Darfur is Dying

Using a game to spread the word about the genocide in the western Sudan is an effective way to reach an audience one might not normally reach. The digital natives I teach all felt compelled about the plight of the villagers who must forage for water and hide from the Janjaweed. We played the game in my class, taking turns at the keyboard as a projector displayed the action on a screen.

The students were engaged and were often shouting out warnings of when and where to hide while foraging for water. They lamented every capture and encouraged mouse overs in the village to discover what each graphic represented. We went through three students and one game re-start before we were able to successfully forage water.

We spent our second period discussing the game and doing further online research. We visited Darfur via Google Earth and I was surprised how much the more the site has since I used it just two months ago. The partnership with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum is outstanding. The students were even more engaged with the icons than the village. As each description or slideshow came up the students were driven more than ever to understand why this was taking place.

The game was a perfect launch point for the lesson & the Google Earth and USMM alliance made for a very compelling lesson.