RESIDENTS RALLY TO RAISE AWARENESS ABOUT DARFUR
By Mary Anne Ross
Correspondent
Old Bridge Suburban, NJ
September 14, 2006
Three moms start N.J. chapter of Committee on Conscience
MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Members of the Degutz family, including (from
left) Rachel, 8, mom Audrey, dad Allen, and Danielle, 10, joined the
candlelight vigil "Shine a Light for Darfur" last Thursday night at
the East Brunswick municipal complex.
EAST BRUNSWICK – Genocide and ethnic cleansing may be terms that most
Americans associate with events of long, long ago.
Perhaps it’s easy not to notice when they occur in a remote,
little-known country on the other side of the world. But three East
Brunswick residents have taken notice, and they are working hard to
make sure other people will too.
Leslie Klein, Stephanie Stern and Debbie Schlossberg are all busy,
working moms brought together by their concern for the people of
Darfur, a section of the Sudan that has been the scene of a violent
civil war.
The woman support the Save Darfur Coalition, an alliance of more than
170 faith-based, advocacy and humanitarian organizations. According
to the coalition, the Sudanese government has targeted three tribal
groups for ethnic cleansing, and this has resulted in at least 400,000
people being killed and more than 2 million innocent civilians being
displaced.
Klein, Stern and Schlossberg decided the best way to highlight
the plight of the people of Darfur was to start a chapter of the
Committee on Conscience here in New Jersey. Their organization is part
of the larger United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Committee
on Conscience, whose goal is to halt acts of genocide and crimes
against humanity.
The group’s first public event was a candlelight vigil held outside
the East Brunswick municipal complex last Thursday night. The ceremony
included the recitation of a United Nations prayer, readings of poetry
and a message from an Armenian anti-genocide group.
Schlossberg was happy with the turnout.
"There were students from the high school and a real mix of people
from the community," she said. "Our goal was to raise awareness of
the situation in Darfur and I think we did that."
More events are planned. On Oct. 16, Mayor William Neary is expected
to sign and read a proclamation on the issue during a Township
Council meeting.
"We are hoping people from the community will attend to show support,"
Klein said.
This Sunday, they will participate in the "New York City Save Darfur
Now: Voices to Stop Genocide Rally."
The rally, which is part of a global event, will be held from 2 to
5 p.m. in the East Meadow of Central Park.
"We want to put pressure on the U.N. to put a peace-keeping force in
the area to prevent further acts of genocide," Schlossberg said. "We
also want President Bush to assign a special envoy to the area.
That position has been vacant since the last envoy left, and there
are still funds available for the spot."
Schlossberg, who works full time and has two children, Yoav, 20,
and Noa, 16, has been actively involved in activities to help stop
the genocide in Darfur through local synagogues for the past few
years. Last year, she coordinated the area Freedom Walk, an event
designed to highlight the genocide. She decided to help start the
Committee on Conscience to spread the word outside of the local
temples.
"I wanted to reach out to the broader community," she said.
Klein had never been involved in any kind of activism prior to
co-founding the chapter of the Committee on Conscience. She works full
time as an engineer and has two sons, David and Robert Kolchmeyer,
ages 14 and 11, respectively.
"I started reading about what was happening in the papers and there
was just something about innocent people being slaughtered with no
place to hide. I felt I needed to do something," she said.
Klein pointed out that the Committee on Conscience is not just focused
on Darfur.
"We want to deal with the things that can lead to genocide before
it happens," she said. Klein has been researching material that
can be used in schools to teach students of all ages about genocide
and racism.
She also said the group will be networking with religious organizations
and community groups, such as Stop Hatred and Amnesty International.
Stern is a psychiatrist with three boys – Jacob, 4, David, 8, and
Jonah, 10. She became involved through her synagogue, and last year
housed a former Sudanese slave who participated in the Freedom Walk
and also gave a talk at her temple.
"People are not uncaring; they are just busy," Stern said. "We want
to be a conduit for information."
She also feels it’s important to be a role model for her children.
"You can’t teach this by talking. You have to be a model," she said.
Local residents attending the upcoming rally in New York City should be
able to connect with members of the N.J. Committee on Conscience. Klein
said the group will have a person with a banner at the entrance to
the rally who can direct people to their location in the park.
For more information about the rally and other upcoming
events, visit the N.J. Committee on Conscience Web site at
The Save Darfur Coalition can be found at