Smith
to Host Fundraising Event for Darfur
 Local activists working
to help the people of Sudan’s
war-torn Darfur region will hold a community event and vocal
concert on Sunday, Oct. 21, at Smith College. “Voices
for Darfur,” which will feature local and national
performers, will take place from 3 to 5 p.m. in Weinstein
Auditorium, Wright Hall. Admission is free and open to the
public.
“The situation in Darfur remains desperate for the
millions of people who have fled their homes and are living
in squalid refugee camps,” said event organizer Tamara
Kupfer, of the Congregation B’nai Israel (CBI) Darfur
Action Group. “The need to provide them with food,
water and medical care is just as urgent now as the violence
against innocent civilians continues.”
The Darfur Action Group raised $20,000 last year for the
Sudan Aid Fund of the Community Foundation of Western Mass,
which was founded by leading international Darfur activist
and Smith College Professor Eric Reeves, and supports outstanding
organizations running life-saving humanitarian aid programs
in Darfur, such as Save the Children and the International
Rescue Committee.
The CBI Darfur Action
Group will again ask for donations at the “Voices for Darfur” concert. Performers
will include Evelyn Harris, internationally renowned singer
formerly of Sweet Honey in the Rock; the Amandla Community
Chorus, known for performing international songs of justice
and celebration; 5-Alone, the award-winning PVPA jazz a cappella
group; Mak’hela, the celebrated Jewish Chorus of Western
Mass; High Definition, the Northampton-based vocal ensemble;
and AlSarah & Fatima, an accomplished Sudanese vocal
duo from New York.
Proceeds raised at the
concert will go to the Sudan Aid Fund to provide humanitarian
aid for the civilian population of Darfur. In addition
to Smith and the B'nai Tzedek Youth Foundation, event sponsors
include many Western Massachusetts faith-based, community,
professional, and activist organizations, as well as local
elected officials, including Senator Stan Rosenberg, Representative
Peter Kocot, and Northampton Mayor Mary Clare Higgins.
The CBI Darfur Action
Group began in April 2006 to respond to the genocide in
Darfur. Visibility about this issue
needs to remain high, said group members, noting that hundreds
of thousands have been killed and more than two million displaced
by government-sponsored militias in Sudan. The CBI group
worked with the Northampton Human Rights Commission—also
a co-sponsor of the Oct. 21 event—to draft the Darfur
resolution recently passed by the Northampton
City Council and is currently involved in educational projects
and a weekly vigil in downtown Northampton.
“I think the urgency of the Darfur genocide has never
been greater,” said Reeves. “Humanitarian workers
remain as endangered and embattled as ever. There’s
no sign yet that Khartoum is feeling sufficient pressure
to negotiate in good faith and that’s where U.S. advocacy
has led the way.”
In addition to music and
the comments by Reeves at the Oct. 21 program, Mayor Higgins
will give brief remarks, and New York photographer Richard
Levine will speak of his recent trip to Darfur. In conjunction
with this event, Amherst’s
Jones Library will host an exhibit of Levine’s acclaimed
photographs of Darfur Oct. 21- Nov. 17. Several photos will
also be on display at the “Voices for Darfur” event.
For more information, contact Sara Weinberger at spw128@comcast.net.
Donations may be sent to the Community Foundation of Western
Mass, P.O. Box 15769, Springfield, MA 01115-5769. Checks
should be earmarked to the Sudan Aid Fund.
-Excerpted from a CBI
Darfur Action Group press release |
