By Jordan Stone
Senior political science major Kait Smith anticipated there would be strong support for African Solidarity Week, but the numbers that showed up were overwhelming to her.
"Everything exceeded our expectations," Smith said.
Smith and others organized multiple events throughout last week in order to alert the campus community about the genocide occurring and Darfur and other travesties currently occurring in Africa.
The point was to educate students and rally support to show that students can still have an effect from half a world away, Smith said.
Among the events were petition signings, t-shirt sales and movies that depicted some of the tragedies going on in Africa, like "Invisible Children," which tells the story of the Northern Ugandan boys and girls recruited into a vicious army.
All proceeds from these events went to Doctors for Darfur, a non-profit group that aids victims of the Darfur conflict with necessary medical attention and operations.
On Friday 150 individuals fasted in order to donate their meal money to the cause. A dinner followed on Friday night along with a discussion that was filled to capacity and featured professor Anne Santiago and Porsche Whitt, a former aid worker in Darfur.
Junior political science major Bryan Hockaday enjoyed Whitt's talk because he felt it provided some new perspectives on the conflict.
"Personal conversation is a lot more powerful than statistics of how many people are dying," Hockaday said.
Whitt agrees that the tragedy should be viewed on a humane level.
"[We] should be thinking of victims in terms of humanity," Whitt said. "Like the names that we have lost."
Whitt believes that informational events like these are great grassroots efforts to start turning the tide on these tragedies. She calls them "absolutely imperative" because they get people involved.
"The regimes want to see complete ignorance," Whitt said. "It allows them to reach their ends easier."
The student turnout for the discussion on Friday allowed Whitt to see that UP cares greatly about worldwide conflicts.
"It was overwhelming to see the enthusiasm gleaned by the UP students," Whitt said.
Whitt hopes that more people realize the power of the international community and how they can influence international crime courts and slowly bring an end to such devastating situations.
She hopes people always keep things in perspective, however.
"It is important to understand the circumstances of what you are really trying to go up against," Whitt said. "Genocide is a concept that is completely insurmountable."
Whitt maintains that things can be done through a "whole legion of ways." She recommends writing to Congressmen, President Bush, the United Nations, and setting up campaigns to educate others about what is going on.
Smith would like to see an increase in involvement here at UP and hopes this is "just the beginning." To her this is a good first step, and she believes it can be taken further.
Smith imagines one day that there will be an organization on campus that would monitor human rights infringements around the world.
Until then students who want to become involved can check out savedarfur.org for ways to help.
