Pre-nursing sophomore Yen Tran participates in Campout to Stamp Out Genocide on Wednesday on the South Oval. Organizers will donate one-third of the event’s proceeds to the Genocide Intervention Network. (Jall Cowasji/ The Daily)
A cluster of cardboard forts Wednesday on the South Oval represented the first line of defense against genocide in Africa. The Campout to Stamp Out Genocide was organized to raise money and awareness for Burma, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo by the anti-genocide student coalition STAND, said Suong Nguyen, biochemistry sophomore. Student groups were asked to build tents and forts using only household items. Most groups built forts using cardboard boxes and duct tape. One group incorporated a blanket roof; others created plastic window panes. Many forts were accompanied by signs bearing messages about the relief effort. Fair-trade organization member Brad Frenette, history sophomore, played the guitar outside his organization’s fort to pass the time and entertain passersby. STAND will donate one-third of the money raised to the Genocide Intervention Network, Nguyen said. The network provides radios to villages in Burma so it can warn neighboring villages of impending government attacks, Nguyen said. Another third of the money raised will go to a backpacking organization that distributes medicine and essential food items to refugees as the network finds them, Nguyen said. The final third of the money will support STAND, Nguyen said.
