BERMUDA women raised $1,400 for charity and took home gifts in exchange as part of a unique fundraiser for people suffering in Sudan's Darfur region.

Called Switch 'n' Bitch - a take on the popular Stitch 'n' Bitch knitting groups worldwide - the event was designed to assist the estimated 2 million Africans now suffering from widespread violence in the area.

Females were invited to bring unwanted clothing, a bottle of wine and their pocketbooks for a private, second-hand sale benefiting the British Red Cross' Darfur Crisis Appeal.

"I just thought it would be a fun, easy thing to do to raise money for charity," explained the organiser who circulated an e-mail inviting friends to come and bring others along, to her home on September 13. "We all cleared out our closets and the clothes were sold for a flat fee of $10. It was a fun, girls' night in honour of a great cause and it was also quite green in that we were not buying new clothes."

The woman, who preferred not to publicise her efforts, said she was moved by the genuine plight of those in the region and hoped that friends and acquaintances might feel the same. In her e-mail, she shared a snapshot of the crisis as described by the Red Cross on its web site.

"Around 4.5 million people have been directly affected by violence in Darfur, Chad and the Central African Republic (CAR). More than two million people in Sudan's western Darfur region have been forced to flee from their homes by a horrific internal conflict.

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