Boston University students gathered for an hour outside Marsh Chapel on Thursday night to pay homage to the recent protests in Egypt.
The Candlelight Vigil for Peace drew more than 60 students eager to find hope in the face of stark challenges here and around the world.
The Dean of Marsh Chapel, Rev. Robert Allan Hill, welcomed the students.
“It is a privilege to welcome all to this vigil for peace in Egypt,” he said. “We thank our student leadership for gathering us.”
Hill reminded the students of the significance of gathering at Marsh Plaza, which is home to the statue honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.
“We all remember Martin Luther King, who was honored here in our plaza, as a peacemaker and a leader of nonviolent resistance,” Hill said. “But what is less often remembered is that his teacher Howard Thurman visited India and visited Gandhi in 1936, many, many years before King’s work, and the seeds of peace were planted at Boston University well before those years.”
Brother Lawrence Whitney, the university chaplain for community life, said that Thursday’s vigil was held particularly to pray for those suffering under oppression, like those in Egypt struggling for a “common vision of the future.”
Whitney lit his candle and passed it around for everybody to light theirs, stating that light is a sign of “hope and fulfillment.”
Sister Olga Yaqob, the co-director of the Catholic Church at BU, closed the vigil with a brief but hopeful message to the students.
“This is a great sacrifice you all are offering here for the intention of peace in the world everywhere and especially in the most troubled spots in the world,” Yaqob said. “If you look up even though it’s very dark and late, you can still see those tiny stars. They are very few but you still can see them.”
Yaqob said that it is important to look forward, and in doing so, pray that the next day will see and end to the violence and unrest in Egypt.
“Maybe the violence won’t end tomorrow or a week from today,” she said. “But it’s our hope and prayer that for your generation and generations after you will experience the peace and hope that we are praying for tonight.”
The student attendees expressed concern over the turmoil in Egypt.
While College of Engineering sophomore Kimaya Agarwal said she does not have a strong opinion on the protests, she said she attended the vigil because her closest friend is from Egypt.
Noting her Indian heritage, Agarwal said she supports Mahatma Gandhi’s belief in peaceful revolution.
“I think they should try to solve it nonviolently,” she said. “Violence is not a solution to anything.”
ENG sophomore Ankita Ray said for as long as she lived in Egypt, Mubarak has been leading a corrupt and unpopular government.
“I’ve lived in Egypt practically all my life,” she said. “I spent all my school life there. A lot of my friends are Egyptians. Whatever’s happening has been affecting me as well.”
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