TORCH RELAY CALLS ATTENTION TO DARFUR
by Elizabeth Ahlin, Omaha World-Herald, Neb.
Omaha World – Herald (Nebraska)
October 29, 2007 Monday
Oct. 29–More than three years ago, Abdelhamid Mohamed escaped his
homeland of Darfur in the middle of the night, bringing with him only
his wife and three children.
On Sunday, Mohamed, 35, stood in Memorial Park to ask the people of
Omaha, his new home, to help the people of his homeland by working
to end genocide in Darfur.
Mohamed stood with daughters Nagat, 9, and Naglaa, 7, and son Mazin,
5. Mohamed laid one hand affectionately on Nagat’s head. With the
other, he gripped a burning torch.
The torch was carried through Omaha as part of the Dream for Darfur
Olympic Torch Relay, an event designed to raise awareness of the
problems in Darfur while pressuring China, host of the 2008 Summer
Olympics, to use its influence to end the violence there.
Runners followed a 15-mile course Sunday, starting at Temple Israel,
7023 Cass St., running downtown to the Qwest Center Omaha, and
back west to Memorial Park. A new team took over the torch for each
one-mile leg, representing individual families and such groups as the
Anti-Defamation League, Lutheran Family Services and Duchesne Academy.
Save Darfur Omaha worked with Temple Israel to organize the event.
China has a role to play in ending the genocide of the people of
Darfur, said Anna Sully Sparwasser of Save Darfur Omaha. China has
been accused of funding the war in Darfur by investing heavily in
Sudan’s oil industry. Save Darfur Omaha has joined international
human rights activists and Darfur rebels in asking China to use its
economic influence to stop the war in Darfur.
"They have the power," said Sully Sparwasser, who called the Olympics
a demonstration of peace and unity. "We want them (China) to really
believe in the theme of the Olympics and bring that dream to Darfur."
In 2003, African rebels in Darfur took up arms against the Sudanese
government, accusing it of decades of discrimination. Since then, more
than 200,000 people have died, many at the hands of the janjaweed, a
militia of Arab nomads. The Sudanese government has denied accusations
that it directed the janjaweed to attack the people of Darfur in
retaliation.
The group of people who gathered at Memorial Park was a mix of local
activists and concerned citizens. Burke High School students Amy
Durmaskin and Lindsey Brigman, both 17, learned about Darfur at school
during "genocide day," in which students studied genocides that have
been committed since World War II. They launched a school club, and
they’ve been working since then to raise awareness among their peers.
"I hope that people will speak up and speak loudly," Durmaskin said.
The demonstration Sunday was important to Mohamed. While he escaped
Sudan with his wife and three children, he lost the rest of his family.
"I don’t know where my family is now," Mohamed said.
In 2004, Mohamed and his family escaped to Egypt. Almost a year and
a half ago, his family was given the green light to come to America.
He is happy to be in the United States, where his children are making
friends and attending school. Life is good here, he said, calling
Omaha his "new home." But not everyone has been so fortunate.
"I worry about the rest of my Darfurian people now," Mohamed said.
The first torch of the Dream for Darfur relay was lit in the African
country of Chad, near the Darfur border. From there, it was carried
in Rwanda and Armenia. The international torch relay is scheduled
to go through Germany, Bosnia and Cambodia before ending up in China
in January.
In the United States, the torch will travel through 28 states before
January.