Friday, May 04, 2007

Global Days for Darfur (and too much sun!)

Last year while watching George Clooney speaking on the Darfur rally in front of the White House, I promised myself that the next time there's a Darfur rally in Miami, that I would attend. Now, a year later, I was headed with my mom to a demonstration in front of the University of Miami of. This was an obligation for me as an activist, since the genocide that has claimed so many lives has reached it's 4th anniversery. I needed to be there along with others whom share the same common goal in mind. The thing was, my mom insisted that we get an early start so we left at 10:00am, despite that the rally would take place at 2:00pm. So, mom and I had to wait for a couple of hours and this made the waiting longer and it was over 85 degress outside! Finally, two people showed up wearing Save Darfur shirts and it turns out that the girl, Sarah had planned the event and came with her boyfriend. Soon, more people showed up and brough homemade signs. I had great chats with some of them, and by the time I knew it, about 30 people had showed up to join the demonstration. Cars honked at us for support and the energy and optimisum was at a high. All of us cheered as more cars honked, and despite that my feet were burning and my mouth dry as sand, I felt good. As I left, a tidel wave of emotions came at me that moved me to tears. I can't explain why, but maybe it was for the simple fact that across an ocean, at another continent, another time zome, someone whom has lost all their family, is wishing that somebody, anybody would save them. I just hope that more pressure can be applied towards action against this human tragedy.