FALL 2007 ANNOUNCEMENTS

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Darfur Fast, Dec. 5th!

LOCATION: Reitz Union, Turlington Plaza, Plaza of the Americas,

Today is the Darfur Fast, a national day of support for the refugees of the Darfur genocide. All day, we will be tabling at the Plaza of the Americas, Turlington and the Reitz Union Collonnade to hand out information about the genocide and about what people can do to help. We will also be collecting monetary donations to help the refugees, and giving out pizza at lunch time.

Some of you have offered to help us table tomorrow, but we still need more volunteers. The Plaza of the Americas is taken care of, so we need people at Turlington and the Reitz.

Finally, we are screening a documentary - Darfur Diaries - at 5 p.m. in the Reitz Cinema!

Beatrice Fernando Speech Covered by Alligator, G-ville Sun!

(Jason Henry / Alligator)

Thanks to all who helped with the extremely successful event last Thursday! We had a great turnout, and Beatrice's speech was an incredibly moving story of both tragedy and the resilience of the human spirit. The event of her speech was a triumph in itself, but Beatrice reminded all those who attended that slavery is not history and is something that we should be actively aware of and engaged in prevention.

Read the Alligator article!

Read the Gainesville Sun article!

Help Beatrice's foundation to assist victims of slavery!

And, if interested, buy Beatrice's book!

Speaker: Beatrice Fernando, Thursday, November 29th, 7:00 PM!

ROOM LOCATION: UF Hillel

Beatrice Fernando is a survivor of slavery. After answering an ad for a local agency looking to employ housemaids, she went to Lebanon in 1980. Unbeknownst to her, this was a sinister set-up to lure young people into slavery.

Beatrice was forbidden to leave the house where she worked and was beaten and starved. Desperate to escape her evil captors, she jumped off a fourth floor balcony and was paralyzed.

Today, Beatrice lives in Massachusetts and is able to walk and function normally. Finally able to tell her life's story, she has published her memoir in a riveting new book entitled, In Contempt Of Fate. She is one of 27 million modern slaves worldwide.

Film Screening: Slavery: A Global Investigation, Tuesday, November 27th, 6:00 PM!

ROOM LOCATION: Reitz Union Auditorium

True Vision of London produced this 80-minute documentary inspired by the book Disposable People. Filmmakers Brian Edwards and Kate Blewett actually buy slaves in Africa and help free child slaves in India. The film exposes slavery in the rug-making sector of Northwest India, the cocoa plantations in the Ivory Coast, and even the home of a World Bank official in Washington, D.C. Small, personal stories of slavery are woven together to tell the larger story of slavery in the global economy.

The film won the Peabody Award in 2001.

General Body Meeting, Wednesday, Nov. 14th, 7:30 PM!

ROOM LOCATION: Turlington 2353

It has been awhile since our last meeting, so this Wednesday we are going to get together and talk about our plans for the rest of the semester. They include:

Everyone is welcome to come!

After the meeting, we are going to paint the 34th street wall with a Slavery Awareness slogan. Everyone is invited to that, as well. We will probably head over there around 8 p.m.

Seminal Human Rights Issues of Our Times Discussion, Tuesday, Oct. 23rd, 8:00 PM!

ROOM LOCATION: Jessica Ponn's Apt. Call (954) 562-2293 for directions.

As per one of the initiatives we have taken to help with the creation of a UF Center for Social Responsibility, this coming Tuesday we will host a discussion on the seminal human rights issues of our times. Our intention is to lay out what we believe are among the defining themes of this period in history and examine to what degree they are covered (or not covered) by the mass media. Some general conceptual areas we might consider are:

This is by no means an exhaustive list, so come prepared and bring your thinking caps! We hope to see all of you there!

Education and Sustainability in The Gambia, Tuesday Night, Oct. 16th, 7:00 PM!

ROOM LOCATION: RINKER 110

We will be hearing from former HRAC treasurer Nikolas Wolfe about a project he helped work on over the summer in the Gambia, which involved the building of a sustainable high school. It will be an informative presentation to discuss some of the issues of sustainability and education in Africa and how projects fare in addressing them.

Resources:

For more information about the project, see the website here: Durokuto
Information about solar projects in Africa: Renewable Energy in Africa
(The above document is the author's own work and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of Human Rights Awareness on Campus. It is intended simply as a source of general background information.)

This event is co-sponsored with Gators for a Sustainable Campus!

Old announcements archived

Want to see what we've done in the past? Read our archived announcements from Spring 2007, Fall 2006, Spring 2006, or the totally retro Original HRAC site!