By JACK PALMER
palmer@crescent-news.com
A Defiance College student from a small Putnam County village provided a powerful perspective to a gigantic world problem during a program held Tuesday at St. John United Church of Christ.
Miles Byrne, of Ottoville, stated that more than 450,000 people have died to date in the ongoing genocide in Darfur.
"That's more people who currently live in Defiance, Henry, Paulding, Putnam, Fulton, Williams, Van Wert, Wood, Hancock and Allen counties combined," said Byrne.
The free program was sponsored by the Defiance College chapter of STAND, a nationwide student anti-genocide coalition with more than 600 high school and college chapters. Nearly 100 area residents, clergy and students attended the event.
Byrne, a STAND member, noted that the U.S. Congress declared the situation in Darfur as genocide in 2004. The killing started in 2003, when the Sudanese government and a government-backed militia called janjaweed began attacks against African tribesmen in Darfur, an area about the size of France located in far western Sudan.
"China, Russia, India and Malaysia all buy exports from Sudan that directly support the genocide," said Byrne.
The program included a short video which poignantly captured the moving and unsettling situation in Darfur.
"The Sudan government and janjaweed fight side by side, killing innocent people," said a former U.S. Marine appearing on the video who volunteered to go to Darfur and report what he saw. "They are hacking people up and burning people alive. It happens every day."
Another person appearing on the video was Beth Reilly, a housewife and mother from Fort Wayne.
"I am reminded on a daily basis how much my children mean to me," said Reilly, a member of Aldersgate Community Church. "For something like that to happen to children in another part of the world is unacceptable."
Reilly took action, establishing a website and writing U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana about the ongoing Darfur genocide. She also helped to organize an awareness rally and interfaith prayer service in Indianapolis.
"Christians have to be involved in this," Reilly said on the video. "Based on our beliefs, what is happening in Darfur is not right."
STAND adviser and DC global civilization instructor Cathy Rayburn-Trobaugh admitted that it took her students to get her interested in the problem.
"After I decided to read more about Darfur, I was appalled at how little attention this genocide has been given," said Rayburn-Trobaugh. "We know so little about it here in the United States. In the media, you see a lot about Britney Spears, but so little about this."
"Darfur is important in our lifetime and it is happening on our watch," said Rev. Dr. William Nirote, St. John UCC pastor. "We are going to have to deal with this as a society and as individuals."
Program co-organizer Henry Diehl said that all countries have a responsibility to stand up for the people of Darfur, but China's economic and military ties to the Sudanese government gives it considerable influence over Sudan's decisions.
"China is allowing Sudan's military to wreak havoc in Darfur," said Diehl. "At the same time, China has given Sudan diplomatic cover in the United Nations. The key is to force China to put pressure on the government of Sudan to allow United Nations and African Union peacekeepers to enter Darfur."
Diehl said the next few months are critical, since this summer's Olympics in Beijing can be used as diplomatic and political leverage.
"In preparation for the Olympics, the Chinese government is painting itself as a responsible member of the world community," said Diehl. "China is not living up to this image. This is an important time to lobby China, using the Beijing Olympics as leverage."
The program also included a brief talk from Atem Ahak, a DC student who was one of 27,000 "Lost Boys of Sudan" displaced or orphaned during the Sudanese civil war from 1983-2003.
"I came here (to the U.S.) in 2005 -- by God's grace," said Ahak.
For more information about the Darfur international crisis, visit www.savedarfur.com.