Naperville North learns about Darfur, club leads effort to help

Peter Magai Bul was only six when he trekked across the Sudanese desert to escape his war-torn homeland with more than 20,000 other boys.

These "Lost Boys" traveled 1,000 miles between Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya during a war that ultimately killed an estimated 2 million people.

"There was no water, no food, no blankets," Bul said. "We walked on bare foot."

Bul recently shared his story with students at Naperville North High School as part of an assembly organized by members of the school's Human Rights Club to educate their peers about genocide.

"I hope they understand genocide is going on today in the world," said teacher Stephanie Sullivan, the club's sponsor. "We learn a lot about past genocides sometimes … but we want them to know it's going on now, and to give them a more personal look into it with the Lost Boys coming."

Teacher Kelly Henkel also talked to students about the genocide in Cambodia that claimed about 2 million lives at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, a Communist group that overthrew the government in the 1970s.

In 2005, Henkel visited the country and toured sites where torture and murder took place, including a former school used as a prison.

"As an educator … it's a very unique experience to walk into a classroom and see bloodstains on the walls," Henkel said.

He also told students about the "killing fields" such as Choeung Ek, where 8,600 skulls were found and bones still stick up out of the ground.

Human Rights Club members said they want their classmates to know about the violence still taking place around the world today, especially in the Darfur region of Sudan, where the United Nations estimates at least 200,000 people have been killed, and 2 million displaced from their homes.

"We learn a lot about the Holocaust, which was decades ago, but Darfur is going on right now," said junior Lehka Ragavendran, co-president of the Human Rights Club. "We were really surprised something this horrible was happening after we kept saying 'never again.'"

The group is asking students to take action by donating money, buying Save Darfur merchandise and signing the club's petition to Congress to aid the region.

The club will also have an exhibit on Darfur from 1 to 4 p.m. March 22 at the Nichols Library, 200 W. Jefferson Ave., Naperville.

"It's kind of depressing to hear all this," Sullivan said. "But at the end, we want to say you can actually make a difference."