Saratoga News
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Darfur is far away, but students are bringing issue close to home
By Shannon Burkey
Although it's happening some 10,000 miles away, the genocide taking place in the Darfur region of the Sudan is hitting close to home for many Saratoga youths.
Since it began in July 2003, the Darfur conflict has taken between 200,000 and 400,000 lives and displaced close to 2.5 million people. Though it's a long way from the quiet streets of Saratoga, the Saratoga Youth Commission wants the community to be aware of the injustices taking place halfway around the world.
"It's a really important situation for people to learn about," said commission chairwoman Tami Maltiel, a senior at Lynbrook High School. "There's so much stuff going on over there, and we want to educate people so that maybe they'll want to get involved. The world is getting smaller, and we need to know what's going on in it."
Each year, the members of the youth commission hold a teen inspiration lecture series to enlighten and educate the teens in the community. Typically, the speakers have been people with interesting careers, such as a film director and an animator for Pixar Animation Studios. But this year, the commissioners decided to take a different approach.
"We originally started the program looking for professionals in the area," said Saratoga High School sophomore and commissioner Corey Rateau. "But this time we wanted to zoom out into more of a world scheme."
The speaker for the upcoming series is Elissa Test, a coordinator with Americans Against the Darfur Genocide. The group organized the April 30, 2006, Day of Conscience for Darfur in San Francisco, in which a vigil was held on the Golden Gate Bridge.
The situation in Darfur resonated with several of the commissioners, Tami said, and they thought by educating the public through the lecture they could do their part to help put an end to the bloodshed.
"A lot of people in this area aren't very informed on this issue, and we thought informing them could lead to something," she said.
As the situation continues to escalate on a daily basis, young people all over are beginning to mobilize for the people of Darfur. Locally, students from Los Gatos High School held a demonstration last May to bring attention to and raise money for Darfur, and in December students from Mountain View High School hosted a conference on the situation in Darfur.
Adam Henig, city liaison for the Saratoga Youth Commission, said that youth today are not as apathetic as they were 10 years ago, and now that the Internet has made watching and reading news around the world so much easier, a lot of eyes have been opened.
"Genocide is unfortunately becoming a common occurrence, and people want it to stop," Henig said. "It happened 10 years ago in Rwanda and it's happening again in Darfur. This lecture is important because it raises awareness about what's going on in the world, and it seems to be a very popular topic among youth."
As a junior at Saratoga High School, commissioner Ted Sclavos said although some young people know about what is happening in Darfur, he is not sure many really understand the depth of it.
"One of the most effective ways to help stop it would be to raise awareness," Ted said.
In preparing for the lecture, Tami said she thought it was an issue that most people knew about. She quickly realized, though, that not as many people as she first thought have heard of Darfur.
But since the campaign to publicize the event began, students who may not have been aware of the situation before are beginning to show a keen interest.
"A friend of mine kept putting up fliers at Lynbrook, but people kept taking them down because they were interested and wanted to keep them," Tami said. "People keep asking him for them."
In addition to the fliers, the commissioners have dedicated a page on Facebook, an online social networking site, to the lecture and situation in Darfur, and advertised the event on the official Save Darfur website in hopes of attracting a larger crowd.
"Even if it only influences one person to go out and do something, it will have been worth it," Corey said.
The Saratoga Youth Commission teen inspiration lecture series 'Save Darfur' lecture will take place on April 20 at 7 p.m. at the Saratoga Civic Theatre, 13777 Fruitvale Ave. The lecture is open to all ages, and a $3 donation is suggested.
