Brian Burmeister
Darfur, March 2009
James couldn’t find it. He thumbed furiously through the pages of Newsweek, but there was no mention of what his daughter, Sara, had said on the phone. So he was sure he had missed it. He went back and read and reread every word on the table of contents. Nothing of Bashir. The ICC. The fact that 13 major non-governmental aid organizations were forced to leave the country as retaliation for the court’s decision. Instead he found a page devoted to “The Ugly Truth about that Poor Little Rich’s Girl’s Blog.” Two days later Sara called from Paris, before coming home. “This moment is so incredible” she says. “And tragic. Without doubt tragic. But ultimately wonderful. This is the moment, I know it. Everyone I work with in the camps, we feel that it is. The breaking point. Obama will respond. I just know that this has to end soon.” James says nothing of the magazines. Nothing of the nothing he sees on the news. Just, “I miss you.” And, “I want you home so, so bad.”
