“Darfur/Darfur,” a traveling exhibit of photos from Darfur, begins a weekend of events at Brown University about the Sudan conflict. Yesterday, actress Mia Farrow, a UNICEF goodwill ambassador presented photos from her recent visits to Sudan.

The Providence Journal / Glenn Osmundson

PROVIDENCE — If the torment of the half-million souls who’ve perished in the continuing genocide in Darfur and East Chad could be captured simply in a few faces, it could look like this:

The empty, grief-slitted eyes of a mother who saw invaders throw her three children into a burning hut. The scarred face of a woman who’d been raped by 20 or 30 men and endured as they extinguished their cigarettes on her cheeks. The glassy-eyed children, maybe 5 or 7 years old, who hadn’t eaten in a week, and when the photo was taken, still didn’t know where they could go for help.

Actress Mia Farrow, speaking as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador, took these photos during her visits to the country in 2004 and 2006. As Farrow narrated the stunning photos before an audience of more than 200 people at Brown University’s List Art Center last night, she gestured toward an amulet around her slender neck.

It was the only adornment she wore. It had been given to her by a woman who’d fought with invaders yanking her baby boy from her arms. The men bayoneted the baby, Farrow said. Only two of the woman’s five children survived.

The mother gave Farrow the amulet for the actress’ own protection. “She clasped my two hands and said, ‘Tell people what’s happening here. Tell them we’re being slaughtered. Tell them we need help.’ ”

Farrow added in her soft voice: “I’m trying.”

Farrow was joined by Susannah Sirkin, the deputy director of Physicians for Human Rights, and Smith College Prof. Eric Reeves in an hourlong discussion about the urgency in ending the genocide in Darfur. The discussion last night was part of the Northeast regional conference of Students Taking Action Now: Darfur (STAND), and it coincided with a two-day traveling exhibit, “Darfur/Darfur,” that shows the pictures by seven photojournalists who’ve covered the war in Darfur.

The photos in the exhibit were so similar, at times, with the photos that Farrow took on her own visits — the mix of horrible and inhumane, with sometimes stark beauty of the few surviving villages. Interspersed were pictures of the Janjaweed, the Arab militias of boys and young men who have been given the freedom by the Sudan government to attack villages, murder, rape, and destroy whoever and whatever they find. They sit on camels or inside trucks with guns draped over them. A cluster of them rode inside and on the top of a Toyota Land Cruiser; one of the men grinned like a ghoul at the camera in one of Farrow’s pictures.

They have driven 2.5 million people from their villages. They and the government in Khartoum, the capital, are harassing and intimidating the 1,300 humanitarian workers who are aiding the survivors, Reeves said. The situation is so dire that last week 14 humanitarian agencies signed a letter declaring they could no longer operate without greater security. Humanitarian actions are in freefall, Reeves said, and when the aid agencies leave — the world loses its witnesses and last stand against the genocide.

Both he and Sirkin implored the audience to pressure their political leaders to take charge in divestment campaigns against Sudan and with countries invested in Sudan. China has the leverage and the investment to push Khartoum to provide the aid workers with security, Reeves said.

The state’s new general treasurer, Frank Caprio Jr., said he’d put his office behind a new bill submitted by Providence Rep. Joseph Almeida to divest from Sudan. Afterward, Caprio took Farrow aside to quickly film a short video message for the general treasurer’s Web site about Darfur.

And there are other Rhode Islanders who are already doing the work.

Sitting behind Farrow and Sirkin was Warwick resident Richard Morsilli, whose son David is working for the International Rescue Committee in South Darfur. David Morsilli managed shelters for the Red Cross in Gulfport, Miss., after Hurricane Katrina. Now, he is managing a shelter for 200,000 refugees in Kass.

The stories David tells are about the people’s smiles, about their gratitude and grace, and about the children who find ways to play, even making toy cars out of discarded oil cans. David had already spent a year there, when he signed up for a second tour, his father said.

“He feels it’s impossible not to go back,” Richard Morsilli said. “The people appreciate everything the humanitarian workers are doing.”

The Northeast Regional Conference of STAND continues this weekend, with a public event tonight at 7:30 at Sayles Hall featuring former Clinton administration adviser Anthony Lake discussing the situation in Sudan. A showing of “Darfur/Darfur” is from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at the List Art Center; the exhibit’s Web site is www.darfurdarfur.org where visitors can learn more about the crisis.

amilkovi@projo.com