When he was 3 years old, Engineering freshman George Sworo was forced to leave his village in southern Sudan as violence between the country's African population and the government-supported Arab militia erupted.
The genocide, which has mainly affected the African groups Fur, Zaghawa and Masaalit of the western region of Darfur, has displaced around 1.5 million Sudanese, according to Jerry Fowler, staff director of the Committee on Conscience at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Throughout the fall, the situation in Sudan has received an increasing amount of attention at Penn, even spawning the creation of Students Take Action Now Darfur. The group has attempted to increase visibility on campus by sponsoring an awareness day, creating petitions, holding fundraisers and protesting.
Last night, STAND helped to sponsor A Call to Action for Sudan,a conference that was held in Steinhardt Hall, drawing around 80 students.
Sworo described his childhood as characterized by the struggle for food and water, the loss of friends and the constant feeling of displacement.
Sworo ended his story explaining the dire need for action to be taken on behalf of the Sudanese refugees. He said that he would be "the happiest man in the world" if the atrocities stopped.
The themes of devastation and the need for aid expressed by Sworo were echoed in the speeches of the other conference speakers.
Fowler, who recently visited Sudanese refugees in Chad, shared photographs of homeless refugees, separated families and malnourished children.
Speaker and Georgetown University law student Devon Chaffee, who also interviewed refugees in Chad, described the large-scale abduction and violation of women and the killing of children, among other atrocities.
Members of the audience were left visibly shaken.
History Department lecturer Elisa von Joeden-Forgey, who teaches a course on comparative genocide studies, stressed the need for the international community to recognize the situation in Sudan as genocide to allow for greater aid.
Students who attended the conference seemed to be inspired by the speakers' calls for action.
Marisa Rosenstock, a College senior and member of von Joeden-Forgey's class, said that after learning about past genocides in the Holocaust, Bosnia and Rwanda, she felt that, "It's not enough to learn about it, we have to do something."
After attending the conference, Rosenstock planned on becoming involved in STAND, writing letters to senators and possibly doing humanitarian work after graduation.
A Call to Action for Sudan conference was organized by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and STAND.
