Peter Pigott’s interest in Sudan began with a story about children and airplanes.
“Every child in Darfur knows the difference [in] sound of an aircraft engine that is employed by the [United Nations] that drops food, and the sound of the Sudanese air force that drops bombs,” Pigott says.
As an aviation studies professor at Algonquin College, this intrigued him. He had travelled to Afghanistan in the past, where he was embedded with the military while writing a book. This time, he was determined to visit Sudan and write about the conflict.
“I was looking around the world where Canadians were making a difference and Sudan came up,” Pigott says.
Canadians have been involved in the country since 1884, he says, when voyageurs were sent to rescue a British general.
Writing a book was the easiest way for him to show what was happening in Darfur, he says.
“This was my way of saying, ‘Hey, look, there is a genocide happening,’ and I wanted the world to know about it.”
The book, Canada In Sudan: War Without Borders, is a follow-up to his former bestseller about Afghanistan, Canada In Afghanistan, The War So Far.
To do this, he travelled to Africa, but could not get a visa into Sudan due to complications at the Sudanese embassy.
“I made the mistake of telling them I wanted to go to Darfur and write about the things that were happening [there] and immediately the conversation ended,” Pigott says. “It’s like during the Second World War, where you said you want to visit a concentration camp and write about it, it’s impossible.”
As a result, Pigott says he relied on interviews with Canadians who did get into Sudan – such as employees for non-governmental organizations and diplomats. Their stories appear in his book.
“The best part was seeing all the good the Canadians were doing in Sudan,” Pigott says. “One of the Africans said to me, ‘We trust the Canadians because you have no political agenda, you’re not like the Americans,
Chinese, British.’ Canadians are there out of the goodness of their hearts, we are there because we care.”
However the situation is still desperate. Pigott says he spoke to Romeo Dallaire, who told him, “Darfur is Rwanda in slow motion.” During the Rwandan Genocide, at least 800,000 died in just 100 days. Darfur has been
in conflict since 2003, and “millions upon millions” have died, he says.
“The world has lost interest,” Pigott says.
After attempting to get into Sudan, he says he travelled instead to Ethiopia, were he worked in a leprosy colony.
Leprosy is a bacterial disease that gradually erodes the skin and nerves, sometimes causing the loss of limbs.
“They had nothing, but they were so happy, and they lost limbs or noses . . . I really fell in love with Ethiopian people, if I could have stayed there I would have,” he says.
Before Pigott left, he gave the people in the leper colony everything he had, including his clothes, soap and toothpaste, until all he had left were his T-shirt and shorts.
Pigott will host an author reading on March 31 at the Ottawa Library at 7 p.m. and says he hopes many students could come.
“I’m just hoping students from Ottawa can get more involved in Sudan, because only with their voices something can be done,” Pigott says.
As for the future, Pigott says he’ll be taking a break from writing about genocide, and going back to writing about planes and ships.
“I’d be happy to go back to writ[ing] about aviation.”