An actress may seem like an unlikely person to be spreading the word about the injustices in Darfur, Sudan. But on Monday night Mia Farrow proved that such stereotypes are wrong.
Fairfield welcomed Farrow, the award-winning actress, human rights advocate, humanitarian and mother of 14,’ to the Quick Center as part of the Open VISIONS forum Monday night.’
Greeted by a packed audience with pleasure and applause, Farrow quickly turned the auditorium silent with her horrific firsthand stories of the atrocities taking place in the Darfur region of western Sudan.’
Showing the audience a hijaab which she wears around her neck, Farrow explained how it was a gift from a Darfur refugee named Halima. After Halima told Farrow of how she witnessed the murder of three of her five children in one day of bombings by the government-sponsored ‘janjaweed,’ or Arabic for ‘devils on horseback,’ Halima ‘took this hijaab from her neck and insisted that I wear it – for my protection – I who could offer her no protection. She clasped my hands and said, ‘tell people what is happening here. Tell them we will all be slaughtered. Tell them we need help.”
Farrow shared many other stories from her 10 trips to Darfur, all similarly disturbing and gruesome as this one, emphasizing the complete helplessness of the people of Darfur. It is believed that the janjaweed has killed 400,000 Darfurians thus far, and the situation has only gotten worse over the past five years.
Farrow hopes that the knowledge that she is tirelessly working to impart on the world about the Darfur genocide elicits individual as well as global action to end the suffering.’
Urging people to call their legislators, the White House and the United Nations to stress the importance of making Darfur a top tier issue, Farrow offers contact information for the permanent five members of the United Nations Security Council, as well as other information on how to help on her humanitarian Web site, www.miafarrow.org.
Named to the 2008 Time Magazine 100 World’s Most Influential People, Farrow has frequented Darfur and plans to return early next year.
‘I will listen, I will write down every word. Again I will hold broken women in my arms – and again I will promise them I will indeed tell the world what is happening to them. I will take more photographs. And then, somehow – I will leave them there in their hell and come back to an indifferent world.’
During the question and answer session, Farrow displayed a refreshing candidness when asked about her personal life, talking about the invaluable life lesson, ‘With knowledge comes responsibility,’ that she has imparted on her children, to her trip with The Beatles to visit the Maharishi.’
‘I had a short attention span so it was not easy,’ Farrow quipped regarding meditation, adding that spending time with John, Paul, George and Ringo was loads of fun.’ They were so welcome just flowing over with creative things.’
While Farrow divulged her accounts of the Beatles and her acting experiences with the audience, the focus was quickly brought back to the pressing need for aid in the suffering region in Sudan.
As Professor Philip Eliasoph said while prefacing Mia Farrow, ‘Even today we are still indeed plagued by war, death, famine and pestilence,’ and this installment of the Open VISIONS forum presented compelling information by an incredible advocate on the horrors of a genocide occurring in today’s world.’
As a Jesuit university whose mission is ‘to foster in [students] ethical and religious values and a sense of social responsibility,’ Mia Farrow connected the importance of social responsibility and respect for other human beings.
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