High school students organize 4-band event on April 11 for Darfur
SANDRA PHILLIPS
"I know if I can save just one life, it makes all my time and effort worth it," said Zach Peirce, president of Mooresville High School's STAND, a Student Anti-Genocide Coalition chapter.
Peirce's counterpart, Colleen Jose, president of Lake Norman High School's STAND, agrees. "Our minds never turn off," said Jose. "There are a lot of battles out there, and we're choosing one we're passionate about."
The two students have organized Central Piedmont STAND to educate students and adults about genocide and atrocities committed by the Sudanese government against Darfur in the western region of Sudan. Arab militia known as janjaweed began attacking black African areas in 2003. They have burned villages, raped women and killed civilians. Approximately 2.5 million people have been displaced.
Jose and Peirce are organizing DarfurFest 2008 to raise awareness of Darfur's plight. The event will be held in The Quarry at Carrigan Farms in Mooresville 6-10 p.m. April 11.
Sifa Nsenquimana, a genocide survivor from Rwanda who is living in Boston, is the featured speaker. Nsenquimana, who has lost 85 loved ones to genocide, has worked to overcome her trauma in order to stand up and be an activist against injustice.
Four bands -- Fortified Underground, Matter of Fact, Changing Planes, and Cold Bait, Live Beer-- will perform. Nsenquimana will speak between set changes and will conduct a question-and-answer session at the end of the concert.
David Cloniger and friends from the One Neighborhood store in Birkdale Village in Huntersville will play traditional African drums from Ghana.
Original DarfurFest 2008 T-shirts designed by LNHS vice president Kathleen McDonald and Save Darfur.org T-shirts will be sold. Hot dogs and barbecue will be available. Proceeds will be donated to the Genocide Intervention Network Civilian Protection Fund to aid the people of Darfur.
Tickets are $15 adults and $12 students. Student tickets will be presold at the schools for $8.
Jose and Peirce want DarfurFest to become an annual event. "It's a family event. Everyone is welcome," Peirce said.
DarfurFest 2008 is a culmination of activities for the two chapters and their first collaboration. To create awareness of the situation in Darfur, LNHS students organized a lunch STAND-IN in February 2007. STAND members printed posters with relevant information, taped their mouths and wrote words such as apathy and injustice on the tape.
Jose explained that the 2.5 million displaced people in Darfur equal the population of Kansas. She implored students to imagine all those people in Kansas without a home.
Holocaust survivor Charlene Schiff presented plaques to Jose and Peirce for "shining a light on genocide" when she spoke in Mooresville last fall.
"We're doing it to create change," Jose said. "I try to live my life by what Gandhi said: `Be the change you wish to see in the world.' For me, it's about embodying the first drop of water preceding a waterfall of change. That's what it's always about. It starts with one individual, and it doesn't matter who it is."
For more information about DarfurFest, visit www.DarfurFest.org.
Sandra Phillips
