Nov 21, 2007
Greenwich teens dance for peers in Darfur
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Last year students from area high schools joined together and raised money at the first “Dance for Darfur” to build a school for girls in the Sudanese region. However, their efforts didn’t stop with building the school.
Last Friday, the students got together once more to raise money, but this time for the maintenance of the school, which should be built by the end of December and ready for classes to begin by January.
The chairpeople for the dance were Greenwich High School students Sammie Lazar, Claire Mitchell, Isabella Isbiroglu, Melody Kim and Jessica Moore, Fairfield College Preparatory School student Louie Baugier, Brunswick student Peter Hadjipateras, Greenwich Academy student Alexa Salamé, and Convent of the Sacred Heart student Liz Carr.
Sammie said she was inspired for last year’s dance by a priest who taught at St. Agnes and would visit the Sudan often. He spoke to her class about the genocide in Africa and showed photos from his trips to Africa.
“It really touched me,” she said of the images she saw and the knowledge of genocide she gained while attending St. Agnes.
Alexa said she was excited to be involved in the fund-raiser this year.
“It’s great going back and finishing something we started,” she said of the second Dance for Darfur.
Teens paid $10 to enter the event.
Tasneem Ghogawala, co-president of the Greenwich Leadership Council, a volunteer group working with Save the Children, said the goal of the dance was twofold: to raise money for the school in Darfur and to encourage Greenwich to become part of the global community.
“It lets young kids know it takes so little to make a difference,” she said of the $10 for admission, which in the end goes a long way for children in Darfur.
They had been working with Terry Torok from Live From Earth, who traveled to Darfur earlier this month. The students, with help from the Greenwich Leadership Council, were able to coordinate four organizations, Chat the Planet, Live From Earth, Mogulus, and Ground Report, to deliver a live webcast.
Melody said the webcast was a late addition to the event and was really going to be a surprise for most of the students. It was going to be a short connection due to the time difference and technology, but she said they were looking to just ask three or four questions about life in Darfur and how the money they’ve raised has impacted the students.
Amy Baker from Chat the Planet said she was excited to see what the webcast was going to look like when it was all done. It was her first time doing a webcast like that involving a school and she said she thought it was great to give the students a tangible idea of where their money was going.
Unfortunately, they were not able to connect, but the students raised more than $10,000 for the maintenance of the school.
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
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