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What Do You Do?

What do you do when people who are just about broken look you in the eye and claim you as family? What do say when someone earnestly introduces you as a member of the tribe? What do you do when you know that at the end of the day, you get to go home to a place where there is electricity for at least 12 hours each day? What do you do when you know that in a few weeks time you get to go home to a place where virtually every physical, emotional and spiritual need will be met with ease?

I wrote these words in my last reflection home. It had to do with the fate of the Zharawa internally displaced people’s (IDP’s) camp. In these past few weeks, CPT and camp representatives have made the circuit to local government leaders, UN, and US State Department representatives explaining the dire situation of the camp. Everyone agrees something must be done. Members of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) have made some promises but still no concrete changes have begun.

The temperature continues to soar and not a shade structure exists. Still, there is no electricity to refrigerate food. The drought has left the water table very low so no well will be dug for the camp. The UNHCR will continue to tank in water which people have to store in buckets for cleaning and drinking. It is only by the grace of God that disease has not hit the camp. This situation at the camp cannot continue and there is no sign that the IDP’s will be able to return to their villages anytime soon as Turkey and Iran still continue to bomb and shell.

So what does one do in this situation? Well, CPT is moving into the camp. We are throwing our fate in with the fate of the IDP’s. We hope to magnify each other’s voice and appeal to the local, national and international community for help. If it takes a village to raise a child, then it will take a world to raise a village. Together CPT and the villagers will appeal to the hearts and minds of the good people in the world to help make this so.

We plan to put out the call through the local, national and international media. People here have the local contacts. CPT will work on the international media like CNN, BBC, NPR, NY Times, Chicago Tribune, LA Times, The Guardian, TruthOut and the like. If anyone out there has other ideas or contacts please get in touch with us.

CPT and the villagers believe the time to act is now. My teammate Chihchun Yaun and I move into the camp Sunday, June 14 for a few weeks. We will be the first stringers. If there is no movement towards real change for the IDP’s, 2 others will replace us. We’ll keep a presence going for as long as we can. We are banking on the goodwill of humankind to help make this situation change. We know that it has happened in the past and we believe it can happen again. The Light has not yet been overcome by the darkness.

My return home will be delayed a bit longer. I have the support of my family. I know that I am very lucky and very blessed.

I’ve included our action statement below. There are suggestions about how you might become involved.

After Sunday, I expect to be out of email contact for a while but you can check the CPT website (www.cpt.org)  for updates. I’ll email again as soon as I can.

Peace, Michele