The process of the creation of starvation in the Sudan

Process Description - The Vicious Cycle of War and Famine in the Sudan

Stage One: Photography

Step 1.
Photos of starving Africans are taken by foreign journalists.

Step 2.

Photos are published in western magazines.

Step 3.

Pity is evoked.

Stage Two: Donations

Step 4.

Money is sent to UNO based NGO
Operation Life Line.

Step 5.

Money is given to Islamic Government
in Khartoum and the SPLA by Operation Life Line.

Stage Three: War

Step 6.

Arms are bought by both factions.

Step 7.

Civil war is waged financed by donations from Operation Life Line.

Stage Four: Destruction of Crops and Infrastructure

Step 8.
Crops are burnt, cattle are stolen, roadways are disrupted by both government forces and the SPLA.

Step 9.

Starvation is created in the Sudan.

Return to Stage One: Photography

Step 1. Photos of starving Africans are taken by foreign journalists.

Poverty and War in the Sudan

Pre-reading task

• What do think are the causes of poverty and starvation in Africa?


• What should Western governments do?


• What should African governments do?


• What should the UN do?


• What do you think you in the West can do about it?

Reading Comprehension

In 1998 aid worker Michael Maren wrote a disturbing article that describes the real causes of famine in the Sudan. It was not caused by drought but by war financed by western aid money.

Your task is to read Maren's article (the link is posted below) and identify the precise production process that is employed by the warring factions to generate poverty and aid money.

• You should draw a flow diagram. Then describe each of the steps. You should divide the steps into stages.

• The grammar used to describe production processes is the passive voice. The passive voice is constructed the following way:

Photographs are taken by photographers.

'Photographs' is the subject of the passive sentence

'are taken' is the verb. It is made up of to be + the past particple of to take.

'by photographers' is the agent of this passive sentence, and they do the action.



The Real Faces of Famine by Michael Maren in Newsweek, 1998


ANSWERS



References

Photos from Flickr.com

Starving Child by Shirley Two Feathers


Nature, Art & Language