Darfur supporters rally for US intervention

Earlier generations experienced the horrors of the Holocaust and vowed "never again." After the Holocaust came the Cambodian, Bosnian and Rwandan genocides. I first heard of the most recent genocide, occurring in Darfur, while working at a sleep-away camp this past summer. A young woman gave a presentation titled "Dolls for Darfur." A moving slideshow that flashed pictures of children suffering from malnutrition, piles of dead bodies and the helpless faces of Sudanese refugees. These images terrified me. This woman initiated a campaign to get President Bush to take action and stop the genocide. Her goal was to make 500 mini-dolls and attach them to an oversized postcard to send to the White House. These 500 dolls symbolize the 500 people dying each day in Darfur. As the school year began, and the summer days began to melt away, the situation in Darfur only got worse. Not only were mass killings and rapes still going on, but no one was doing anything about it. I bought the green band supporting Darfur saying "Not On My Watch." I wrote letters to my congressmen and President Bush. While some aid has been sent to the ravaged region, it is on a small scale and definitely not enough. Perhaps one of the most effective things I have done to help the Darfur region is to educate others. For my final speech in one of my classes last semester, I told my peers of the atrocities occurring within the Sudanese region, and how they can make a difference by calling for more to be done on the part of the U.S. government. When I first got word of the Rally for Darfur being held in Washington D.C., I knew that this was my chance to help those in need on a large scale. At 7:30 a.m. on Sunday, April 30, I, along with 39 other people boarded a bus in Closter, New Jersey, to let Darfur know that I cared, and to let the US government know that their response to this genocide is unacceptable. While the five hour bus ride seemed to be much longer, I kept reminding myself that I cannot even comprehend the pain and fear the Sudanese people must face every day. As our bus pulled into the D.C. area, we were greeted by eager college student-volunteers from the surrounding universities. There were an overwhelming amount of people all gathering at the mall in Washington with the same goal in mind: end genocide. I proudly stood with my delegation, the Union for Reform Judaism. The URJ has been at the forefront of the fight to end genocide. Earlier in the week, Rabbi Michael Namath, program director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, was arrested while protesting in front of the Sudanese Embassy in Washington D.C. This act of civil disobedience was done in hope that more awareness will be brought to the genocide happening before our eyes.