Edina High School Hosts Camp Darfur October 6, 2009

‘To spread knowledge is to spread peace’. Those were the words inscribed by means of a Sharpie onto the inside of a linen tent. The message, surrounded by hundreds of other thoughtful messages, was inscribed on the canvas tents of Camp Darfur. Edina High School hosted the traveling exhibit on Monday, October 5, 2009. “Learning about past genocides sparked my interest in becoming more aware involved, in current world crisis,” says Jen Choi, a senior at Edina High School (EHS). Students were encouraged to ask questions and participate in short discussions before continuing on to the next tent. Seniors Shara Mohtadi and Emma Weisberg led the organization of the event, and they also reside over their newly founded STAND chapter. “Students are not only the leaders of tomorrow,” says Mohtadi, “but of today.” Students came out more aware than ever before, as many admitted to never having heard of the Armenian or Cambodian genocides. “If we can even change the perspective of one person,” says Weisberg, “Then it’s all worth it.” Hours of organization, two tents lost in transit and six hundred student audience members later, it was most definitely worth it.

Reflection by Edina High School Leaders Shara Mohtadi and Sasha Rieland

Camp Darfur was part of several events in Minnesota hosted by World Without Genocide, University of Minnesota’s Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, and part of the Dietrich Bonhoeffer International Conference.