Taken in the village of Ayod during the Sudan famine crisis, the picture depicts a small, starving Sudanese child being stalked by a vulture.
500 years ago the African continent was a net exporter of food. What have we done? I saw this picture yesterday and I was moved to tears. I wept for a full 5 minutes with my head in my hands. Why have we come to this? This could be my son but for a stroke of fate.
I recently read “What is the What?” (Thank you Maureen McFadden!) This book recalls an earlier Sudanese tragedy. The story of the “Lost Boys of Sudan” is especially close to me as I passed through the Sudan during their ordeal.
My brother Utz and I travelled from Egypt through the Sudan to the Central African Republic in 1989. We met the most gracious, kind and loving people I have ever seen on our journey there. I remember my brother had an entire village spread out to find me when I lost my way and collapsed delirious on the side of a path. I will never forget the image of a machete wielding young man as he walked up to me in the twilight hoping I had not been attacked. As he and his brother carried me to their village, another young man was sent forward to tell of their success. By the time we entered the village, a few dozen people from miles around we dancing and singing and speaking with my brother. We had never seen these people before but we were their brothers and they were happy to have us as guests.
This picture has inspired me to recommit to changing this world. This madness must stop. We simply have to find a better way…