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U of M students to receive award Friday for work to end child abductions in Sudan
MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL ( 3/5/2008 ) -- A University of Minnesota student, who is leading a human rights trip to Sudan to work towards ending the wave of child abductions that swept up his own nieces, is receiving some much needed financial assistance. Gabriel Solomon-- a former "Lost Boy" of Sudan-- and two other U of M students, Robyn Skrebes and Kaitlin Dougherty, will travel to South Sudan next week. The Sullivan Ballou Fund and the University of Minnesota Human Rights Program will honor the students with a ceremony and reception at 5 p.m. this Friday, March 7, at the law firm of Faegre & Benson, 2200 Wells Fargo Center, 90 Seventh St. S., Minneapolis. Solomon's nieces --Yar, then 3, and Ajak, then 18 months-- were abducted from their home in the village of Liliir last October. His family crisis became a campus-wide student movement at the U last fall has received extensive media coverage. With the ceremony on Friday, the greater Twin Cities community will show its strong support. The Sullivan Ballou Fund will officially award its Sullivan Ballou Award to Solomon in recognition of the courage and personal determination that he has brought to the advocacy campaign. The honor includes a $1,000 award that Solomon will put toward defraying the cost of airfare to Sudan. In an unprecedented step, the fund will award a second $1,000 to be split by Skrebes and Dougherty to defray their costs of travel. The Minneapolis-based Sullivan Ballou Fund, founded in 2003 by Elissa Peterson and Hennepin County District Court Judge Bruce Peterson, has honored more than 30 Minnesotans who "act from the heart." Local attorneys and human-rights practitioners at the event will be encouraged to donate to cover remaining costs. The law firm of Faegre & Benson LLP is lending its facilities for the ceremony and a reception to follow. Members of the public who would like donate can send checks to: "Yar's Campaign to End Child Abduction," 214 Social Sciences Building, 267 19th Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55455. The event also serves as a launch by the University of Minnesota Human Rights Program for the student's advocacy trip. The program's director, Barbara A. Frey, has supported the student campaign against child abduction and helped them obtain special travel permission from the University of Minnesota. Gabriel Solomon, 27, of St. Paul, a master of liberal arts candidate in the U of M College of Continuing Education, is scheduled to depart March 10 for the South Sudan capital of Juba and return this summer. Robyn Skrebes, 27, of St. Paul, a master of public policy candidate in the U of M Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, is scheduled to depart March 12 and return March 25, as is Kaitlin Dougherty, 21, of Hershey, Pa., a sophomore in the U of M College of Liberal Arts. The students are members of Yar's Campaign to End Child Abduction (formerly the Save Yar Campaign), a campus and community coalition supported by the U of M Human Rights Program. Information and photos are available at www.Save-Yar.org. ---------- |
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