Hippies Discover Computers - UC Berkeley Reunites Civil War Refugees
This is actually a pretty cool story.
University of California, Berkeley officials say that a DNA database can help adopted El Salvador natives become reunited with family members they were separated from during their country’s civil war from 1980 to 1992.
The database was developed by the state Department of Justice and UC Berkeley’s Human Rights Center.
UC-Berkeley officials say large numbers of babies and youngsters were snatched from their families by soldiers during military sweeps to wipe out leftist guerilla sympathizers during the armed conflict.
According to Human Rights Center officials, some children were raised on military bases and others were placed in orphanages or foster homes.
They say many of the younger children were adopted by families in the U.S. and Europe who were led to believe the children had been orphaned by the war or abandoned by their parents.
Eric Stover, director of the Human Rights Center, which does research on war crimes and other abuses, said, “Decades later, the families of these abducted children are still searching for their children.”
Stover said, “DNA analysis offers the best hope of positively identifying these children — many of whom are now young adults — and reuniting them with their relatives.”
This is one of those really exciting events that comes around so rarely. A university program that genuninely gives back to the local and global community without significant concern for fundraising potential, etc. Projects like these are what make UC Berkeley what it is not only in the US but globally.
