Adventures of a Retired Armchair Traveler

Adventures of a Retired Armchair Traveler - June 5th, 2009

sometimes i visit these: Congogirl on Twitter / Bloglines Congogirl link / Congogirl's Links List on My Del.icio.us / Where IS DR Congo, anyway?? / Congo Daily / good summary article on DR Congo / Samantha Power's article, "Bystanders to Genocide" / Dizolele - Eye on Africa / Congo Blog - Ba Leki / Cedric Kalonji's photo blog / Extra Extra / Nayembi / Thirteen Wildlife Blogs from DR Congo / Babycatcher / Global Voices / Helene in RD Congo / ID Land - adventures in international development / John's Blog / Kim Gjerstad in Congo / On Safari with el Jorgito / The Salon of News and Thought / This is Zimbabwe / Bluehaired Mary / African Path / Global Bioethics Blog / Somewhere in Africa / Africa is a Country

December 2009


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June 5th, 2009

	Fri, Jun. 5th, 2009 12:38 pm

Humanitarian Mad Libs.

Ganked from

ticklethepear .

Humanitarian Mad Libs (fill in the blanks)

Yet again, bad times in _____ (country). Surprise, surprise. Given that _____ (number between five and ten) previous peace deals have fallen through, perhaps it was naive to assume that the _____ (name of random, medium-sized city in random third-world country) Agreements would hold.

(Then again, UN mediators and peace-building experts need work, too.)

In the meantime, renewed fighting between the _____ (four-letter acronym of rebel / insurgent group - extra point if it's MILF) and government forces threaten to push an already-precarious humanitarian situation over the edge.

In just the past _____ (number between one and four) weeks, as many as _____ (number between 500 and 5,000) civilians have been killed; another _____ (number between 50,000 and 500,000) people have fled their homes.

A UN spokesman in _____ (country) has described the situation as a "humanitarian _____ (catastrophe / crisis / disaster / shit-storm)". According to an aid worker with _____ (three or four letter NGO acronym):

"The camps are overwhelmed; the situation is even worse for those caught in the _____ (bush, inaccessible geographic feature, "no fire zone"). We're hearing that people have already started dying of _____ (cholera, hunger, thirst)."

Another aid worker added:

"The _____ (government forces, rebels, government and rebels) are shooting at anyone that tries to flee the area. We're seeing more and more civilians with _____ (gunshot wounds, shrapnel wounds, massive psychological trauma). It's a _____ (bloodbath / massacre / slaughter / shit-storm)."

The government has denied firing on civilians. According to a government spokesman: "These are our people, we are doing everything we can to save them."

Being ever-mindful of their public image, the rebels have also strenuously denied using civilians as human shields.

Those who have made it to the camps tell a different story. _____ (man's name - preferably African, Asian or Muslim), a _____ (carpenter, farmer, shopkeeper, taxi-driver) from _____ (name of completely insignificant village) reported seeing _____ (number between 5 and 10) bodies laying on the road as he fled.

"They are shooting everyone," he said. "The _____ (government, rebels) killed my _____ (family member) last week. It took us _____ (number between 1 and 5) days to reach the camp. My _____ (family member) is now very ill."