You wake up in the middle of the night to the smell of smoke outside. Looking around, you see your village up in flames, and hundreds of people fleeing for safety. Sadly, it is not a nightmare: This is life in Darfur, Sudan.

Every three minutes in Darfur, an innocent life is lost to senseless acts of violence by the Sudanese Government. Through the use of the Arab “Janjaweed” militias, its air force, and organized starvation, black Sudanese citizens are being systematically eliminated.

These acts of violence have been speculated to be racially motivated, as the non-Arab citizens of Darfur are being targeted. The conflict between the two groups span centuries, but as reported on www.wikipedia.com, competition between farmers for scarce resources also contributed to the start of the “ethnic cleansing.”

According to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Committee on Conscience, Darfur has been issued a Genocide Warning Alert. Since February 2003, 400,000 civilians have died, and the numbers have continued to grow.

However, students at Quinnipiac have taken an interest in making a difference in a country a thousand miles away.

On Nov. 6, a group of art students gathered in Tator Hall to put together pins and magnets as part of a program called Dolls for Darfur.

With the help of Linda Lindroth, Quinnipiac professor of art and interactive digital design, students glued colorful handmade dolls to pin backings and small magnets. It is her hope that she can raise enough awareness about Darfur that action at a federal level will be taken.

“What can we do? We can’t save a human being,” Lindroth said. “But we can talk about it enough and get enough people aware of it that it gets to the point where action must be taken.”

Although Lindroth hopes to raise money to send to the organization, her main goal is to create awareness among as many people as possible.

Danielle Turner, a senior sociology major, helped make the pins for Darfur. She too had hopes of helping those in need.

“I think it’s really a great idea because it’s different. Money is great, but the more people who are aware of what’s going on, the better. Change will happen the more attention is brought to it,” she said.

For more information or ways you can get involved, contact Professor Linda Lindroth at her Quinnipiac email or log onto www.dollsfordarfur.org.