Roughly 50 Dellwood Middle School pupils have raised more than $1,000 in aid of the war-torn and ravaged African region of Darfur, in Sudan.

American Tina Hudgins, of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), personally came to the Island to accept the cheque from the students on behalf of the organisation.

Villages burned to the ground, women brutally raped, men and children shot dead at random, mostly by the Janjaweed, a militia drawn from Darfurian and other Arab-speaking tribes, are atrocities that civilians there face daily, Ms Hudgins said yesterday.

Ms Hudgins, an assistant marketing and development manager, based at ADRA’s headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, said: “Sometimes we live very insulated and we think that everyone lives like us and the fact is that we are only the minority.

“There are 6.2 billion people on the planet and almost 50 percent of them live on less than $2 per day. The needs of the world are very great, such as basics like healthcare, water, sanitation, food and things that are immediately available to you and I.

“We’ve been working in Africa since we formed around 1984. We are working with the displaced people of Darfur — the people who’ve had to flee their homes because of the Janjaweed coming through.

“They burn everything and drive people out of their homes. We are providing clean water for them and basic health care.

“Since these funds are specified for Darfur, 100 percent will go to Darfur.”

Ms Hudgins, emphasising that ADRA is a secular entity, but a part of the global Seventh-Day Adventist church, gave details on some of the horrific atrocities that she and other aid workers have witnessed.

“You have people living in their homes — made out of mud and sticks — and suddenly men on camels will come riding into the community with guns, set houses on fire, shoot the men and young boys,” she said.

“They don’t want anyone to rise up against them and are trying to extend their land holdings and this is the way they are doing it — by clearing out communities. Women are fearful of even going to get water because they know, if they leave their village to go and get it, they run the risk of being raped and killed — you hear these stories over and over again.”

According to Dellwood teacher Ellen Kelly, the donation to the charity for Darfur marks the second time M3 students have taken it upon themselves to serve as a catalyst to help those less fortunate.

Over a week, the youngsters mobilised within their respective communities to raise the money through pledges. Last year they selected the African country of Niger and sent funds as part of the same programme.

“Dellwood’s M3 objective is to be benevolent and last year we chose Niger,” explained Mrs. Kelly. “And in doing so, we had to find some sort of relief organisation that would properly disperse the funds.

“A colleague of mine told me about ADRA and trusting that, we sent the funds to them and in return they sent us a thank-you letter informing that they had a local representative.

“We developed a relationship with that person, Lois Wilson, kept the charity as our objective and this year, choose Darfur, in Sudan. ADRA sent a representative to Bermuda to accept the cheque and also spoke at our school about the organisation’s global efforts, specifically, its work in Darfur. In total, we raised $1,015, so ADRA can distribute the funds amongst the people there.

Last year we had a dance-a-thon and this year, because of time constraints, the kids opted to take pledge sheets into the community.”

Thirteen-year-old Calvin Steede said: “Bermuda is a country where everything is given to the children, and I went around and told people about children who are not as fortunate as ourselves.

Calvin, who along with fellow classmate Sharifa Crockwell, 13, was able to raise the most money, added: “I went around and told people about the conditions (in Darfur) and they were shocked. They never heard about people going around Bermuda just to raise money for other countries and they were willing to give hundreds of dollars for our cause.”

For more information about and supporting ADRA, log onto its web site at www.adra.org.