On Wednesday, April 16, the College of Saint Elizabeth (CSE) welcomed onto its campus Darfur refugees Abu Asal Abu Asal and Suad Mansour for an informal, in-depth discussion on what life is like living amongst the Sudanese government and the Janjaweed militia in western Sudan.

 

Both speakers held nothing back as they recounted with vivid detail about the endless bombings and raids of their home and neighboring villages; the deaths of family and friends; and their ultimate escape from the country.

 

 

  

(l - r) Darfuri refugees Suad Mansour and Abu Asal Abu Asal answer questions from audience members on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at CSE.

(Photo by Courtney Smolen) 

 

“The government of Sudan is a very tricky government and they’ve been playing a lot of games in order to get away with genocide and they have proven to be very successful,” said Mr. Abu Asal. “The Darfur people, although they are very far away from here, are just people like everyone else. I believe we are all humans who are all one big family. As part of this big family, we should go there and save their lives, stop the genocide. That is my message.”

 

According to www.SaveDarfur.org, as many as 400,000 people in Darfur have been killed and as many as 2.5 million people have fled, living in camps for internally displaced persons in Sudan or in refugee camps in neighboring Chad.

 

 

  

(left) CSE Women’s College student Emelia Kpinpuo, ‘08, of Aswan, Egypt intently listens to keynote speaker Abu Asal Abu Asal’s life story of living in western Sudan. (Photo by Courtney Smolen)

 

For Aswan native and CSE Women’s College student Emelia Kpinpuo, ’08, the evening discussion hits home in a personal way. “Aswan is close to Darfur,” Ms. Kpinpuo explains. “I can relate to what Mr. Abu Asal and Ms. Mansour had to say, since our area has had similar problems in the past with ethnic cleansing and minor conflicts.” Upon graduation this May, Ms. Kpinpuo plans on getting involved in social justice issues like those in Darfur.

 

Randolph High School student Zachary Beecher is one of several audience members interested in ending the genocide in Darfur.

(Photo by Courtney Smolen) 

 

The spark of advocacy was certainly contagious within the audience as Zachary Beecher, a student attending Randolph High School was also eager to find out what he could do about getting involved. Wearing a green t-shirt with the words “Save Darfur” written on his back, Mr. Beecher plans on hosting a Save Darfur rally in his school, hopefully this June. When asked what he would like to do career-wise, Mr. Beecher smiled and said “I really want to go into politics and change the world.”

 

Producer Henrietta S. Parker and the crew of NJN’s television program “Due Process” came to cover the evening’s event. The show airs Sundays at 9:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., and on Tuesdays at 11:30 p.m. Check out www.NJN.net for more details.