Teens take a stand against genocide

Bradley Gerber of Los Angeles, looks at a display about the genocide in Darfur during the 3rd annual Walk to End Genocide at Noble Park in University Towne Centre. The walk was to raise awareness to genocide around the world, and raise money to support Jewish World Watch projects that aid refugees and survivors of the conflicts in the Sudan and Congo. — Howard Lipin

 

SAN DIEGO — Six tents stood at the edge of a University Town Center park, each featuring a blood red number.

 

Eight hundred thousand in Rwanda. Two million in Cambodia. Four hundred and fifty thousand — and counting — in Darfur.

 

The staggering figures represent people killed because they belonged to a specific racial, political, religious or cultural group — the kind of atrocity that Sunday’s Third annual Walk to End Genocide hopes to combat.

 

Roughly 250 people, including Congresswoman Susan Davis, attended the event hosted by Jewish World Watch, an organization that fights against mass atrocities.

 

“Sometimes we can’t do everything that we want to do,” Davis said. “But when we begin, when we take that step, and one step leads to another step, you can make a difference.”

 

The walk was founded in 2011 by three 14-year-old students from the San Diego Jewish Academy. Zander Cowan, Naomi Suminski and Ilana Engel, each 17, continue to lead the event.

 

“It really resonated with me because I have a lot of Holocaust survivors in my family,” said Cowan. “My grandma had to hide in a closet like Anne Frank for four years. My grandpa barely got out before Kristallnacht happened. It’s a really close issue to my heart.”

                           

Sunday’s event raised more than than $7,700, through sponsorships and sign-up fees, that will go toward projects that aid refugees and survivors in Sudan and the Congo.

 

One of the projects includes purchasing food, medicine and educational supplies for children in refugee camps; another will supply solar cookers to women in the Congo so they don’t have to hunt for firewood in forests where they might become victims of rape, Cowan said.

 

In addition to two one-mile walks, the event featured exhibits, vendor booths, and crafts.

 

As participants hit the sidewalk at Nobel Park, they chanted “Don’t stand by, stand up.” Many wore blue shirts that read, “One life at a time, one step at a time.”

 

Many also took time to learn more about the tragedies that influenced the annual event.

Bennett Lewis, 43, of Encinitas, walked slowly in front of each tent, before stopping to read about the genocide in Darfur.

 

“I’ve had my eyes closed to a lot of this,” he said. “I’m looking at this going, there are a lot of people being killed and I’m watching YouTube videos and American Idol.”

 

Lewis said events like this help show there are meaningful steps everyday people can take to combat overwhelming atrocities.

 

His stepdaughter, 11-year-old Shayna Dumont, said the event gave her hope.

 

“People are so nice,” she said. “They aren’t just thinking about themselves. They are thinking about others and want to help.”

 

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