My School's Project and How you can help (reject, America)

[Lindsey-Loo]

At my school, we have been studying the WWII Holocaust. Two of the guys in my grade had already read the Diary of Anne Frank at their old schools, and so they were assigned a seperate project. They took a field trip to Whitwell, Tennessee, where a small-town middle school made a big differance...they collected somewhere around 30 million paperclips to commemorate the Holocaust survivors, and now have a museum in their school. The project gained worldwide attention: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paper_Clips_Project

They decided that our school should try to do something to change the world, too. So every student in my grade is doing three projects to try to make a differance.

#1: We are creating a butterfly that represents a child who died in the Holocaust. Our school will be sending them to the Holocaust Memorial Musuem in Houstan. They are collecting a butterfly for each of 1.5 million children who perished in the Holocaust, and making it into a display: http://www.hmh.org/minisite/butterfly/index.html

#2: We are collecting $1,500 to send to the orphans in Rwanda, who resulted from the 1994 genocides. The money will by chickens and pigs to feed these children.

#3: We are filling out letters to Congress and the President about Darfur. We're also making copies of the letters for our family and friends to fill out.

#4: We are collecting $1,500 to send to the displaced people of Darfur.

I'll get to the point in my next post, don't post yet!

[Lindsey-Loo]

Warning: Material may be disturbing to some...

Everyone in my grade was stunned when the two students I mentioned above told us that we are allowing something very similar to the Holocaust to happen again. But the truth is, we are! The situation in Darfur is terrible.

Darfur has been embroiled in a deadly conflict for over three years. At least 400,000 people have been killed; more than 2 million innocent civilians have been forced to flee their homes and now live in displaced-persons camps in Sudan or in refugee camps in neighboring Chad; and more than 3.5 million men, women, and children are completely reliant on international aid for survival. Not since the Rwandan genocide of 1994 has the world seen such a calculated campaign of displacement, starvation, rape, and mass slaughter.

Since early 2003, Sudanese armed forces and Sudanese government-backed militia known as “Janjaweed” have been fighting two rebel groups in Darfur, the Sudanese Liberation Army/Movement (SLA/SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). The stated political aim of the rebels has been to compel the government of Sudan to address underdevelopment and the political marginalization of the region. In response, the Sudanese government’s regular armed forces and the Janjaweed – largely composed of fighters of Arab nomadic background – have targeted civilian populations and ethnic group from which the rebels primarily draw their support – the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa.

The Bush Administration has recognized these atrocities – carried out against civilians primarily by the government of Sudan and its allied Janjaweed militias – as genocide. António Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, has described the situation in Sudan and Chad as “the largest and most complex humanitarian problem on the globe.” The Sudanese government and the Janjaweed militias are responsible for the burning and destruction of hundreds of rural villages, the killing of tens of thousands of people and rape and assault of thousands of women and girls.

With much international pressure, the Darfur Peace Agreement was brokered in May 2006 between the government of Sudan and one faction of Darfur rebels. However, deadlines have been ignored and the violence has escalated, with in-fighting among the various rebel groups and factions dramatically increasing and adding a new layer of complexity to the conflict. This violence has made it dangerous, if not impossible, for most of the millions of displaced persons to return to their homes. Humanitarian aid agencies face growing obstacles to bringing widespread relief. In August 2006, the UN's top humanitarian official Jan Egeland stated that the situation in Darfur is "going from real bad to catastrophic." Indeed, the violence in Darfur rages on with government-backed militias still attacking civilian populations with impunity.

On July 30, 2004, the UN Security Council adopted resolution 1556 demanding that the government of Sudan disarm the Janjaweed. This same demand is also an important part of the Darfur Peace Agreement signed in May of 2006. On August 31, 2006, the Security Council took the further step of authorizing a strong UN peacekeeping force for Darfur by passing resolution 1706. Despite these actions, the Janjaweed are still active and free to commit the same genocidal crimes against civilians in Darfur with the aid of the Sudanese government.

International experts agree that the United Nations Security Council must deploy a peacekeeping force with a mandate to protect civilians immediately. Until it arrives, the under-funded and overwhelmed African Union monitoring mission must be bolstered. And governments and international institutions must provide and ensure access to sufficient humanitarian aid for those in need.

We were all wondering how our grandparents and great-grandparents could have let something like the Holocaust happen. But now we understand! They didn't know, and those who did felt helpless. They didn't think they could ever make a differance. But I believe we CAN make a differance, and I think it is our responsiblity during this Christmas season to try. It is not fair that we have so much, and the people in Darfur have so little. Here is what you can do to help:

• Sign a Petition: This is kind of like what my school is doing, sending letters to our governement. Sign a petition saying this needs to stop!
• Get Your Congregation Involved: Several kids at my school have spread the word to their churches, and gotten them involved.
• Donate to Worldvision: Worldvision is the organization we are giving money to. One of their representatives came to talk to us, and they seem very reliable.
• Spread the word: Tell your family and friends. Also, you can e-mail me at xallxamericanxrejectx@gmail.com if you would like me to forward you the message my friend began circulating, and you can in turn forward it to your friends.

I hope everyone will take this as seriously as the kids @ my school do. Together, we can stop the violence in Darfur.

[Lindsey-Loo]

P.S. You can also click the little ad @ the bottom of the RF pages for SaveDarfur, I just noticed that was there. Ironic...

[Lindsey-Loo]

Thanx for your support, you guys... ...not...

Just kidding. but please, if you can help in any way. it only takes a few seconds to sign the petition, after all...

[DeepShadow]

I signed it. I'm getting involved with my homeschool students, spreading the word via red tear campaign on March 1st and otherwise sharing our outrage. Gotta do something!

[Green Gaia]

The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee has been involved with issues in Dafur for a while. You can find out more information here.

[Feathers in Hair]

Anande, I appreciate what you're trying to do!

A good many of us have been working to help with this situation, already. (There are a great number of threads devoted to the topic.) Thank you for offering another opportunity to help out!

[DeepShadow]

Originally Posted by DeepShadow

I signed it. I'm getting involved with my homeschool students, spreading the word via red tear campaign on March 1st and otherwise sharing our outrage. Gotta do something!

This is it!

Today is the day of Jacksonville Florida's Red Tear campaign: draw a red tear under one eye to show your grief for Darfur. When people ask, tell them how you feel about the genocide going on there. I'll be carrying a red marker for anyone who wants to join, and I've got flyers as well. It's easy to do, and easy to personalize. Spread the word about Darfur!