wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Student-led fast will raise money for victims of

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8949 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05536
Oct. 5, 2005

Fast buck

Student-led campaign will raise money 
for victims of atrocities in Darfur, Sudan

by Alexa Smith

LOUISVILLE - Students around the country will take part in a daylong "fast"
on Thursday, Oct. 6, to call attention to atrocities in the Darfur region of
Sudan.

	The event was organized by a group called Students Taking Action Now:
Darfur (STAND). Participants will give up one indulgence - food, caffeine, a
manicure - and send the money they save to an organization that helps victims
of the violence in Sudan.

	Patrick Schmidt, a STAND organizer at Georgetown University in
Washington, DC, said he is trying to ensure that people don't forget about
the crisis. "It is crucial, especially when there are other disasters going
on, to demonstrate our continued concern to the people of Sudan, the
government of Sudan and our own government," he said.

	Church World Service (CWS), a global relief agency that works through
mainline U.S. churches, is supporting the campaign. The Rev. John McCullough,
CWS's chief executive, will take part in the STAND fast.

	The United Nations says the two-year conflict in Darfur is the
world's worst humanitarian disaster. The UN has labeled the atrocities there
"war crimes"; the U.S. government has called it genocide.

	McCullough, of CWS, said a day of fasting is a small sacrifice.
"Fasting means that I will miss a few meals and then go have something to
eat," he said. "The suffering people in Darfur may die before they eat
another meal."

	Darfur is in western Sudan. The conflict there dates to 2003, when
armed rebel groups began protesting oppression of the region's black Africans
by Sudan's predominantly Arab government, which responded by unleashing Arab
militias on a campaign of murder, rape and arson against black African
tribes.

	Tens of thousands of people have died. More than two million have
fled their villages, settling in makeshift camps in Darfur and in Chad.

	According to CWS, violence has escalated in the region in the past
two weeks in spite of a ceasefire agreement. Thirty-two people were killed
last week in a militia raid on a camp for displaced people.

	Doug Welch, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) liaison to Sudan, said
relief and advocacy for Sudan is one of the denomination's top priorities.
"We need to support any effort we can to highlight the situation in Sudan and
in Darfur," he said.

	CWS provides food, medicine, water and supplies to people in the
camps, and is helping with reconstruction efforts in the wake of a
north-south war that has lasted for more than two decades.

	CWS is urging its member churches, including the PC(USA), to pressure
the Bush administration to work through the UN Security Council to provide
more protection to Sudanese civilians and humanitarian workers. It also wants
the government to press the Sudanese government to abide by a peace agreement
signed in January that officially ended the civil war.

	To make a contribution to CWS, call (800) 297-1516, or mail a check
designated for Sudan to CWS, 28606 Phillips Street, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN
46515.

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