First Day - Darfur Rally
A week ago Sunday I was gathered on the national mall with tens of thousands of fellow citizens dedicated to ending the genocide in Darfur. It was a loud and visible demonstration, bringing much attention to a humanitarian crisis that desperately needs to be brought into the spotlight. I had never been in such a large demonstration, nor such a diverse one.
The day after the rally I gathered with thirteen other ohioans and visited our senators on the hill, urging them to do all they can to end the violence in Darfur. The Lobby Day was organized by the Save Darfur Coalition, the same folks who had put together the rally. Once the thirteen of us were gathered we developed a strategy to use throughout the morning. As it turns out, the women who introduced us, was a member of the Sister City Relationship between Cincinnati and Harare, Zimbabwe, a project I had previously worked on. The two policy pushers, who made our specific requests on the legislation (that a full $173 million be given to create a UN force, that a special envoy to Darfur be established by the president, and to make sure that enough food aid is given), one of them was from Morrow, Ohio - the hometown of My lovely Aunt Kathy and Uncle Bill, and the other man was from Hudson, Ohio and attended the same Catholic Church of My Uncle Mike and my lovely Aunt Margaret... It is such a small world!
I was assigned the role of making a personal, passionate appeal to the Legislator's Assistants meeting with us. I shared the words of a Marine who had spoken at the Rally and how he had been sent to Darfur to take pictures and record, as best he could, the state of the region. He said that when he landed he was greeted by a mob of Darfurians who believed that America had come to help, that behind him would follow the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force. He saw so much hope in their eyes that America was truly going to help. I spoke about how I had seen hope come back into the lives of the Sudanese refugee families that were hosted in Cincinnati by my home congregation, the First Unitarian Church of Cincinnati. As we received them, validated them, helped them find jobs and homes, you could sense them coming back to life. Believing in themselves, and in a brighter future. That is the gift that America has to offer to the world, and it is our responsibility to see that it is so.
The day after the rally I gathered with thirteen other ohioans and visited our senators on the hill, urging them to do all they can to end the violence in Darfur. The Lobby Day was organized by the Save Darfur Coalition, the same folks who had put together the rally. Once the thirteen of us were gathered we developed a strategy to use throughout the morning. As it turns out, the women who introduced us, was a member of the Sister City Relationship between Cincinnati and Harare, Zimbabwe, a project I had previously worked on. The two policy pushers, who made our specific requests on the legislation (that a full $173 million be given to create a UN force, that a special envoy to Darfur be established by the president, and to make sure that enough food aid is given), one of them was from Morrow, Ohio - the hometown of My lovely Aunt Kathy and Uncle Bill, and the other man was from Hudson, Ohio and attended the same Catholic Church of My Uncle Mike and my lovely Aunt Margaret... It is such a small world!
I was assigned the role of making a personal, passionate appeal to the Legislator's Assistants meeting with us. I shared the words of a Marine who had spoken at the Rally and how he had been sent to Darfur to take pictures and record, as best he could, the state of the region. He said that when he landed he was greeted by a mob of Darfurians who believed that America had come to help, that behind him would follow the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force. He saw so much hope in their eyes that America was truly going to help. I spoke about how I had seen hope come back into the lives of the Sudanese refugee families that were hosted in Cincinnati by my home congregation, the First Unitarian Church of Cincinnati. As we received them, validated them, helped them find jobs and homes, you could sense them coming back to life. Believing in themselves, and in a brighter future. That is the gift that America has to offer to the world, and it is our responsibility to see that it is so.
posted by Adam G. Gerhardstein at 4:10 PM
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