The University’s sub-Saharan Africa advocacy group, Apwonjo, will be spreading information on the Quad about global human rights issues from Oct. 21-25 for its annual Human Rights Week.
Apwonjo’s Human Rights Week 2013 will explore a different human rights issue each day of the week, with members speaking to passers-by outside Lloyd Hall. The week’s themes will address topics from government corruption to human trafficking.
“We want to start a conversation about these injustices and know more than what the media feed us,” Apwonjo president Ruth Bishop said. “This is a way to start as many of those conversations as we can.”
For the day focusing on malaria, Apwonjo will let students fly kites while they learn about the Kite Patch, a sticker which is being tested in Uganda to prevent disease-transmitting mosquito bites. Bishop said these kinds of physical associations can get people to remember the information they’re trying to communicate.
“We try to incorporate some kind of activity,” Bishop said. “There are people who could get really, really passionate about these things and we want to draw them in.”
Josh Sigler, a senior majoring in communications studies and German and president of Alabama’s International Justice Mission, said he’s seen the effects of events like these in the University’s awareness of worldwide slavery.
“We’ve definitely seen an increase; people will come up and say, ‘Yeah, I’ve heard of that,’” Siglet said. “But every time we set up a table someone will come up who’s never heard of the issue before. We love to see those people who don’t know anything about it become the people who will be the next leaders.”
Sigler said one of the advantages of Human Rights Week is that it addresses enough issues that anyone can be inspired to take action or learn more.
“The hope is at end of the week, no one will have an excuse to not take care of the oppressed and fight for something bigger than themselves,” Sigler said. “I think people forget it’s not just one issue, one injustice, one calamity.”
Wednesday at the Ferg, the University’s Muslim Students Association presented information about the recent conflict in Syria. Sehar Ezez, a sophomore majoring in history and social welfare, said the group wants people to understand the scope of the damage outside of just what affects American politics.
“I think people do know about the conflict there,” Ezez said. “I don’t think people know what the humanitarian effect is. You don’t think about the economic effect of the displacement. You don’t think about the countries around Syria as well.”
Bishop said Apwonjo’s goal for the week isn’t to get donations, although they are welcome, but the goal is to make students think of themselves as global citizens and branch out of their own communities. “If they hear about it now, maybe later down the road they’ll be able to [make] a bigger impact,” Bishop said. “Right now I just want us to realize the place we have in the world.”
