The Globe

Issue date: 4/23/09 Section: Features

Media Credit: Chelsey Engel People rally in Washington D.C. to bring awareness to the genocide in 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."

Continued...

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