Calendar | Directions | Donate | Sitemap | Home
About Maimonides Admissions Elementary School Middle School Upper School Parents Alumni
WELCOME
CALENDAR
CURRICULUM
STUDENT SUPPORT SERVICES
STAFF DIRECTORY
NEWS & EVENTS
  - Kol Rambam Newsletter
  - Kol Rambam Weekly
  - News Archive
PHOTO GALLERY
ISRAEL CONNECTION
ACTIVITIES & ORGANIZATIONS
ATHLETICS
LEVY LIBRARY
COLLEGE COUNSELING
SUMMER READING 2010

News Archive

2006-12-05

Sudanese Refugee Encourages Student Activism

A Sudanese refugee who is now studying at a New England campus told Maimonides Middle and Upper School students recently that they have the power to help save the beleaguered population of the Darfur region. “Rally for the people of Darfur,” urged 24-year-old Gabriel Mabil. “Tell all your friends. Write your senators—the government of the United States is a people’s government.”

Mr. Mabil recounted his harrowing 1987 river crossing to Ethiopia, fleeing with thousands of other children from marauding forces. “The government that was killing people in the south is the same government that is killing people in Darfur,” he asserted.

He said that although “sometimes I thought it was a good idea to die,” he learned that “I don’t want to se e another person suffering to the same scale as I did. Let’s do all that is necessary to make sure that it stops… You kids and your teachers can make a big difference in the world today, and Darfur is an example.”

Mr. Mabil attended high school in Kenya, where he learned English, and immigrated to the United States in 2003. He said he was settled by the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Burlington, VT, and today is a student at the state university there. He hopes to obtain U.S. citizenship. Maimonides School parent Jan Feldman, a UVM professor, arranged for his visit to the school.

Back