Lisle resident, Gene Tenner, and two local Sudanese residents, Wilson Luol and John Elnakal, will give a power point presentation and question and answer session on the genocide in Darfur, the western region of Sudan, at the Thursday, April 10th meeting of the DuPage Democratic Club.

The meeting will held at the Lombard Community Building, 433 E. St. Charles Road, Lombard and will begin promptly at 8:00 PM.

Since early 2003, Sudanese government forces and militia called “Janjaweed” have been engaged in an armed conflict with rebel groups called the Sudanese Liberation Army/Movement (SLA/SLM) and the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM). As part of its operations against the rebels, government forces waged a systematic campaign of “ethnic cleansing” against the civilian population who are members of the same ethnic groups as the rebels. Sudanese government forces and the Janjaweed militias burned and destroyed hundreds of villages, caused tens of thousands of civilian deaths, displaced millions of people, and raped and assaulted thousands of women and girls.

As of September 2007, approximately 2.2 million displaced people live in camps in Darfur and more than 200,000 people have fled to neighboring Chad, where they live in refugee camps. In addition to the people displaced by the conflict, at least 2 million additional people are considered “conflict-affected” by the UN and many need some form of food assistance because the conflict has damaged the local economy, markets, and trade in Darfur.

“The presentation features the real life story of the Lost Boys of Sudan, a group of 10,000 young Sudanese boys who marched the equivalent of Chicago-to-Denver and survived, starvation, thirst, animals, insects and disease across a barren landscape, only to face dismal relief camp conditions,” said Tenner. “There is now a thriving and active Sudanese community in DuPage County, and two Sudanese leaders, Wilson and John, will join me to add their own personal perspective.”

Gene Tenner is an area Communications Director and political activist, who is involved in the Save Darfur movement.

Wilson M. Luol grew up in the Upper Nile region of Sudan.  He was one of the “Lost Boys” displaced from his home during the waves of violence that swept through his country.  As an “unaccompanied minor” he fled to Ethiopia.  Wilson arrived in the United States in 2000 and is now married with four children.  Two were born in Ethiopia and two were born in the U.S.  He has been active in the Sudanese Community Church, helping Sudanese still suffering from violence and poverty, and in advocating for a Sudanese Community Center in Illinois.

John Enakal grew up in the Nuba Mountain region of Sudan.  He fled the violence of his home country and escaped to Egypt, where he lived for one challenging year.  He arrived in the United States in February of 2000.  John is the first member of his tribe to come to the United States, and the first member of his family to attend school or speak a foreign language.  He strives to one day go home to help his family and those left behind in the Sudan.

Both Wilson Luol and John Elnakal are leaders in the Sudanese Community Church in Wheaton and advocates for Illinois’ Sudanese community.

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