Student Advocacy Group: Scarlett for Darfur

With the ongoing genocide in Darfur, many people are stepping up to raise awareness and money to help support the victims of this horrible massacre. Reprinted from the Scarlett Fever, here’s an interview with a member of a student-led group from Dr. E.P. Scarlett High School that plans to bring about a big change.

Scarlett for Darfur, now a part of Lancer Pride, is a relatively new student organization after only one year of operation, but they already have big plans for the coming year. The Fever spoke with Jocelyn Andruko, a very involved member since the start, to ask her what it’s all about.

FEVER: Can you summarize what it’s all about?
ANDRUKO: The purpose of the group is to raise awareness about the genocide happening in Darfur, and to raise money to help fix the situation. Last year, we were a part of the Darfur Challenge, which had a series of “challenges” (for number of signatures collected on a petition, amount of money raised…) which benefitted the Darfur/Sudan Peace Network, but this year I think we’re going to be doing our own thing and working directly with the charity. We do a lot of small fundraisers, but last year most of those were combined with a petition signing or letter writing campaign, so that people would understand where their money was actually going, and why.

FEVER: Where does the money go?
ANDRUKO: Last year, our money went to the Darfur/Sudan Peace Network, which is a Canadian non-profit that advocates for international activity to help genocide victims in Sudan. They submit petitions to the provincial and federal government, as well as redirecting most of the funds to other charities, like War Child, which take a more direct approach in helping individuals in the genocide (like providing clean water and food).

FEVER: What was your personal motivation for joining?
ANDRUKO: To be honest, when I first joined it was because a couple of my friends were just starting the group and they needed members and help with organization, so it was mostly a favour to them. I always feel really good about working for charities and helping out people who are less fortunate, so I was definitely interested in that aspect, but I didn’t really learn much about the charity or anything until the group really started going. Since then, it’s been so successful and so much fun that I’m definitely glad I joined, even if it might not have been for the best of motivations at the time.

FEVER: What has been your favourite fundraiser so far?
ANDRUKO: I know a lot of people really loved the Michael Bernard Fitzgerald concert, and that was really great, but my favourite was definitely the sumo-suit wrestling rematch between Mr. Deis and Mr. Wyton last spring. Everyone had so much fun, and we got a huge crowd and lots of donations, so it was definitely worth it. I’m told there’s going to be a sequel this year, but you’ll have to talk to Mr. Deis and Mr. Wyton about that.

FEVER: What have you learned though your participation in this group?
ANDRUKO: I learned a lot about the Sudan/Darfur genocide, but the biggest thing I’ve learned is how effective even such a small group can be if everyone is equally willing to dedicate a little time. Last year, there were only about 15 or 20 of us and we raised a LOT of money, as well as getting hundreds of signatures for our petition and sending in a giant stack of letters for our letter writing campaign. That was a lot better than we expected, given our size, and I think it was definitely because everyone was so dedicated to our cause.

FEVER: What would you tell someone who was a little hesitant about joining?
ANDRUKO: I’d definitely tell them to go for it. It’s really not that much work to be a part of, and a lot of times all we need is someone to bake some cookies or even just to tell their friends about us. We’ve always been a really small group and could really use the numbers, so anyone looking to be involved even a little bit should definitely consider joining.

FEVER: Do you have any plans to continue your advocacy work after high school?
ANDRUKO: Well, next year I’ll be off to university and I don’t know how much extra money or time I’ll have to spend on charity work, but I’ll definitely still try to help out in any way I can. Universities have tons of charity groups and clubs, and this is a pretty important one, so I’ll try to get involved there.