School kits are valuable aid for Darfur.

Byline: GUEST VIEWPOINT By Jill Roth and Becky Schenck For The Register-Guard

How can we in Lane County best respond to the needs of displaced persons in Darfur? This issue, raised in letters to the editor and elsewhere, was the first question our humanitarian aid committee had to answer when we met in late March. Should we attempt to raise cash? Should we send material aid?

To help make our decision, we contacted Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), an agency with a long history of providing relief to refugees around the world, and one of the few agencies still sponsoring workers in Darfur. MCC relies on cash donations to provide food, shelter and medicine - commodities they purchase as close to the receiving region as possible. However, MCC assured us that supplies, in addition to cash, are essential and always welcome - especially school kits, their most-requested item worldwide.

MCC welcomes school kits from communities such as ours, because sewing the cloth bags that hold the supplies is labor-intensive - a service that individuals, quilting circles and church groups can provide. Sewing a cloth bag and filling it makes each school kit very personal, adding a dimension that can never be accomplished by shipping large quantities of paper and pencils to a camp on a pallet. A simple drawstring cloth bag containing school supplies is a tangible reminder to the child that someone is aware of his plight: the raid of his home, the separation of his family, the rape of his mother, the death of his father - realities for many children in the displacement camps.

Our committee decided that the timing for assembling school kits was perfect. We could elicit help from the community to sew cloth bags throughout the summer, and we could take advantage of back-to-school sales to buy school supplies inexpensively. MCC sends a truck annually from the West Coast to the East Coast in October, so our school kits can hop a ride at no additional cost to MCC or to us. We set a goal to complete 1,000 school kits by Oct. 1 and began sewing cloth bags.

Our experiences during the past three months have proven MCC's advice true. People in our community want to help others in dire circumstances, and many want the `from-our-hands-to-your-hands' approach when they give. Since Bob Welch featured the school kit project in his Register-Guard column on July 9, we have received over 100 phone calls from people asking how they can help.

Why don't these people just send a check to MCC or another reputable agency? We believe that assembling a school kit touches the hearts and minds of both sender and recipient in a way that isn't possible by sending cash. In addition, the personal nature of the school kit project has provided many opportunities to raise people's awareness of the Darfur genocide and their understanding of how they can address the issue politically.

Recently we contacted the MCC director of material aid to bring him up to date on our school kit project: As of Aug. 13, we have received more than 1,200 completed school kits from our community, with many more still to come. The director applauded our efforts and shared the report of an MCC observer recently returned from Darfur. Though food, shelter, and safety needs are still extremely critical, the displaced individuals with whom he spoke said they value the education of their children above everything. In fact, some families considered returning to their homes, but chose to stay in the camp where their children could attend school.

In September or October, representatives of MCC and other aid agencies will meet with the Sudanese government to negotiate sending aid to the country. This is a routine procedure, but if all goes well, we can expect the school kits assembled by Lane County citizens to be part of an MCC shipment to Darfur - to be used and cherished by the children there.

Jill Roth and Becky Schenck are members of the Humanitarian Aid Committee of the Lane County Darfur Coalition. For information about the Darfur school kit project, call Roth at 338-8789 or Schenck at 484-9156.