Darfur has been in a state of emergency for the last 6 years. The U.N estimates the death toll in Darfur to be around 300,000, according to an article in the Associated Press from April of 2008. Former U.N secretary puts the death toll at no less than 400,000.
The situation in Darfur is unimaginable to most westerners. The word genocide doesn’t render a mental image for me, 400,000 deaths doesn’t either. I know it’s awful but how can I, a 25 year old from the suburbs of Utah, really understand the horror that is really taking place? The key to a non profit organizations success is illustrating their cause so that someone like me can connect emotionally to the cause or situation.
I found a website the other day called Eyes on Darfur. This site profoundly illustrated to me the horror that has and continues to go one in Darfur. The site uses satellites 280 miles above the earth to show the how the government actions are affecting humans in Africa.
In 2005 the government of Zimbabawe forced 700,000 people from their homes. The first image shows the village before. The second shows the village after the government bulldozed the entire village leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless.
I thought to myself after looking at these images – how would I feel if it was my house amongst the ruble. What if the before picture was my neighborhood-Sugarhouse and the government destroyed my home, my neighbors home, the grocery store up the street…everything. What would I do, where would I go and how would I get there?
These images shocked me, the images on the Eyes of Darfur illustrated genocide, these images illustrated an entire village being destroyed. I now feel like I need to help, I need to do something, anything for the people of Darfur. I encourage non profit marketers to look at this site, then look at their own and ask themselves “Does my organizations website compel me to connect emotionally with my cause?
These images are not only used to gain support of the cause. Amnesty International is using the satellite images to watch over the 12 intact and vulnerable villages in Darfur. The project is lead by the Crisis Prevention and Response Center, Amnesty Internationals response center for preventing human rights crises around the world. The project is funded by Save Darfur.
