My Speech at the Dream for Darfur Torch Relay - October 7th 2007

Close your eyes and try to think back to the home you grew up in. Imagine walking in and going to your bedroom, throwing your stuff on the floor and lying down on your soft bed. Look at the posters on the walls, at your wardrobe, your clothes, your pictures. You are contemplating whether to go to the kitchen to get something to eat when… you hear gunshots and your mother screaming and your father screaming. You hear your neighbors screaming and you come out of your room and your father is lying on the floor dead, drenched in blood. Everything smells of blood. Your mother is screaming hysterically, a man is holding her arms back and hitting her with his rifle and restraining her, forcing her to look at another man raping your little sister. A man sees you and rushes towards you and you don’t know what to do. You want to help your mom, help your sister, but this man wants to hurt you, he wants to hit you and cut off your hands and ears. The smell of blood is so strong. Your little sister has lost consciousness, but the man is still raping her, brutally, and now they are raping your mom too…

            But that does not happen here. That happens 6171 miles away. That’s why it’s so easy for us to forget about it. 6171 miles away from us, in Darfur, at least three million children and adolescents have been physically, emotionally and psychologically crippled. Forever. We buy a T-shirt, make a 10 dollar donation, and appease our conscience while millions of children’s lives are shattered.

The trauma experienced by Sudanese children is indelible. It will permeate every moment of their lives. Our indifference toward the atrocities perpetrated in Darfur has facilitated the sentencing of 3 MILLION children and adolescents to a life of anxiety, depression, fear, and impaired functioning. As a college student, I have so many plans and dreams for my future. In Darfur, the future of a whole nation suffers from Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder.

To everyone here, especially to the parents in the crowd: I want to ask you a question. Would you want your children to grow up in today’s Darfur? If we have all answered NO to this question, then we ALL have an obligation to Sudanese children. Sending aid to support the overcrowded refugee camps is not enough. Each of us has the duty to contribute to end this genocide. My friends: make your presence here today the beginning of a commitment to action. With enough letters to our nation’s leaders, we can build a bridge 6,171 miles long between us and our brothers and sisters in Darfur and make sure that no more futures are compromised, that no more dreams are turned to night terrors.