Keeping the Malians in Our Thoughts

Today will be one of the saddest days for the families and friends of the 10 victims of that raging house fire in the Bronx last week. Today comes the funerals and, for five victims, burial in a New Jersey cemetery. Others will be flown to Mali , one of the poorest countries in the world, for burial in family plots.

The public response has been heartwarming with people bringing everything from teddy bears to food to cash. But we have also been reminded that, in situations such as this, there will always be predators. By one account, a man in the neighborhood set up a container to raise money for the families, collected lots of it within a few minutes, then absconded. The City of New York, the State of New York and various civic associations have pledged to do all they can to help the surviving family members. The New York Yankees' principal owner, George Steinbrenner, has offered to cover the funeral costs. A real estate developer has offered, for free, to rebuild the gutted home on Woodycrest. Air France, for free, will fly the Malian funeral party to Mali. Politicians like U.S. Rep. Jose Serrano will try to ease immigration restrictions to permit family members, including a father of some of the children, to be able to travel to Mali for the burials and return to this country even though there are some "immigration papers issues" (You know, red tape?)

As I said in an earlier posting, the neighborhood Islamic center -- and site of the funerals -- is receiving donations. If you want to contribute, here's the information:

Magassa-Soumare Family Fund
c/o Islamic Cultural Center
371 E. 166th Street
Bronx, NY 10456

The telephone number you may call is 718-293-5323.

God Grew Tired Of Us: I saw it!

Run, don’t walk, to see this film!. You know the drill: A film about black people comes along that is not a comedy. There is poor publicity. Attendance in the first few days and weeks is spotty; the film disappears.

I spent hours trying to discover where the film could be seen in New York City – and I’m hardly the dullest bulb in the pack. Information should be available at this web site: http://www.godgrewtiredofus.com/. Screenings are scheduled from New York to Nashville through early February.

As important as this awarding-winning film by Christopher Quinn is, however, is the message that much remains to be done to heal the world. The thousands of “lost boys” were casualties of war in the south of Sudan. In the western Sudan, Darfur is one of the latest horror stories, with more than 2 million people driven from their homes and forced into refugee camps in neighboring countries. Women and children are being raped and maimed in what is generally considered to be a genocidal campaign. George Clooney, the actor and activist, has made a documentary that will be aired on television in some markets in coming days. Look for A Journey to Darfur on the AmericanLife TV Network (http://www.americanlifetv.com/)

God Grew Tired Of Us

The film is apparently opening around the country this weekend, but as is typical of matters of a serious note related to Black people, it's hard to figure out where to find it.

It will open in New York City today at the Sunshine Cinema, 143 E. Houston St. between 1st and 2d Avenues (777-FILM, #687).

There's a screening in Washington on Jan. 17; see information below about that and for a further description of the film. One of my earlier postings also deals with this film.

Let's talk.
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God Grew Tired of Us -
Special Preview Screening
Wednesday, January 17, 2007 at 7:30 p.m. (in Washington)

In 2001, John Bul Dau arrived in the United States, ending one incredible journey and beginning another. One of Sudan's "Lost Boys," displaced by a civil war that made refugees of thousands of children, Dau had walked over a thousand miles at the age of 14 to reach a refugee camp in Kenya, dodging ambushes, massacres, and attacks by wild animals along the way. "I have seen the hyenas come at dusk to feed on the bodies of my friends," Dau has written. "I have crossed a crocodile-infested river while being shelled and shot at. I have walked until I thought I could walk no more...Those were the times I thought God had grown tired of us."

In the refugee camp, Dau began his first formal schooling at the age of 18, eventually earning a secondary education degree and becoming a leader in the camp, mentoring and teaching younger refugee children and instilling in them the values of his Dinka culture. He was selected along with a group of Lost Boys to emigrate to the United States, where he began a whole new cultural journey, encountering such things as telephones, appliances, snow, and grocery stores for the first time. Meeting difficulties with the same refusal to despair that had enabled him to survive his escape from war, Dau worked his way through community college, became a human rights activist on behalf of Sudanese refugees, and has established foundations to help other Lost Boys pay for education and other necessities in America. In recognition of his efforts as an aspiring adventurer and visionary, Dau has been selected as a National Geographic Emerging Explorer and has recently been named Director of the Sudan Project at Direct Change.

The experiences of Dau and his fellow Lost Boys, Panther Bior and Daniel Abul Pach, in Sudan, and their later immigration to the United States are recounted in an inspiring new film. God Grew Tired of Us, directed by Christopher Quinn and co-directed by Tommy Walker, is a Newmarket Films presentation of a National Geographic Films and Lost Boys of Sudan Inc. production. Dau has also told his story in a new National Geographic book of the same name. In this special event to mark the release of the book and film, National Geographic Live! will present a screening of the film, followed by a discussion with John Dau and Christopher Quinn. In addition, copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing. Don't miss this chance to meet a truly inspiring hero for our time, and see a powerful cinematic meditation on the durability of the human spirit.

A profile of Dau appears in the January 2007 issue of National Geographic magazine.
Location Tickets
The Grosvenor Auditorium
National Geographic Society Headquarters
1600 M Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20036
+1 202 857 7700
order tickets

Pricing: (See Ticket Info)
All Tickets $5

God Grew Tired Of Us

This documentary by Christopher Quinn, with the support of the likes of Brad Pitt and Nicole Kidman, helps US understand what war and famine and bigotry is doing to the children in so much of Africa, a continent I've never visited because of that, frankly. But I am thinking of volunteering to teach and otherwise help out at Oprah's school in South Africa. Africa is a continent, not a country, and it has thousands of ethnic groups and even more stories to tell. BUT...

"God Grew Tired Of Us" is making its way around the nation, telling the story of four of at least 25,000 "lost boys" through their journies from the hell they endured in the Sudan in Africa to the safety they more or less found in the US. NYC, LA, San Fran, Atlanta, Washington DC, Boston, St. Louis, Chicago, Nashville, Dallas, Seattle, Pittsburgh --- hey, wherever you are, look for this film where screenings are taking place and get people together to discuss it.

You can find a video clip at: www.ifilm.com/video/2810465

Lordy. Lordy. Lordy.