On April 17, Morrisville State College will be hosting an event called The Darfur Project. But how many of us know what is happening in Darfur?

As Americans, it is nearly impossible to imagine living in fear of our government. But that is exactly what the people of Darfur, a region of Sudan, have been doing for decades: everything they can to survive.

Akuot Leek, a 19-year-old woman attending Cazenovia College, looks no different than your typical college student. However, under her smiling exterior is a woman who has been through what most college students cannot imagine.

Akuot is from the Sudan and for most of her life has been moving from place to place, afraid to even sit down because, she said, "the enemy might come and kill us." She has seen dead bodies. She has had diseases that we are vaccinated for before we know how to speak. This woman has known what it is like to be starving.

It is commonplace in Darfur as well as Sudan that people carry machine guns on their shoulders to guard their cattle and children. Since the people do not have jobs, cattle are used like currency, and the children are stolen to guard the cattle.

Dr. David Reed, of Cazenovia, traveled throughout the Sudan from clinic to clinic to help the Sudanese people.  Among the diseases he saw and treated were parasites, measles, malaria, meningitis and guinea worm, an intestinal worm up to six feet long that uses a human as its host.

Akuot has had malaria and intestinal parasites that felt like "something swallowed my belly," she said. At night, Akuot could feel the parasites moving in her stomach and could barely sleep. Reed said parasites were among the most commonly treated problems and were able to be treated with just one pill.

For most Sudanese, it takes two days to travel to the closest clinic, and even then many will die. Reed said the 100 beds in one clinic he worked in were full every night, and every morning at least three children had died. Two of every five children will die before they reach age five.

Despite hardship, Akuot said she would like to go back to bring what she has learned here to Sudan. Her people have become closer because of the tragedy they have faced, and Akuot feels she is "not giving enough" and would like to "give back to my people."

The people of Sudan receive help from the United Nations. Before the UN became involved there were "no hospitals, no food and no clothes," Akuot said.

"Women in Sudan are the toughest women in the world," Reed said. Men spend most of their time guarding cattle while the women get water, take care of children, make food and provide comfort with few material possessions. Akuot is just one of many women who have faced this disaster, and she will not be the last.

In America, we do not personally know the heartbreak these people have faced and are still facing. We can only help as much as we want to. By becoming aware of the genocide happening in Sudan, we can help in changing lives.

Akout Leek has known this tragedy and says "you have freedom; thank God for it."

For more on The Darfur Project at MSC, go to http://thechimes.morrisville.edu/darfur.htm