Students participate in rally for Darfur

At 6 a.m. this past Sunday, three busloads of Pittsburghers left the city bound for the nation's capitol for a Darfur rally and memorial organized by the Save Darfur Coalition. Eight Point Park University students were in attendance among the approximately 150 onboard who traveled with the Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition (PDEC).

Among the students who traveled to the memorial was Emily Valencia, president of the Point Park chapter of the International Justice Mission (IJM). Valencia expressed her concerns for the crisis in Darfur and her reasoning for attending the event.

"It's important not only to spread knowledge but to stress to the political community the importance of taking action," Valencia said.

Not only did Point Park travel with other students from Duquesne University and LaRoche College, but they also had the honor of taking the trip with genocide survivors Benedict Killang and Isaac LeJu from Sudan, as well as Gaelle Nsengiyumva and Michele Byusa from Rwanda. PDEC was also joined by Holocaust survivor Herman Snyder. Snyder was born in Jewish Poland and lost his mother, father, sister and brother during the Holocaust.

The group made a quick stop at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum upon arrival in D.C., then ventured to Lafayette Park in front of the White House for the rally and memorial where they contributed to the crowd of around 350.

While at the event, students passed out postcards for people to fill out and send to President Barack Obama as well as cardboard signs that resembled the 2,751 villages that have been destroyed in Sudan.

The event was a solemn yet inspiring one, with survivors of past genocides taking the stage and speaking out against not only the atrocities they faced, but against the crisis that is now occurring in the Darfur region of Sudan.

Of these survivors who told their stories was Joseph Sebarenzi from Rwanda who lost his mother, father, seven siblings and many other relatives 15 years ago during the genocide that plagued his country.

Sebarenzi stressed to the crowd that the people of Darfur deserve the aid that his people never received.

"My loved ones hoped that the international community would help, but they did not," Sebarenzi said. "They talked and talked, but did not act. Now is the time to act. Now is the time to remember that the people of Darfur are fellow human beings."

Another survivor, who spoke to the crowd on Sunday, was Mamer Kuer Ajak who survived the genocide in southern Sudan that has been occurring for not only six years, as most Americans believe, but for 22 years. Ajak was displaced in Kenya where he lived as a refugee for 13 years.

"It is not time to listen, but time to act," Ajak declared. "It is up to America to take leadership."

Marko Lako, another survivor from southern Sudan who traveled with PDEC from Pittsburgh, did not speak on stage but stated in a private interview the significance for him to help with this cause.

"We have been in war for a long time," Lako said. "What happened in the south is now happening in Darfur."

Lako also explained that the Sudanese military is using the Darfuris to kill their own people.

"They are killing the enemy with the enemy," he said. "But we're so happy that the Darfuri people now know the reality of the game."

Other speakers included Socheata Poeuv and her parents, Houng and Nin, survivors of the genocide in Cambodia, as well as Rev. Gloria White-Hammond, co-founder of "My Sister's Keeper," a humanitarian group that works with women of Sudan to help restore their communities.

Hammond's speech ignited the crowd and drew cheers as well as tears with her motivational words.

"You may be feeling discouraged, but there are new residents behind us in the White House who are the fruit of the movement for change," Hammond said while pointing passionately towards Obama's home.

Hammond also made reference in her speech to an elderly woman who participated in the Montgomery Bus Boycott when she repeatedly declared, "Our feet may be tired, but our souls are rested."

Junior broadcasting major Ryan Dennis found Hammond's words more than moving.

"It was very motivational when she pointed directly at the White House," Dennis said. "She gave me the sense that I can really do something to make a difference."

David Rosenberg, president of the Pittsburgh Darfur Emergency Coalition, also took the stage and shared to the crowd the commitment his group had made in raising awareness for the cause by traveling five hours from Pittsburgh.

"We will sit on a bus, but we will not sit still for Darfur," Rosenberg said.

Rosenberg concluded the ceremony with inviting crowd members to place an item of significance on the memorial set up on stage. Some of these articles included flowers, postcards, photographs, bracelets and shoes.

This was the fifth bus trip to Washington for PDEC and it will most likely not be the last until the violence in Darfur ends. The next steps for the coalition now are to continue raising awareness as well as to proceed in the postcard campaign that began over four years ago. To date, PDEC has collected over 15,000 signed postcards that have been sent to President George W. Bush and now Obama to urge taking action in seeking justice in Darfur.

Since 2003, it is estimated that over 400,000 people have been killed in Darfur by the Janjaweed, a Sudanese government-supported militia, and over 2.5 million have been displaced. This conflict is still ongoing and is what drives groups like the Save Darfur Coalition, PDEC and Point Park's International Justice Mission to continue hosting events such as the memorial on Sunday to help bring an end to the genocide in Darfur.

Anyone interested in signing a postcard or joining the cause can contact Emily Valencia, the IJM president, at elvalen@pointpark.edu.