T-Shirts for Darfur

I’m thinking of making a T-shirt for Darfur sales that says in big bold letters of excitement: “THE HYBRID IS COMING” and then on the back it has 2007 crossed-off, then 2008 crossed-off, then 2009 crossed-off, and finally a big hopeful circle on the back for 2010. Now I have to admit that the idea of a Darfur marketed T-shirt is not my brainchild…that belongs to this girl:

Her wonderful T-shirt:

was in relation to everyone’s favourite government body HAC (Humanitarian Aid Commission). The wonderful people in HAC are responsible for facilitating just about every type of imaginable hindrance to getting anything done…anywhere! Sometimes they randomly expelled people from Darfur, other times they keep us trapped here for 8 months at a time…but most of the time they simply drive us crazy (hence the picture above…to long in Darfur!). My idea has an equal sting of cynicism to it. Over and over again the talk of the Hybrid is brought up, as though it is Jesus Christ riding down from heaven wearing a big blue helmet to redeem the world. But truth be told the Hybrid is a litany of confusion and possible problems. Besides the fact that it doesn’t look like an actual operational force will be here for nearly 18 months, there are the logistical problems of 26,000 troops, plus 5,000 civilian support staff coming to Darfur and trying to set up camp in this resource scares environment. In addition, the very mandate of the Hybrid seems flawed from the get-go, no disarming of the Aran militias, a perceived bias towards the Sudanese government, which makes the rebel groups hostile, and ever encroaching programmes into the humanitarian sphere.

When feeling helpless at the rushing tide of absurdity there seems nothing more one can do then mock the ridiculousness (I believe that is how the Daily Show works) so on ward we march. A friend noted the other day that watching the DPA being singed in 2006 it was like watching an avalanche from a far away mountain top…you can see the impending doom but no one can hear your warning cries. I think this is as close as I get to a mountain top here in Darfur…should be interesting.