When the time had reached 11am the organizer of the march presented himself to give a brief introduction to the nature of the march and answered any questions that the crowd were curious to. After he had finished he then went on to present the guest speaker who was a member of the group 'The Lost Boys': an international group created to resettle refugee boys from Sudan to the united states who had been orphaned during the second Sudanese civil war. The guest speaker who traveled to Chicago had arrived to tell his story; of how at the mere age of 6 he had been taken in as a slave by oppressors and remained as a slave for the next 3 years. He hoped that with this march society would not allow such a thing to happen again to other children who continue to struggle against oppressors and genocide


Marching down the path into the city i noticed the large number of families who were participating in this social event. Parents marched side by side with their children to emphasize their strong bonds of family and to illustrate the important role that children were to serve for our future. The sky was slightly cloudy but all in all it was a fine day for a long walk. At the the front of the line the organizers of this march walked up ahead with the guest speaker proudly walking forward whilst carrying the American flag. Many of the participants displayed their cries of outrage over the situation in Sudan; by staying near the road to brandish their signs so as to appeal to any of the passing cars that made their way and headed along the road. a few members even held up a sign which proclaimed loudly to honk if you were against genocide... while i approve of the message it was a tad reckless to try and head into the middle of the road to get the message across. safety was of course a priority which is why a number of police officers had been called on duty to escort the large crowd of marchers; their assigned role was to delegate traffic and to make sure that the marchers could safely cross and to put any incoming traffic on hold.

we continues to march for about an hour heading towards the lake. by now some of the marchers had lost their gusto but they still showed their support by randomly cheering encouragements and shouting the phrase 'save Dar Fur!' . finally reaching the end of the lake the marchers were instructed to turn around and head back the way we had come. we marched on heading back to our goal with a large section of elementary school children breaking off from the group as it was time for their to head on home. finally after arriving back to our starting line the and the organizer went to give a small speech to encourage us to appeal to any of the senators for them to improve their foreign policy. The guest speaker also urged people to act now, as the people had turned a blind eye and nothing was done until it was too late in previous tragedies like Rwanda. we were urged to spread public awareness and to appeal once again to anyone we could; he finally ended his talk about how he was grateful to everyone and how they would continue to hold marches all around the country until Darfur was healed