Darfur project

By Michelle Tedford

The Dayton Jewish Observer

People are dying, starving, marching away from their villages that were burned by their government.

It is happening so far away — in the Darfur region of Sudan in Africa — that it is hard for many to connect with the tragedy.

Beth Abraham Synagogue member Diane Williams connected as she read Leonard Pitts’ nationally syndicated column, Africa genocide shows we didn’t mean it when we said ‘Never Again’ (www.jewishworldreview.com/0605/pitts061305.php3).

Pitts had attended an interfaith pilgrimage to Auschwitz-Birkenau and talked with fellow travelers about how, 60 years ago, the Holocaust came as a surprise to most Americans. Thanks to the media, we have no excuse for not knowing about Darfur, he said.

“(I)f there is a failsafe way to stop us from slaughtering us because of tribe, color or faith, it eludes me,” he wrote in June. “But I do know the first step. You start by refusing to stand silent witness. You start by giving a damn.”

“I identify, and yet I hadn’t done anything until I read this editorial,” Williams said.

She accepted Pitts’ challenge and joined with others to form the Dayton for Darfur Interfaith Coalition (www.daytonfor darfur.org).

On Oct. 23, the coalition held a Darfur workshop and prayer service at Beth Abraham Synagogue, organized by Dayton Jewish Community Relations Council Director Rena Neiger and Cori Thibodeau of Catholic Social Action’s Dayton office.

Seventy-five attendees discussed the historical and political situation in Sudan, as well as learned of the relief efforts under way to help the 4.5 million displaced South Sudanese, in addition to the families of 2 million who have died since civil war began in 1983.

Sam Laki, a Central State University economics professor and member of the Sudan Studies Association, said he did not foresee the magnitude of the problem in Sudan, since the government had succeeded in making Islam the dominant religion.

“You cannot say it’s a religious conflict, because the people in Darfur, almost 99 percent are African Muslims,” he said. “So the thing that began to escalate is race — these are Africans, these are Arabs.”

Abdirahman Mohamed, from Catholic Relief Services’ head office in West Darfur, said it is a complicated crisis that has inflamed tensions along racial, geographic and economic lines, throwing the country into chaos that feeds more destruction, hunger and death.

While the war may not mirror the description of the Holocaust, the magnitude classifies it as genocide, Laki said.

He listed action items that can help the Sudanese people: insist that the U.S. government put pressure on Sudan to cultivate peace; insist relief organizations be given the freedom and security to serve the people; call for a boycott of Sudanese oil through the United Nations; insist that Darfur’s no-fly zones be enforced to prevent the government from bombing its own people; and be prepared to support foreign intervention, including troops.

The interfaith coalition urged those in attendance to do something immediate — sign letters to congressional representatives asking for assistance for the people of Sudan.

The members of the coalition are also collecting 1 million pennies and challenging five other cities to do the same.

Coordinated by Beth Abraham’s executive director, Chaya Vidal, the collection’s goal is to raise $60,000 for Darfur relief, with the 6 million pennies corresponding to the number of people who died in the Holocaust.

The volunteers hope to hold community awareness events this spring.

In a sign of universal support for the Sudanese, the workshop attendees also prayed: “In a small way, the stories we hear today will connect us to the Sudanese people. May we begin to see their struggle as our struggle; their sadness as our sadness; their hope as our hope.”

For more information, go to www.daytonfordarfur.org.

© 2005-06 The Dayton Jewish Observer