Question: What do you get when more than 200 people, including students from six schools in four school districts, walk 3.1 miles with members of eight Sudanese tribes?
Answer: You get the first-ever, Denver area Walk for Sudan, which raised nearly $6,000 on Oct. 20 to help the people of Sudan, an African nation ravaged by two decades of genocide and civil war.
During the past three years, students enrolled in Eaglecrest High School's AVID program(a program that prepares students for college eligibility and success) have raised thousands of dollars to help people in southern Sudan, where two generations have gone uneducated because of the violence and political upheaval.
EHS students have worked with Sudanese refugees, including the famous "Lost Boys of Sudan" and relief organizations such as Project Education Sudan, a Denver-based, non-profit organization that is working to build schools in Sudanese villages.
This year, Eaglecrest students joined forces with students from at least five other Colorado middle and high schools, including Arapahoe and Cherry Creek High Schools and Campus, Laredo and Wellington Middle Schools. While the students might be rivals on the football field or basketball court, they were all on 'Team Sudan' during the walk, which took participants through Cherry Creek State Park.
"It's fun to help people," said Eaglecrest junior
Kathy Naqica. "We're raising money for Eaglecrest's sister school in Sudan. It's a school for girls. They usually don't get to go to school because they have to work to provide food and water for their families."
After the walk, participants were treated to Sudanese music and dancing during the "Celebrate Sudan" festival. Sudanese women demonstrated the difficult art of carrying water on their heads, a daily task in Sudan where fresh water must be carried great distances.
The funds raised through the Walk for Sudan will be used by several local Sudanese relief organizations, including Project Education Sudan, the Nuba Water Project, Africa Today Associates, Community of Sudanese & American Women/Men, Equatorian Sudanese Community Association and Women4Women-Knitting4Peace.
Donations are still being accepted. Just visit
www.ProjectEducationSudan.org or
www.NubaWaterProject.org and click on Walk for Sudan.