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Delaware students advocate on Sudan in D.C.

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Delaware students advocate on Sudan in D.C.

Posted by Meghan Higginbotham on March 7, 2014

Delaware students advocate on Sudan in D.C.

Nine 8th grade students from Newark Charter Junior and Senior High School recently visited the Enough Project office for an advocacy training. The students, who also participate in the Darfur Dream Team Sister Schools Program, then took their new advocacy skills to the Hill to meet with Representative John Carney’s office and ask for his support for H.R. 1692 — the Sudan Peace, Security, and Accountability Act of 2013. The students interviewed each other about the experience; their responses are listed below:

 

What made you want to come to Washington, D.C. to visit the Enough Project, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and meet with your Member of Congress' office?
We wanted to go to Washington D.C. because the experience sounded like a good opportunity to help other people and gain more knowledge about the world in which we live.

What did you learn about the Enough Project's work on human rights?
From our trip to the Enough Project, we learned about how important the issue of genocide is in the modern world. Further, we learned how humanitarian organizations approach the issue of genocide abroad.

Did your visit to the USHMM help you make connections between the Holocaust and modern-day genocide? Did it encourage you to take further action?
Our visit to the holocaust museum showed us how history has repeated itself. In both the genocide in Sudan and the genocide in Europe, the murder of countless innocent people is the same, no matter where or when it occurs. We also learned why these governments decided to commit genocide.

DE students visit Capitol Hill

What was the experience like, visiting Capitol Hill and meeting with a representative from Congressman Carney’s office?
When we arrived at Capitol Hill, we were intimidated at first, but the longer we were there, the more we realized that it was more of an informal and easy experience than we anticipated. We talked about why stopping genocide was so important to us, especially in Darfur, and what we plan to do in our school and community to raise awareness and take action on this issue.

How do you plan to carry on learning and raising awareness about the conflict in Sudan?
We intend to continue learning about peace and conflict by following the news about Sudan and researching the issue regularly. The culmination of our research will be our Genocide Awareness event in April where we hope to raise awareness about genocide in Sudan.