SUDAN continues campaign

Students United for Darfur Awareness Now is shifting its focus from awareness to action.

After last week's campaign to inform students about the genocide in Darfur, the group will meet at 9:15 p.m. tonight in Carroll 111 to plan its activities for the year.

Tracy Boyer, a member of SUDAN's planning board, said it can be easy for students to feel separated from the conflict because it does not affect them directly.

"This isn't propaganda,"

she said. "It's not political. I think that people think it is so far away that it doesn't have any repercussions for our life here."

But Boyer said she sees relevance to students' lives.

"Genocides have happened. Genocides are going to continue to happen," she said. "What's the point of taking history classes if we're not going to do anything about it?"

This semester, the plan of action for SUDAN includes hosting teach-ins, inviting a performance group to raise awareness through speeches and poetry and arranging a speech by Carl Wilkins, the only American to stay in Rwanda throughout the 1994 conflict.

A long-term goal is to bring Paul Rusesabagina to UNC-Chapel Hill in March. Rusesabagina, who is depicted in the film "Hotel Rwanda," risked his life by sheltering Tutsi in his hotel to protect them from persecution.

Christopher Browning, professor of history, said that UNC-CH students can help the people of Darfur through two approaches - humanitarian and political.

"We can offer humanitarian aid for those who escape but, more importantly, this has to be done through political pressure."

SUDAN is attempting both through various programs, leaders say.

Last week, the organization hosted vigils and screened "Hotel Rwanda" as a lead-up to Thursday's events.

Nearly 850 people chose to fast Thursday, going without food or a commodity, such as Internet or cell phones, Boyer said.

This led to "Stand for Sudan," where a roll of paper with hundreds of photographs of Darfur genocide victims was displayed along with other signs.

Three hundred passersby called and left a scripted message for the U.S. State Department advocating further action in Darfur.

During the week's events SUDAN raised $3,300. The money will fund two major projects.

The first will support a refugee school in Chad that was adopted by the UNC system. In August, SUDAN sent 2,000 pounds of supplies to the school.

The second project will contribute to the N.C. Hillel's "Dimes for Darfur." Hillel aims to raise 1.5 million dimes, Boyer said, in memory of the children killed in the Holocaust.

Hudson Vaughan, a SUDAN planning board member, said students should continue to be concerned with the issue.

"It's important for us to remember that we can make a difference," he said.

"If one person can be helped in the midst of that, it's worth it."

 

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.