A mitzvah for Darfur

DANIEL BECKER

On May 12, students from King David High School were out in full force throughout the community to raise money and awareness for the situation in Darfur, Sudan.

More than 200 students from King David, along with groups from other secondary schools, including Frank Hurt, Churchill and Vancouver Technical, were wearing their identifiable pink "Save Darfur" shirts, while they volunteered at various community charities. This year, the student organizers put together a group of more than 22 charities at which students, teachers and parents volunteered.

King David's annual Mitzvah Day, or "day of good deeds," featured a special keynote speaker, Kamish, who is a survivor of the tragedies in Darfur. After a touching speech at the opening ceremonies, Kamish joined a group of students at the Vancouver Art Gallery to raise money and awareness through the appropriately named Never Again campaign.

Students volunteered at Canuck Place, Ronald McDonald House, Salvation Army Harbor Light, the SPCA and elsewhere. When the 200 volunteers began to trickle back to the school after their activities were complete, a congratulatory barbeque was held for everyone involved in the charitable day.

This is the 11th year that the high school has put on the event and thousands of dollars have been raised to send to Darfuri refugees living on the Chad border. The money funds the Solar Cooker Project. Essentially, solar cookers are easily assembled cardboard and aluminum barbeque-like devices. Darfuri women use them as an alternative to facing the dangerous task of going out to find firewood. Many women are raped and murdered by the Janjaweed militia when they search for wood to start fires, so the solar cookers allow the women to avoid the dangerous journey and use the sun instead.

Each solar cooking kit costs $30 US and comes with enough supplies for an entire year's worth of cooking. So far, King David High School has provided refugees on the Chad border with hundreds of solar kits, which, in turn, has saved many lives.

If you saw someone wearing a pink shirt on May 12, you may have been looking at someone who was doing their part to repair the world.

Daniel Becker was one of the Mitzvah Day student organizers.

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