2008 Woodie Awards
Through silence, NUSTAND raises awareness
Matt Collette
Issue date: 11/15/07 Section: News
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On a cold night last Thursday, nearly 60 students, many representing student organizations, gathered on Krentzman Quad. They stood, with candles in hand, to solemnly show their support for the victims of the genocide in Darfur and called upon governments and influential organizations to act to end the crisis.
The vigil was sponsored by Northeastern's chapter of STAND, a coalition of high school and college students working to end genocide.
Most in attendance marched across campus from the West Village quad starting at 7 p.m., with the vigil beginning 15 minutes later.
"We all at NUSTAND brought you this event to say that we care and show that Northeastern does not support genocide," said Sunish Oturkar, the organization's president.
NUSTAND held the vigil to raise awareness of the genocide in Darfur. Since 2003, 450,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million have been displaced by rebels against the nation's established government, according to the NUSTAND website.
The keynote speaker of the vigil was Jean Vasilingiyimana, a Boston University freshman who grew up in Rwanda during the nation's genocide that resulted from a conflict between two racial groups, the Hutus and the Tutsis.
"They came by my house and they're all like, we're pretty sure that Tutsis live here," Vasilingiyimana said.
His family managed to get away when one of the people at their door, a friend of his father, recognized him, but that was the point his parents realized they had to get out of the country, he said.
Vasilingiyimana's family drove for eight hours to get out of the country, where he saw something he never forgot.
"The one image that I never got out of my head was when we got to the border, they took the people who were murdered and used them as barricades," he said.
After the keynote speaker, those at the vigil stood together for a moment of silence.
"I think that silence is pretty important," Alex Alvanos, president of Social Change Through Peace games and a junior international affairs major, said after the event. "We have the ability here to be silent, to show that this is important."
The vigil was sponsored by Northeastern's chapter of STAND, a coalition of high school and college students working to end genocide.
Most in attendance marched across campus from the West Village quad starting at 7 p.m., with the vigil beginning 15 minutes later.
"We all at NUSTAND brought you this event to say that we care and show that Northeastern does not support genocide," said Sunish Oturkar, the organization's president.
NUSTAND held the vigil to raise awareness of the genocide in Darfur. Since 2003, 450,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million have been displaced by rebels against the nation's established government, according to the NUSTAND website.
The keynote speaker of the vigil was Jean Vasilingiyimana, a Boston University freshman who grew up in Rwanda during the nation's genocide that resulted from a conflict between two racial groups, the Hutus and the Tutsis.
"They came by my house and they're all like, we're pretty sure that Tutsis live here," Vasilingiyimana said.
His family managed to get away when one of the people at their door, a friend of his father, recognized him, but that was the point his parents realized they had to get out of the country, he said.
Vasilingiyimana's family drove for eight hours to get out of the country, where he saw something he never forgot.
"The one image that I never got out of my head was when we got to the border, they took the people who were murdered and used them as barricades," he said.
After the keynote speaker, those at the vigil stood together for a moment of silence.
"I think that silence is pretty important," Alex Alvanos, president of Social Change Through Peace games and a junior international affairs major, said after the event. "We have the ability here to be silent, to show that this is important."
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