Students and Teachers shot in Cleveland High School

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/10/national/main3353024.shtml

Today, here in Cleveland, Ohio, a suspended student entered a high school and shot 2 students, 2 teachers and then killed himself.

The school is Success Tech, located in downtown Cleveland. The students and families are in shock. I am in shock. The student/suspect was a 14 year old male, who is being described by other students as an outcast who had difficulty making friends. He was suspended from school yesterday and came in today, possibly carrying 2 weapons, and shot at other students and teachers. One of the teachers is possibly in more serious condition. One of the students is being released from the hospital.

The news interviewed the young man who was first shot at by the suspect. The young man missed being shot and ran down the stairs to warn others.

These children were not cutting school. They were at school. Where we are sure they will be safe and that they are learning. It has been a long while since I have sat and cried watching the news. I felt hopeless. I am so saddened. It is hard enough to get our children to school and excited about school. Last year this city was listed as the poorest city in the country. This means that our children have a very hard way to go in this world. What happens when they do not even feel safe at school?

The sad part is that more and more this is the way that kids think to handle their problems. It isn't just a poor problem.

A memorial service for Sudanese Lost Boy, Majok Thiik Madut

This is such a sad story. Majok Thiik Madut was shot and killed while waiting for a bus on a street corner in Cleveland. Madut was one of The Lost Boys.

In 1987, a civil war drove an estimated twenty thousand young boys from their families and villages in Southern Sudan. Most no more than six or seven years old, they fled to Ethiopia to escape death or induction into slavery and the northern army. They walked a thousand miles through lion and crocodile country, eating mud to stave off thirst and starvation. Wandering for years, half of them died before reaching the Kenyan refugee camp, Kakuma. The survivors of this tragic exodus became known to the world as the “Lost Boys of Sudan.”

Yes, He survived war, wild animals, thirst, and has come thousands of miles from what he knew of home, just to be shot down on a street corner. Some random, senseless horror visited upon someone just trying to find their way in the world.

He made it out of Darfur.

I worry about the people of the Darfur Region.

I wonder what is it that I can do.

I was proud to know that there were young men here in Cleveland making a way for themselves. Having a 'good life', a 'better life'.

Bitter pill knowing that he was less safe in our city than he was in Darfur.