Hi Friends,
Here is an article I wrote for the Dallas Peace Times about my trip to the D.C. Save Darfur Conference:

"Tents of Hope: The Gathering of the Tents"
by Laura McCarthy

My trip to Washington, D.C., from November 6th - 9th, 2008, for the Tents of Hope “Gathering of the Tents” and Save Darfur National Conference was an unforgettable experience and an introduction to the world of high-level human rights activism.  As director of the Save Darfur Coalition chapter Defend Darfur Dallas, I was attending the national conference as a representative of our group, and to take advantage of the lectures and activism workshops.  I was also attending to go the the Tents of Hope “Gathering of the Tents” on the National Mall in front of the Capitol Building. 
    For months my group and others collaborated on painting canvas tents with messages of hope as part of a national campaign, called Tents of Hope, to end the violence in Darfur.  The campaign culminated in the creation of a “tent city” on the National Mall, where hundreds of tents were set up to symbolize a refugee camp.  I brought our Defend Darfur Dallas and Dallas Holocaust Museum tent, and I also brought the tent for a Dallas fundraising group that we work with regularly, Art for Darfur.  I traveled with my friend Ashley Epes, director of D.allas A.rtists R.ally F.or U.rgent R.elief (D.A.R.F.U.R.) in Darfur.  She brought two professionally painted tents, both done by artists at Brenda Taylor Productions. 
    I arrived on Wednesday the 6th, in the afternoon and immediately visited the US Holocaust Memorial Museum near the National Mall.  While there I viewed the permanent Darfur exhibit, and had the opportunity to meet Helen Goldkind, a Holocaust survivor.  Ms. Goldkind was preparing to leave the museum, but she took the time to tell me her story.  When she was thirteen she was sent from her native Czechoslovakia to Auschwitz.  From Auschwitz she and her sister were sent to a munitions factory near the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp to load poisonous gunpowder into ammunition.  Factory conditions were deplorable, with many girls fainting and becoming very ill from poor ventilation.  After working at the munitions factory Ms. Goldkind and her sister were sent to Bergen-Belsen.  She and her sister hid in barrels when the British arrived to liberate the camps on April 15th, 1945.  Ms. Goldkind only remembers a British soldier lifting her from the barrel, and then waking up in a sanatorium.  She spent several months there recovering, and was later reunited with her sister.  Ms. Goldkind volunteers at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum as a survivor speaker.  I mentioned I had come to specifically see the Darfur exhibit, and she told me it was the most important room in the museum.  I also told her about the Save Darfur conference and the Tents of Hope event and she was very pleased, and wished the best for us, and said people like us do a great deal of good in the world. 
    On Friday, Ashley Epes and I attended a protest rally on the sidewalk in front of the Sudanese Embassy.  We listened to Darfuri refugees tell stories of their survival, and also the words of various protesters who talked about their efforts at home to end the genocide.   Ashley and I signed a large scale copy of the ICC indictment of Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir, along with leaders of other organizations.  The protest leaders and members of the audience read the indictment aloud over the loud speaker.  The lead protesters then attempted to deliver the indictment to the embassy door, but were stopped by guards who had orders to keep protesters off the embassy property.
    Around this time a large number of STAND students arrived, raising everyone’s spirits.  STAND is a national student anti-genocide coalition, and they held a student conference in conjunction with the Save Darfur adult conference.  They marched and cheered and chanted anti-genocide slogans all the way down the street.  Student leaders spoke about student efforts to aid Darfur, and how we had to help the world take notice of the atrocities being committed in Sudan.  They also sang inspirational songs with the crowd.  I spoke to the crowd about the promises of genocide convention of 1948 and the idea of “never again,” and Ashley informed the protesters of Save Darfur and Genocide Intervention Network’s efforts to deliver one million postcards to President Obama on his election day asking him to make Darfur a priority from day one.  She distributed postcards throughout the crowd.  After that Ashley and I departed the rally to register for the Save Darfur conference. 
    Friday evening after registering for the conference, my sister Lisa Allen and I attended the salon discussion featuring Dr. Gary Bass, author of “Freedom’s Battle” and Associate Professor of Politics and International Affairs at Princeton University, and Jerry Fowler, President of the Save Darfur Coalition.  Dr. Bass gave us some interesting background on the history of humanitarian intervention, that the British intervened in the Ottoman slaughter of the Greeks around 1820, and sunk the Ottoman fleet in 1827.  Dr. Bass had also recently returned from China on a trip to understand the Chinese view of the genocide in Darfur and the human rights violations there.
