My class has been learning about the Darfur genocide, and I would like more coverage on Darfur in hopes people will educate themselves and motivate our governments to act.

About 400,000 are dead; the amount is rising. Did you know homes are being burned, women are being attacked and people let it occur everyday?

We have the power to act, but we don’t. We have resources and should have learned from the Holocaust. So why, when we know what’s happening, do we turn our backs? It’s our duty as part of the universe to help when we know of wrongdoings and be leaders, not bystanders.

We make an impact on how the world thinks and creates their opinions, so there is no reason we cannot act. I have learned it’s important for my one voice to be heard, as well as other youths of our nation.

There is little about Darfur in the newspapers. We need change, there’s barely any coverage. My eighth-grade class probably knows more about Darfur than the average citizen.

Some 2.5 million civilians are threatened because of their ethnicity in Sudan. People fleeing Darfur are still unstable. They have little food, water, and their homes are makeshift tents made of cloth and/or cardboard. Black Sudanese who live in Darfur’s camps are unsafe because attacks remain possible.

The world needs to understand what’s happening. People read the news daily, which makes it easy for facts to circulate. The world should know about this atrocity.

Camille Dionne, Lewiston