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> Monday, February 1st, 2010 > News > STAND Fanshawe hosts Drawings by Children in Darfur
STAND Fanshawe hosts Drawings by Children in Darfur
Steve Durbano
Interrobang
Click here to read more Interrobang articles written by Steve Durbano
Published: Monday, February 1st, 2010
Since 2003, the civilian populations from the Fur, Masalit, and Zaghawa ethnic groups in Darfur, Sudan’s western region, have been systematically targeted by the Government of Sudan and its allied ethnic militias in what many observers consider to be the first genocide of the new millennium. Indeed, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, and many more have been displaced. Countless women – in many cases elderly women and young girls – have been raped. During a mission to refugee camps in Chad, two Human Rights Watch researchers gave children paper and crayons while their families were being interviewed. Unprompted, the children drew scenes of devastation: aerial bombings, villages being sacked by ethnic militias, and rape. The children insisted that the drawings be shared with the world.
On February 8-12, the Fanshawe College chapter of STAND will be hosting the exhibit, “Smallest Witnesses: The Crisis in Darfur Through Children’s Eyes,” in the Siskind Gallery in H-Building. The Gallery is open daily from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m.
Rich Hitchens, an instructor in the School of Language and Liberal Studies and the founder and president of the Canadian Centre for Genocide Education, is working with STAND Fanshawe to host the exhibit.
“I think that it is important that students who might be inclined to try to make a positive contribution to the world that they live in be given opportunities to do so, and that is why I make myself available to support STAND Fanshawe,” explained Hitchens. “I have worked with STAND Fanshawe for a few years now and STAND Canada for many years before that, and I have not considered it a sacrifice of my time to do so because the younger citizens who are part of Stand – at Fanshawe and beyond – are real heroes.”
According to Hitchens, it has been younger citizens – like those involved with STAND – who have done the most for Darfur, who have established associations to more effectively raise awareness about Darfur and to lobby other citizens and members of government for much needed action as one example.
“If students are going to step up and be global citizens in that way, faculty must support them,” said Hitchens.
Hitchens and members of STAND Fanshawe will be hosting classes at the Siskind Gallery for a brief film screening about Darfur and for a discussion of the exhibit. The focus of the class sessions will be on global citizenship and what concerned students can do as global citizens. If you are an instructor at Fanshawe and are interested in booking a class session with Hitchens and STAND Fanshawe, please contact him at rhitchens@fanshawec.ca.
The exhibit of children’s drawings is being hosted at Fanshawe to coincide with the launching of the “Stand for the Dead” (www.standforthedead.com) campaign by Stand Canada. That campaign will include a national film tour of the unreleased Hollywood film, Darfur. In partnership with Cineplex, the film will be screening across the country, including here in London on Monday, February 8 at SilverCity. The film screening begins at 7 p.m. and will be followed by a question and answer session. Tickets for the film screening are just $10 each.
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