MTV Networks’ mtvU college network, the Reebok Human Rights Foundation and the International Crisis Group are hardly playing around when it comes to raising awareness for the genocide taking place in the Darfur region of Sudan.
The trio announced a winner in the “mtvU Darfur Digital Activist” competition -- a project created to educate college students about the human-rights situation in the Sudan using the digital media they understand.
As a result, "Darfur Is Dying," a viral video game created by a group of activists from the University of Southern California, will launch this Sunday at the "Save Darfur: Rally to Stop Genocide" in Washington, D.C.
From there, the free game will be made available for play online (www.darfurisdying.com) starting Sunday. Olympic Games speed-skating gold medalist Joey Cheek -- who donated his $40,000 Olympic prize to relief efforts in the Sudan -- and Georgetown University senior Nate Wright will be on hand to officially launch the game at an event staged near the steps of the U.S. Capitol building. Cheek and Wright -- founder of Students Taking Action Now: Darfur -- will send the game to everyone in their personal e-mail address books.
"College students were among the first to cry out for an end to the atrocities in Darfur, and this game is another way mtvU is serving as their megaphone," mtvU general manager Stephen Friedman said. "Darfur Is Dying is a powerful tool college students can use to help stop the genocide in Sudan, and we applaud the USC team for their important contribution to this critical cause."
