Freshman Megan McGrath was hungry. She ate her pepperoni pizza with a look of gratefulness on her face, talking between mouthfuls. She had not eaten in a day.

McGrath, and nearly 170 other Elon students, pledged to go without an everyday comfort for 24 hours starting at 8 p.m. on Oct. 24. They made one-day sacrifices in efforts to raise awareness about the suffering of Sudanese refugees.

Sponsored by Students for Peace and Justice and the Student Anti-Genocide Coalition, the goal of the fast was three-fold: raising awareness, money and collecting signatures to send to President Bush and both North Carolina senators. Students collected more than $465 in donations to send to an organization called Genocide Intervention.

The fast began with a candlelight vigil outside Belk Library Oct. 24, and concluded with a “breaking of the fast,” the following day. On Oct. 25 several students broke their fasts on pizzas donated by Domino’s Pizza.

Students pledged to abstain from items including alcohol, fried food and Starbuck’s coffee, but the most common pledges were food, shoes and Facebook. Some even gave up speaking for a day to signify the people of Darfur not being heard by their government.

“I still don’t feel like I felt real hunger because it was only for 24 hours,” McGrath said. “It’s only a fraction of what they feel.”

Freshman Amber Woods fasted because she wanted to understand what it felt like.

Woods, who had never participated in a fast before, said she was weak and shaky throughout the 24 hours.

“I didn’t think I could do it,” she said.

The fast, which is intended to become an annual event, was spearheaded by sophomore Heather Laskin. The history and international studies major is an advocate of standing up for injustice.

“Ever since I was a little kid, I wanted to make a difference,” Laskin said. “I hate it when people don’t do anything. You have the power to encourage change, but don’t.”

Laskin gave up food, water, shoes and speech for the fast. The hardest thing to give up was speaking, she said.

Going to class was hard for Laskin that day. She said participating in class discussions wasn’t an option, and as a result, it was almost as if she didn’t exist.

“ I wanted to say so much on that day. I felt ignored,” she said. “ It shows you how important your voice is.”

Laskin said events like these are great to raise awareness, but also the signing of petitions and sending letters to national leaders are vital for spurring change.

She said in recent years there were other activities to promote knowledge about the genocide in Darfur on campus such as a mock refugee camp and meal swipes for Darfur.

“ I still have people asking me, ‘Where is Sudan?’” Laskin said of the need for knowledge on campus.

An escalation in a series of small-scale conclicts during the past decade resulted in what is now labeled as mass genocide. The crisis began when two rebel groups attacked the central government and retaliation came in the form of the Janjaweed—a state-backed militia.

The Janjaweed have wiped out entire villages, destroyed food and water supplies, and systematically murdered, tortured and raped hundreds of thousands of Sudanese.

Although an exact number of casualties was not released by the Sudanese government, it is believed that more than 400,000 civilians were killed as a result of direct violence, disease or starvation, according to Save Darfur.

About 2 million Darfur citizens have fled their villages and now live in refugee camps in Darfur and other neighboring countries. Approximately 1 million Sudanese still live in their villages, under constant threat.

For more information visit

www.savedarfur.org or

www.genocideintervention.net.

Reporter: Alexandra Hemmerly-Brown - 10/31/07