It’s time to come together in solidarity with these civilians and raise awareness about South Sudan’s crisis. On September 29, students across the world are participating in STAND’s “media fast” (STANDFast) from their electronic devices to raise awareness about the current crisis in South Sudan. In giving up social media for a day, we remember the thousands in South Sudan who have had so much more taken from them. As you fast from social media, STAND asks that you leave an “away message” on your e-mail, facebook, twitter, etc. provided here to raise awareness for the cause. During STANDFast 2014, students can also make donations to UNHCR’s efforts in South Sudan to support humanitarian relief efforts for displaced and at-risk South Sudanese.

Stay tuned for more information to get involved! We’ll be sending an email with more information. You can also check out the STAND website for South Sudan for unfolding developments in the campaign.

Each day the Syrian conflict appears to become more complicated, with increasing numbers of actors and new groups forming. One of these complications is the issue of religious minorities. Syria has a majority of Sunni Muslims, which make up 75% of the population. However, many minorities exist: Alawites consist 12% of the population, 10% are Christian, 4% are Druze, and non-Alawite Shi’a Muslims and Jews make up less than 1% of the population each.

Before the civil war, under Assad’s Ba’athist regime, these minorities enjoyed relative religious freedom. The Assad family is Alawaite, and therefore part of the non-Sunni religious minority. To maintain power, Assad implemented laws and policies to protect minorities. The Ba’ath party opposed religious influence on state matters and emphasized a secular Syrian nationalism. As such, as the violence broke out minorities were assumed to be supporters of the regime, and have been under extreme pressure to choose sides. Minorities struggle between fear of a new regime that could potentially be less accepting of religious differences and anger at the Assad regime for its human rights abuses.

During the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing a few weeks ago, Chairman Smith of New Jersey spoke of the implications of this conflict for Syria’s religious minorities. In hisopening remarks, Rep. Smith spoke of his concerns for the targeting of religious minorities, citing the fact that 1 in 5 refugees is Christian though Christians are only 1 in 10 Syrians.

Thomas Melia of the Department of State spoke of the Assad regime’s attempt to drive a wedge between Syria’s Sunni Muslim majority and religious minorities. The regime commits 80-90% of “human rights atrocities” in the conflict. Therefore, minorities are increasingly obliged to take up arms against the regime. Melia confirmed that there is targeting of minorities in Syria. Massacres of Shi’a citizens are occurring, over 1,000 mosques have been destroyed, and Christians are driven from their homes. Sunnis who want democracy are seen by the opposition as “unbelievers” who deserve to be punished. This puts minorities in the middle of this conflict as they are targeted from both sides.

Zuhdi Jasser of the US Center on International Religious Freedom added to Melia’s comments, mentioning the regime’s characterization of the opposition forces as “Sunni extremists” who will create an Islamist state that will not allow religious minorities. Jasser added further that the regime’s claim that the Syrian conflict is a sectarian battle is untrue. The regime is capitalizing on minorities to further its aims. Additionally, sectarian violence is spilling over into neighboring countries like Lebanon.

The issue of religious minorities being trapped in the middle is not a new one – Al-Jazeera featured this op-ed in 2011. Increased targeting of minorities, however, is a concern, and is yet another complication in this horrific conflict.

One Million Bones had to be the most inspirational, motivating, humbling experience we’ve ever had. It not only opened our eyes to the power we have as people, but also allowed us to see the amount of deaths that have accumulated because of such atrocities.

Atrocities that we promised would never happen again.

The exhibition itself was chilling. The day started gloomy with overcast skies and a blanket of clouds. From afar, the thousands of bones in front of the capital gave the most intense picturesque scene.

As the day passed on and we attended numerous educational events, we were able to gain an extensive amount of knowledge on the different conflict areas we are battling today and the different projects implemented to aid these problems. Those from the Enough Project, and CARE were friendly and willing to answer any questions we had.

Later that night, we attended numerous talks given by various speakers such as Eva Kor, a Holocaust survivor, and Carl Wilkens, who gave us eye opening and inspiring stories.

Following the speakers, we each were given a candle to light and walk in pairs down the national mall on a walkway designated amongst the bones.

It was quiet. Just our bodies, the bones and the light from the candle.

It was humbling. Peaceful almost.

The next day was advocacy day. Volunteers from the Enough Project had set up an informative session to teach us about lobbying. We met at the Washington Court Hotel, where we got to meet numerous people interested and passionate about the same thing we were.

We heard Rachel Finn and JD Stier speak, and received tips and ideas on what to say to the representatives that we talk to. After hearing their personal stories, we got to organize our talking points with our fellow Texan volunteers, Nancy and Susan.

A couple of hours later, we attended our first lobby meeting. Although we had never lobbied before, the volunteers from the Enough Project and our Texan volunteers were incredibly supportive of us in the whole process. We sat down and got to talk to representatives from both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Everybody that we talked to was incredibly open and interested in what we had to say.

To say that we lobbied is already an astonishing feat, but thanks to the volunteers from the Enough Project and to everyone that supported us, we were able to lobby in Washington DC; an experience that will stay with us for the rest of our lives.