Community Walk For Darfur Awareness

On March 25, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Central Nassau (UUCCN), along with neighboring faith communities, is conducting a "Save Darfur" walk in Garden City.

Leaving at 12:30 p.m. from UUCCN, corner of Stewart Avenue and Nassau Blvd, congregants will walk approximately two miles to other faith homes, then back to UUCCN, to raise awareness about the deadly conflict in Darfur, a region in western Sudan.

Darfur is acknowledged to be a humanitarian and human rights tragedy. According to reports, 3.5 million people are now hungry, 2.5 million have been displaced, and 400,000 people have died in Darfur. Not since the Rwandan genocide of 1994 has the world seen such a calculated campaign of displacement, starvation, rape, and mass slaughter.

The youth group at UUCCN initiated the Community Walk for Darfur Awareness after viewing the film "Paper Clips," about a middle school in Tennessee that collected 6 million paper clips to memorialize victims of the Holocaust. The UUCCN youth group has constructed and will be carrying a 9' felt banner saying, "Not on Our Watch! Save Darfur." Rev. Hope Johnson, Minister, is proud that the congregation she serves is taking a leading role in justice making and reminds us that "we in Garden City have a responsibility to our brothers and sisters throughout the world."