Words of Understanding and Hope

She sent a draft collection of the poems to the authors and filmmakers behind "Darfur Diaries: Stories of Survival," which documents the atrocities in the region and which the Mill Run teachers had shown in segments to their students. One of the filmmakers, Adam Shapiro, visited Mill Run and spoke to the class in early April.

Williams launched her own company, Open Doors Publishing, to print the collection in time for the fifth-graders' graduation in mid-June. Tenth-graders at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Fairfax County helped with the editing. And Rebecca Williams contacted Angelou, who read the poems and without hesitation offered to write the introduction.

"The courageous person knows that all children are our children as we belong to the world and the world belongs to us," Angelou wrote in her preface to "We Hear You; American Kids' Reflections on Darfur."

The 149 poems -- one for each student -- veer in rhythm and tone from the discipline of a haiku to the loose freedom of a ballad. Lyricism abounds, and delicate black-and-white drawings of huts and lions, bleeding hearts and acrobats perched upon the world leaven subject matter that doesn't often shy from evoking horror and great pain.

" Standing at the edge of freedom . . . / Thinking of my loss," one poem begins.

Another ends in a poignant metaphor:

"The movie just keeps playing

over and over

Won't it ever stop?"

"I was having images of what they were doing in Darfur, and it was kind of scary to me," said Anika Steenstra, 10, whose poem, "A Perfect World," graces the back of a pamphlet explaining the project.

Anika said that at first, she had no notion of what was going on in Darfur. But writing a first poem -- a wish for peace, accompanied by a sketch of a shining world held up by a pair of clasped hands -- immediately provoked her to further study. She browsed the Internet and stumbled on pictures of a little girl with protruding ribs.

"I hope that some children and adults in Darfur will read my poem, because it's for them," she said. "And they should know that someone cares about them and they're not alone."