SAND AND SORROW

Yesterday saw the premiere of SAND AND SORROW, a documentary about the grueling conflict between rebels and government forces in Darfur. The film itself wasn't anything special as it looked like an ordinary TV documentary and often used ugly rock beats as background music. But it did work as a clear record of the ongoing genocide in Southern Sudan and it definitely depicted the rotten world of politics as China for example had used its U.N. veto power to protect the Sudanese government from sanctions against the genocide because of Chinese oil interests in Sudan. After the film, a Unicef spokeswoman gave some info about the current Darfur projects and she was followed by RASHA, a Sudanese refugee who currently lives in Madrid and was scheduled to play a gig with her band after the film. When Rasha was called on stage however, she was clearly upset by what she had just seen and could only stumble the words "I really don't know what to say, I don't know who I am any longer". Subsequently, she left the stage in tears. Later in the evening, Rasha came back with her band, played a very nice set but was clearly still disconcerted.

I had read about the Darfur conflict in Dave Egger's heartrending and astonishing book “What is the What” but the raw images of mutilated children and swollen corpses had a much brutal effect on me.

One thing that really struck me, is a certain scene where a woman who helps the violated women at a refugee camp responds to an elderly woman who wants to thank her with the words: “It’s not me, it’s God”. I can simply not understand how you can still believe in a God, when you are living in hell.