For the past three years, Jen Marlowe has traveled to war-torn Sudan to give the world more than 30-second sound bites about the lives of its people. Her past documentary work focused on the Darfur Crisis in Western Sudan. Her current focus is on the rebuilding of Southern Sudan.
This past summer, Marlowe captured on video the first return visit of three men separated from their families 20 years ago. They are among more than 20,000 Sudanese Lost Boys who were displaced or orphaned during the second Sudanese Civil War that began in 1983. In 2001, nearly 4,000 Lost Boys relocated to the U.S.
Marlowe talked to Temple Hemphill about her experiences working in Sudan.

Echo: How did it feel to go to South Sudan with the men on their first return in more than 20 years?
Jen Marlowe: Being a witness to these young men at an incredible time in their lives was very intense. It was a discovery of their past, and it represented hope for the future as they try and rebuild their homeland. One of the young men, Gabriel Bol Deng, just graduated from Le Moyne University in Syracuse, N.Y. with a degree in education. He is raising money to build a school for his village. Another man, Koor Garang, lives in Tucson, Arizona and is studying to become a nurse. He has raised thousands of dollars to take medical supplies to his village. The third young man, Garang Mayuol, lives outside Chicago. He wants to raise money to build a water pump in his village.

Echo: What’s the desired end result of your current project?
JM: A few things, including a feature documentary film, Rebuilding Hope. Proceeds from the film will go to support the three young men’s various projects. We went with a journalist David Morse, who’s working on a series of articles and a book. We received grants from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, and the Nation Institute’s Investigative Fund helped fund us to travel to South Sudan to document what is happening there.

Echo: The media coverage of the Darfur crisis and other parts of Sudan seems to go in cycles.
JM: One thing neglected in media coverage is what’s happening in South Sudan. Yes, recently there has been coverage of the Lost Boys as local human interest stories because they are here now in the States, but there is a very large absence of current coverage of South Sudan. This includes what happened since the signing of the Sudan Comprehensive Peace Agreement in 2005. And even though the Darfur coverage comes and goes, it’s always entirely in isolation, instead of looking at Darfur as a piece of a larger whole that includes South Sudan. There’s a larger pattern of marginalization and oppression going on in Sudan.

Echo: How would you describe the character and strength of the Sudanese people?
JM: I found in Darfur, South Sudan and in other parts of the world some of the most inspirational examples of humanity have come from people who have faced and witnessed some of the worst atrocities imaginable. As much as I support movements that encourage us to work in solidarity with other people in the world, we must never underestimate people’s strength, courage and resilience. Any work we undertake with them, we must always have a respect for their human dignity.

Echo: How has filmmaking in Sudan changed your life?
JM: I had never made a film before, so using film as a form of activism was brand new to me, and something I’ve embraced and worked on in subsequent projects. I had never worked deeply in Africa. My focus in previous work had been in Palestine, Israel and Afghanistan. I began speaking out about human rights issues affecting us worldwide. I started understanding more about the global power structures and the high stake investment in keeping the world working the way it currently is, which is on a collision course.

Echo: What’s the most challenging aspect of being a filmmaker in a war-torn country?
JM: It’s the feeling of wanting to be able to provide something in the moment beyond what I can do with my camera. You feel completely inadequate when you’re confronted with such overwhelming needs, and all you can do is photograph and document it.

Echo: Does that feeling keep you wanting to do more?
JM: Yes. That’s a part of why when I’m working on a project. I want the local communities to experience direct benefits from the work. For example, some of the proceeds from the book Darfur Diaries: Stories of Survival, the film screenings of Darfur Diaries: Message from Home, and our speaking engagements go toward funding four schools in the Darfur villages where we filmed.

Echo: What can Chicagoans do to help Sudanese people?
JM: I suggest working in partnership with the local Sudanese community in Chicago, and finding out what they need. They’ll have firsthand information about the struggles they’re having as immigrants and refugees. And they’re very tapped into their home communities.