Hightail express quits upon opening
Now that the rainy season is over and roads in South Kordofan (the state in which the Nuba Mountains is located) are no longer impassable the war has resumed in full force. That may sound like ramped up hyperbole to some, but I assure you that it’s not. As a longtime human rights activist, I have attempted to lead my life according to a simple dictate: one’s awareness of a people in dire straits demands action, and a lack of action equates to losing a piece of one’s humanity.
Knowing that there are people-hundreds of thousands, civilians all-hunkered down in the Nuba Mountains fearful of being killed by either bombs from Antonov bombers or missiles fired from fighter jets and largely without enough food to even guarantee that they will have at least one meal a day-I’d consider myself some sort of coward (and a selfish coward) at that if I didn’t return to the Nuba Mountains with food for those in most desperate need. No one, I am sure, would criticize me should I remain at home for the holidays. (Later I was to learn that she feared that the Government of Sudan (GoS) might hone in on the frequency I was on and dispatch a fighter jet to take me (and my team) out.) I am now preparing to head back to the Nuba for the sixth time during the current war (June 2011–today) between the Sudan Peoples Liberation Army-North and the Government of Sudan, and it brings back a lot of disturbing memories of GoS’ aerial bombings and death.
#Hightail express quits upon opening plus
While I was pleased to be giving instead of receiving, as it were, I also greatly missed being with my family-and particularly my wife, Kathleen.Īnd then, when I called her on my Sat phone Christmas Eve (Christmas morning for her), as I stood the dark in 90 degree plus heat in a region of the desert scattered with palm trees and scrub brush, I felt a bit bad that she seemed uninterested in talking and abruptly got off the phone following what I felt were a few perfunctory comments on her part. It was bittersweet for a lot of different reasons. Two years ago I entered the war torn Nuba Mountains on Christmas Day in order to truck food to civilians in desperate need as a result of their farms having been bombed by the Government of Sudan (GoS) during the ongoing war (June 2011–today).