Ethnic cleansing, slavery and genocide are atrocities that the world abhors. Yet in spite of this time of rapid communications and travel, news of these types of events is seldom known or recognized until way after the horrors are perpetrated. A mandate by all the world powers in 1948 to move decisively to stop these actions has only served fearful world powers to cautiously recognize that these holocausts were really taking place, mostly after the fact. The tenet that the United Nations was formed to precisely identify and stop these kinds of base human behaviors has been lost. Instead the UN has morphed into a bureaucratic nightmare that is lost in protocol and ineffectiveness on the world scene with some exceptions. The world Churches, Temples and Mosques too, have ignored their responsibility to call attention to the atrocities and then to provide the kind of help needed to solve the problems. They too have lost their moral compass. The conscience of the world has been governed by political correctness rather then humanitarian needs. The countries of Europe have ignored the Gulag and the Holocaust, relegating them to a corner of history that they have conveniently forgotten. The Far East countries have decided that these affairs are too far away and pay little attention. The front line of knowledge and human aid to ease the starvation, slavery and killing has been relegated to unselfish NGOs (non-governmental organizations) which raise money, medicine, redeem slaves, bring in food and generally report the situation to the world which does not want to hear about the turmoil and problems.

The malaise of slavery, ethnic cleansing and genocide finds its roots in a society that looks down at another society as inferior. We have all heard about the Nazis calling the Jews of Europe rats, vermin and inferior which needed extermination. That was so in Russia, Germany, Sudan, Cambodia, Uganda, Rwanda and so many more genocides. Over a million died in the Hutu - Tutsi genocide in Rwanda. Well over two million southern black Christian, Muslim and animists in the Sudan have died, the great majority civilians, in a genocide that few in the world have heard about. Here ethnic cleansing and a religious "holy jihad" has since 1992 created a Holocaust that rivals the two great Holocausts in Europe. Yet so many people of the world say "How can that happen in today's world"? In the Sudan a Swiss organization has recovered over 110,000 slaves from the Arab Muslim north, paying a average of $35 per person, who have been in chattel slavery for an average of 6 years. In the Nuba Mountains, the brown fundamentalist Arab Muslim practices an age old custom of taking blacks into slavery, forcing conversion of many to Islam and then making the decision to wipe out the 50 tribes by genocide, similar to Darfur in the west. In the oil region, Christian flags lead the defensive southern blacks into battle where they fight for survival against columns of sophisticated armaments including tanks, artillery and gunships. The southern troops arm themselves from the fallen of the north. It is a matter of survival. The stated goal of the north, whose headquarters is in Khartoum is to create an Arab Muslim state. Their strategy is to displace the southern population from wells and food creating a death zone which is enormously effective. When that does not succeed the north resorts to direct killing. Yet the world does not call it genocide, ethnic cleansing or slavery. I am not sure what they call it, civil war, abductions, local insurrections? The platitudes are quite resounding as millions die. Rwanda was a reverse genocide in 1994, yet with the same roots. Here the ethnic Hutus, long relegated as inferior, rose up and created a bloody genocide against the Tutsis, killing 800,000. Cholera in the refugee camps killed another 300,000, while 200,000 died in the flight and aftermath. Years later the world identified it as a genocide. Leaders of the World at the time of the catastrophe knew precisely what was going on, but were powerless to move, their moral character not strong enough to expose their careers or their countries.

These four stories, Rwandan Refugees, A Story of Life, Sudan Slavery, Sudan Oilfield Genocide and Nuba Mountains serve to present four different aspects of Holocausts that have happened in the last 20 years. The accounts appeared in abbreviated newspaper versions in the Delaware County Sunday Times (Rwandan Refugees) and the Santa Fe New Mexican (Sudan Slavery, Sudan Oilfield Genocide, Nuba Mountains) The articles appear in the back of this book. The images in all the stories depict people that have survived the Holocaust, for it is their tragedy. They have to pick up the pieces of their broken bodies and damaged societies.   Invariably it is the women, old people and children that suffer the most. In each holocaust it will take many generations of peace to overcome the horror that these holocausts have created. History has told us that. That is why the resolve of the world must be not to tolerate slavery, ethnic cleansing and genocide. This tenet must be a basic departure point for a civilized world. No hiding behind words, nimby (not in my back yard) or political correctness, just resolve not to let these atrocities happen.

These stories including the images would not have been possible without much help and sacrifice. Dr. Richard Niemeyer who first asked me to accompany him to record the state of the refugee camps in Zaire in August of 1994. The trip was dangerous and eye-opening. World Vision was our home there. All of the NGOs participated in the terrible aftermath and carnage that took place in the already impoverished Goma area. The Fine Art exhibit from this trip has traveled, opening in the Delaware Art Museum. After this trip I was invited to accompany Congressman Joseph Pitts from PA to Indonesia to document Christian persecution under the auspices of Jubilee Campaign headed by Ann Buwalda in the United States. The "provocateurs" were Muslim extremists which we later know as "al qaeda". Through Congressman Pitts office I was introduced to Senator Brownback's (Kansas) staffer, Sharon Payt, who arranged for me to travel with the Swiss organization CSI headed by John Eibner and Gunnar Wiebalck to document Sudan Slavery. Charles Jacobs of American Anti-Slavery Group introduced me to Brad Phillips of Persecution Project who was going to the front lines in the Sudan delivering food and medicine to the starving southern black Christians. He invited my wife and I to document the Sudan Oilfield Genocide. In early 2004 I used Mr. Phillips contacts to go alone to the Nuba Mountains. Richard Lloyd of Landmine Action whom I met returning from Nuba. Others who have helped me along the way include Karen Finkler, Kie Eng Go, Heather Stewart, Henry Chuir Riak, Anglican Bishop of Wau, Rebecca Garang and her husband John Garang, Jeff Barthel and Kevin Ashley of 748, Isaac KuKu of the Nuba, Peter Kadett Commander in the SPLA, Rob Dean of the Santa Fe New Mexican; and so many others who helped me on the way to be able to relate these sagas. In my journeys I used Leica SLR 5 and 7 cameras with lens ranging from 35mm to 400mm. I used a neutral film Agfachrome 100 and no filters or flash. No corrections were made to the images other then cropping and normal balances. All four of these stories are in large color print exhibitions consisting of 40 images each with text panels and are available upon request to qualified venues.

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Last updated: May 18, 2005 .