Youth
Acting for Darfur
Throughout or lives we come to face a series of distressful and
antagonizing situations, and must stand up for ourselves to defend
our rights and morals. These conflicts present themselves in various
different ways, and their consequences range from the least severe,
to the most firm. From the time that we were in the first grade,
until we graduate college, we are taught the importance of studying
history. History uncovers the most gruesome and fearful aspects in
ancient days, and extends to the most happy and joyous moments of
modern times. We must harness the lessons we acquire from history,
and utilize it to better the world.
We as Jews are enlightened
on the hardship of being discriminated. We have been tortured and
made fun of; yet somehow we had the competence to stand up and fight
for ourselves. We have been pushed from one exile to the next, and
managed to get out of every one of them successfully. Because we
have this knowledge of being taunted by critics and disfavored; we
have the ability to better the world when others are too faced with
these problems.
Today, there is a massive genocide occurring in
Darfur*.
Darfur has been embroiled
in deadly conflict for over 3 years. Tens of thousands of people
have been killed; more than 2 million civilians have been evacuated
from their homes and forced into displaced persons camps; over 3.5
million men, women, and children have almost no aid, and thousands
have need tortured, starved, and raped.
If these act sound strangely familiar, then do not be surprised. We Jews have been through the same biased circumstances, and therefore it is our responsibility to help the people in Darfur.
This year a few students and I flew to Pennsylvania for the YU Eimatai Conference. There we discussed and planned out a project that we would like to introduce to our school. We decided to educate to school on the situation in Darfur, and hopefully raise money to aid the needy people there. Our primary goal is to raise awareness. We have found that many of the students are very much unaware of the hateful genocide that is happening in Darfur. We would like to conduct various assemblies, and speak to the students of why it is so crucial that we do something. Once we are educated on the occurrences in Darfur, we can initiate our fund raisers; and ultimately send money to the people of Darfur.
Remember, history is there to educate us on the various situations and happenings in the past; and it is when we grasp that education and awareness that we can execute a plan to help others that are faced with great hardships and suffering, as we once did.
If these act sound strangely familiar, then do not be surprised. We Jews have been through the same biased circumstances, and therefore it is our responsibility to help the people in Darfur.
This year a few students and I flew to Pennsylvania for the YU Eimatai Conference. There we discussed and planned out a project that we would like to introduce to our school. We decided to educate to school on the situation in Darfur, and hopefully raise money to aid the needy people there. Our primary goal is to raise awareness. We have found that many of the students are very much unaware of the hateful genocide that is happening in Darfur. We would like to conduct various assemblies, and speak to the students of why it is so crucial that we do something. Once we are educated on the occurrences in Darfur, we can initiate our fund raisers; and ultimately send money to the people of Darfur.
Remember, history is there to educate us on the various situations and happenings in the past; and it is when we grasp that education and awareness that we can execute a plan to help others that are faced with great hardships and suffering, as we once did.
*Darfur is a region of far western Sudan, bordering the Central African Republic, Libya, and Chad