This semester, a group of UMass Boston students founded the Non-Aligned Club with a mission to help change our world. “Instead of focusing on politics, we focus on humanitarian issues,” explains vice president Robert Gakwaya.

For the past few weeks, the Non-Aligned Club’s project, U.M.A.S.S. (United Massive Action to Save the Sudanese of Darfur) has been highly visible on campus, as members have launched a new effort to raise student awareness about the ongoing war in Sudan. Club members have discovered that a number of UMB students had not heard much, if anything, about the crisis.

“[Some] would ask what Darfur is,” Gakwaya recalled. “They think it’s an animal or something.” Yet the vice president sees among his peers a desire to make a difference. “People don’t know but then get interested…[They] get involved and then get family and friends.”

Gakwaya has firsthand experience living through a major humanitarian crisis. Growing up in Rwanda during its bloody civil war, he saw the positive impact that global relief effects can have in hard-hit areas. “Now I am part of the world community,” he explained. “And there’s a lot of work to do.”

The Non-Aligned Club is currently looking at new ways to help those Sudanese men, women and children reliant on international aid for survival. Future projects under consideration include holding campus fundraisers and toy drives.