Local Colleges Raise Money for Civilian Protection of Darfuris

WORCESTER, Mass. – A chapter of the Student Anti-Genocide Coalition (STAND) at the College of the Holy Cross, will inform the community about the action taken by students across the state to fund civilian protection for Darfuris and to continue to raise awareness on the crisis in Darfur.  The event will be held Thursday, May 1 at 1 p.m. in the Campion House at Holy Cross.

The keynote speaker Joseph O’Brien, district director for U. S. Rep. James P. McGovern, D-Worcester, will speak about the importance of keeping Darfur on the U.S. agenda. Tiffany Lee ’08, co-chair of the Pax Christi chapter at Holy Cross and the event organizer, will speak about the College’s successful efforts to raise money for civilian protection.

Colleges, universities, and high schools in Massachusetts participated in a state-wide effort to raise money in a variety of ways to donate to the Genocide Intervention Network, which funds civilian protection efforts.

Participating colleges in this fundraiser include Holy Cross, Brandeis, Clark, UMass Amherst, Fitchburg State, MIT, Tufts, Northeastern, Suffok, Simmons, and Harvard.  Students utilized creative methods for raising the funds including tabling, sponsored fasting, coffee houses, book signings, and a holiday greeting card fundraiser.  Together, these colleges raised over $15,000.

The situation in Darfur, the western region of Sudan, has been declared genocide by President Bush and the U. S. Congress.  Over 400,000 people have been killed and over 2 million displaced from their homes by the violence.  Over 3.5 million people are entirely reliant on international aid.  The food that comes in aid is inedible unless cooked.  Due to scarcity of firewood in the camps, refugees venture out of the safety of the camp to find firewood, which exposes them to rape and violent attack.

The Genocide Intervention Network was created in 2004 by students at Swarthmore College, who wanted to give Americans the opportunity to help protect innocent civilians. They fund civilian protection efforts including giving refugees gas grills to prevent them from leaving the safety of the camp, and giving them food such as agriculture and livestock to enable families to become self-sufficient so they do not rely on international aid.

STAND www.standnow.org is a student movement, consisting of over 500 university, college, and high school chapters across the U.S.  The mission of each STAND chapter and the national STAND coalition is to promote awareness of the genocide in Darfur, advocate for political action, and raise funds for relief and civilian protection.