    Once the discussion ended my sister and I left to join Ashley Epes at the Civilian Art Projects gallery to listen to Brian Steidle and his sister Gretchen Steidle Wallace discuss their current work for Darfur.  Ms. Wallace is the Founder and President of Global Grassroots, an organization that assists women victims of genocide to rebuild their lives.  Brian Steidle is most well-known for his term as an African Union military observer in Darfur at the early stages of the genocide.  The photographs and his eyewitness account of the events in Darfur ran in the New York Times and helped bring the conflict to the forefront of international consciousness.  “The Devil Came on Horseback” is both a book and a documentary about Mr. Steidle’s experiences.  We were lucky enough to meet Mr. Steidle and Ms. Wallace, and spoke briefly about the Tents of Hope Gathering.  It turned out the Steidles and some friends had painted a tent and were going to the event as well.  They were both very personable people with an obvious commitment to human rights work, and I was very happy to have had the opportunity to meet them.
    On Saturday morning Ashley and I went to the Save Darfur conference to listen to John Prendergast speak about the ongoing crisis in Darfur.  One thing that Mr. Prendergast stated became a common refrain during the weekend.  He said the political climate in Washington D.C. is more favorable than ever to make progress on ending the genocide in Darfur and passing new legislation, but without the public’s interest, the politicians can’t do anything.  I attended two lectures after that, the first one about in-district lobbying, and the second about grass roots public relations.  Both were very interesting and informative, especially for someone who doesn’t have any background on this kind of work.  The most important thing I learned was that there was a lot I didn’t know, and that this kind of education at the conference is invaluable for an activist!
    After lunch I left for the Tents of Hope Gathering on the National Mall.  On the way I made the acquaintance of Roger Winter, anti-genocide activist and former state department Special Representative to Sudan.  He had just addressed the students of STAND, and was on the way to the metro as well.  I was reminded once again of how blessed I was just to attend this conference with so many knowledgeable experts and leaders.
    I volunteered back in September to be in charge of the children’s art activities for Tents of Hope.  Before the weekend, numerous family members and friends helped me cut out cardboard shields and paper masks for children to decorate with markers and rafia.  My son’s elementary school art teacher, Brenda Fee, taught me about these techniques she used in class to make African Wind Spirit masks.   My sister Lisa, a resident of D.C. and a state department employee, kindly volunteered to run the art activities so I could attend the first part of the Save Darfur conference.  By the time I arrived to assist the National Mall was filled with hundreds of people there to take advantage of the Tents of Hope event and the beautiful weather.  Musicians played on a stage set up at the front of the Mall, new tents were painted, and various booths were set up to distribute information, including Amnesty International and Darfur Peace and Development.  Many children stopped by to make masks and shields throughout the day, and we ran out of supplies just as the event ended at dusk.  My sister and I were worn out but exhilarated at the success of the event.
    Sunday morning I had the opportunity to listen to a large group of Darfuri refugee men speak in a small private setting with other Save Darfur conference attendees.  Their accounts of the atrocities and their gratefulness for our work and presence at the conference were humbling for me.  Would I have been so strong if I lost everything and I knew my family was dead or didn’t know what had happened to many of them?  Their faith in our ability to help them greatly increased my determination to continue our work here in Dallas.
    Later I attended a meeting of all Southwest activist groups.  I met a number of STAND students and Save Darfur groups from San Antonio and Phoenix.  Our Texas crowd decided to put together a “Lobby Day” in Austin to go meet with Senator John Cornyn, who is on the Armed Services Committee, and has a say in military policies and funding, such as whether or not we give helicopters to UNAMID for use in Darfur.   That meeting is currently in the works and is scheduled for sometime in late February to early March.
    I ended the day at the Tents of Hope closing ceremonies, the most important part of the Gathering.  Attendees held lights and sang hymns in a message of solidarity, and we said goodbye to our tents before they traveled to Darfur to be used as classrooms for refugees.  As I rode the metro to the airport, I realized I had experienced something very special that weekend.  The things I learned and the people I met will help Defend Darfur Dallas improve even more as an activist group, and hopefully that will translate into greater Dallas-area awareness of the genocide in Darfur.  As John Prendergast said, our politicians will not do anything without our demand for change.  We are the ones who have to make a difference.

Laura McCarthy
Director
Defend Darfur Dallas