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George Clooney talks about Darfur

March 04, 2009
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George Clooney talks to the media abou the violence-ridden region of Darfur.

The 47-year-old actor, who will return to the small screen on E.R. later this year, writes, “Last week, I visited a camp in Chad—a camp of about 12,000 refugees and internally displaced persons. I was there three years ago. The violence there is nowhere near the scale that is going on just miles across the border in Sudan.”

Clooney continues, “I think what was most disturbing about the place was how little it had changed. ‘Normal’ is 800 calories a day, sickness, threats of rebel violence, or just crime. When you see their faces, the hope that was there three years ago was all but gone. There are still moments. We walked through a village where children would follow me and chant the name ‘Obama.’ His promise of “hope” having such a different meaning here. But there’s too little hope. Time and time again they’ve seen the convoy of white trucks and even whiter faces pull up, drag out their camera crew and pull aside the most damaged family they can find. We film them as they give honest answers to questions no person should have to answer. ‘What happened?’ ‘How did you lose that arm?’ ‘Were you raped?’ ‘By how many?’ Then, just as they’ve seen time and time again, we jump back in our vehicles and run to the next place. ‘Not really tragic enough,’ is said out loud (probably by me). ‘Maybe there’s somebody that’s been attacked more recently.’ It’s all been covered before.”

He ended with, “I visited a school in a camp in Goz Beida. The name above the door had been changed to “Obama.’ It seems this message of ‘hope’ is catching on.”

Read Clooney’s full entry at TheDailyBeast.com.
 

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