Author: Emma Parker
Occidental College’s Progressive Christians Uniting (PCU) collaborated with Stop Genocide Now (SGN) to host Camp Darfur in the Academic Quad on September 12. The event was intended to raise awareness of the ongoing genocide in Sudan, and it featured an interactive display of refugee-style tents that visitors could enter to learn more about the ongoing genocide.
SGN is a grassroots community whose representatives travel to different venues to host events that educate and advocate in an effort to stop genocide. “We try to get involved in anything to raise awareness,” Gabriel Stauring, co-founder of StopGenocideNow.org and one of the main organizers of Camp Darfur, said. Stauring believes Camp Darfur is an effective means of communicating the tragedy of Darfur because it is “not as passive” as other events- when people walk around and witness refugee tents, they are encouraged to ask questions.
Stauring said the event aims to “place Darfur in its historical context,” because it features information about twentieth century genocides in Germany, Armenia, Cambodia, Bosnia and Rwanda. He hopes the event helped people “realize the enormity of what is happening.”
PCU’s Hannah Dreitcer (sophomore) also assisted in bringing the event to campus. “We have new students on campus this fall who may not have realized how tragic the situation is or what its historical context is,” Dreitcer said.
However, Camp Darfur is not unique to Occidental College. According to Stauring, the first Camp Darfur took place in April 2006 at the Lennox Middle School field in Los Angeles. It lasted five days and involved 15 tents. More recently, Stauring and his team visited New York City and Topanga, California.
Camp Darfur at Occidental College was intended as a follow-up to PCU’s Solidarity Fast last spring, at which Stauring spoke. “We fasted for seven days in solidarity with one another and with the people of Darfur, using those seven days to educate ourselves and others about this tragedy,” Dreitcer said.
During that week, PCU also took students to protest at the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles. “China is a major trading partner with Sudan,” Dreitcer explained. PCU showed Hotel Rwanda and Darfur Diaries and held nightly candlelight vigils for reflection.
Stauring has visited refugee camps at the Chad/Darfur border three times to offer support. Each year, he collects video messages of support that he then takes to the camps. “These messages mean a lot,” Dreitcer said. “The Darfurians in these camps feel completely abandoned by the world.”
To offer support to victims in Darfur, visitors to Camp Darfur could purchase wristbands. StopGenocideNow.org donates any funds raised towards bringing secondary education to refugee camps in Chad.
Students could also participate in Camp Darfur by writing notes to refugees in permanent marker on the tents. Stauring explained that SGN plans to eventually donate these tents with messages such as “stay strong,” “we love you and are sorry” and “humanity will prevail” to refugee camps.
“When there is peace in Darfur, the tents will be sent back,” he said. According to StopGenocideNow.org, it is estimated that about 400,000 people have died in Darfur’s genocide, while another 2.5 million have been displaced from their homes.
Dreitcer was happy with the results of Camp Darfur. “There certainly seemed to be a strong interest in and reaction to the event and the tragedy it represents,” she said. She expressed hope that the genocide will end soon, but is aware of inaction. “The global community has taken almost no action to end it. We owe it to the victims to keep telling their stories until something is done.”
In the next few weeks, Camp Darfur will take place at various locations in Idaho, at Shasta High School in Redding, California and Minnesota’s State Capitol in Saint Paul.
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