Exhibit seeks to raise awareness of ongoing genocide in Darfur

Saturday, May 5, 2007
Reformer
By PATRICK J. CROWLEY, Reformer Staff

Turkey participate in the struggle against genocides. Stop denying the Armenian genocide. Ambassador Gunduz Aktan said at a November 9, 2006 lecture in Ottawa, Canada in answer to my question, that Turkey only recognizes eight genocides, that Armenia, Cambodia and Darfur among others are not genocides.

BRATTLEBORO -- Five canvas tents sat in a semi-circle on the lawn of the Centre Congregational Church on Main Street on Friday.

Banners hung near each tent gave an idea as to the information hanging inside each tent.

The first one read "1915, Armenia." Inside the tent, another banner: "1,500,000 killed." The tent showed maps and articles relating to the Armenian genocide and acts as a quick, educational opportunity for a grim historical event.

The tents continued with this theme:

* 1938, Holocaust ... 6,000,000 killed.

* 1957, Cambodia ... 2,000,000 killed.

* 1994, Rwanda ... 800,000 killed.

Now, Darfur ... 400,000 killed and counting.

Each tent had written messages covering most of the tan canvas from various stops the tents have made around the country over the past year.

Gabriel Stauring, from the Los Angeles area in California, first set up the "refugee camp" in Los Angeles last April.

At first, Stauring had no intention of carrying the tents around the country in an effort to increase awareness on the increasingly gruesome tragedy in Darfur, Sudan. He thought it would be a one-time event.

But soon, he had more and more invitations to set up camp in another area. In the past year, Stauring has wound up in places around California, Las Vegas, New York City, Washington, D.C., Florida, Delaware, Michigan, Tennessee and now Brattleboro.
He was invited by the School for International Training's Net Impact group to set up during their "Race for a Reason" on May 12, but when Stauring said he couldn't make it on that date, they set him up to come on Gallery Walk.

"It wasn't planned to become a traveling exhibit," Stauring said.

Stauring first got the idea of the exhibit when he was in Chad, just over the border from the Darfur region of Sudan. Refugees who escaped the bloodshed in Sudan are put in canvas tents much like the ones Stauring uses in his exhibit. One family is put up in one small tent, he said.

"It lets people know the enormity of what's happening now," he said, later adding, "there's still millions of lives we can save."

Stauring said over the past year, he's been able to see awareness increase as time goes on and as lives continue to be lost. In particular, he said, young people like middle and high school students are paying attention.

"It's starting to grow," he said.

But still, it's not enough. Stauring said he was alarmed to find out in places like Tennessee and even Las Vegas many simply do not know what is happening in Sudan.

His approach is to try and expose new people to the information on the current genocide and also past ones, after which the world said "never again."

"We're trying to reach one person at a time," he said.

Each tent, a dedication to the lives lost in five genocides in the past 100 years, often showed horrific images of death associated with the killing. Most also had a quote from a survivor of the violence, describing the bloodshed.

"I heard somebody calling my name. He said actually that 'I have killed 399 cockroaches,' and he wanted me to be the 400th," a survivor of the Rwanda genocide said.

Another powerful quote was hanging from the walls of the Darfur tent.

"There were soldiers from Sudan, janjaweed (militia) and planes and bombs. I saw the janjaweed take girls and women. The women were screaming. They seized them, they took them by force. The pretty ones were taken away. Girls were taken, small girls too, I think five and seven and 14. Some came back after four or five hours ... some we haven't seen again," wrote a 13-year-old Darfur survivor.

Stauring said he intends to bring the tents to refugee camps in the area to provide those in need with shelter, so messages are written on the tents by people from all over the country in the hopes of inspiring some optimism.

One quoted the Bible -- Psalm 27: verses 1 and 2.

Many said the victims will not be forgotten.

Others kept the message as simple as possible.

"Stop genocide."


Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.