STAND Mizzou holds benefit

By Jess Camp

Published May 1, 2007

STAND Mizzou, formerly known as Students Taking Action Now: Darfur and now called A Student Anti-Genocide Coalition, organized a week filled with events to promote awareness of the genocide in Darfur. The group ended the week with a benefit concert by three local bands.

STAND Mizzou President Julie VanMater said organizers intended for the concert to be held outdoors downtown, but the stormy weather forced them to move it.

"We wanted it to be downtown in the community to bring in people who wouldn't have known about it otherwise," VanMater said.

Despite the change, STAND Mizzou managed to raise $600 for Darfur from the concert alone.

"This was supposed to be downtown. There's probably a lot of people not here because they didn't know that it had been moved," audience member and sophomore Kelly Harbke said. She said she came out mostly to see senior Brady Didion, who she said is a wonderful guitar player.

Didion was the second performer of the evening to take the stage, and he said it wasn't hard to get involved with this show. He's a member of STAND Mizzou and played in a benefit concert at the Cherry Street Artisan earlier in the year.

He said he enjoys being on stage: "It's a time where I don't think about anything. I have no responsibility then, I just get into the music."

Didion said he is passionate about the plight in Darfur.

"I went on a mission trip to Mexico with my church and it opened my eyes to the global poverty that America doesn't see," he said.

He said his passion evolved from an awakening to human suffering.

Senior Kami Narayan said throughout the show, a PowerPoint presentation displayed 400,000 faces to represent people who have died in Darfur.

"This shows that American students are willing to take a stand against this tragedy," Narayan said.

Each person had his or her own reason for participating in this event.

"I lived in Egypt for a while, and Sudanese refugees came to the church that I went to," sophomore Caitlin Garing said.

Graduate student Jenna Bilhorn said she came to support her friends.

"I get to support a great cause and great friends. It's an awesome thing to see that people care around college campuses. Seeing my friends so passionate is amazing," she said.

During the show, STAND Mizzou member Daniel Dorsey took the stage to tell people what the money they raised would go to. He said in Darfur, people cook their food in wood-burning ovens.

But men, women and children all encounter difficulties when they gather wood. Men could be shot if spotted, children often cannot collect heavy wood, and women, often left with the burden of gathering wood, sometimes get raped and hurt when they leave their houses. To help prevent potential rapes and injuries, 70 percent of the money raised will go to a fire brigade to escort women during their search for firewood.