Commemorative Book Launch: April 7, 2009

http://www.menwhokilledme.com

15 years after the killing started in Rwanda in 1994, there will be a commemorative launch of the book “The Men Who Killed Me” and exhibitions featuring photos of survivors whose testimonials are featured in the book. In the 100 days of genocide that ravaged Rwanda, 250,000 to 500,000 women and girls were raped. Despite numerous accounts of the tragedy, the experiences of survivors of sexual violence have been conspicuously absent.
On the 15th anniversary of the genocide, “The Men Who Killed Me” features seventeen of these survivors, photographed by Samer Muscati for a book of their narratives (text by Sandra Ka Hon Chu and Anne-Marie de Brouwer, foreword by Stephen Lewis, afterword by Eve Ensler, published by Douglas & McIntyre). This book and accompanying photo-exhibition will be launched on the 7th of April 2009 in both Canada (Craig Scott Gallery, Toronto) and the Netherlands (Centre for Science and Values, Tilburg). During this event, excerpts from some testimonials featured in the book will be read to commemorate the victims and survivors of the Rwandan genocide, to stand in solidarity with them, and to remind us to never again let such
horrors happen.
While many still struggle to cope with enduring trauma, survivors were empowered by communicating their experiences and having their portraits taken. The photographs in the exhibitions will include some that are being published in the book, but most have been independently selected by the photographer. Proceeds from photograph sales go to Mukomeze, a Netherlands-based charity working with rape survivors and their families in Rwanda.
For the full programme of the 15th commemoration of the Rwandan genocide and launch of the book and photo-exhibition, see Craig Scott Gallery (Toronto, Canada) and Centre for Science and Values (Tilburg, the Netherlands).
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Economy

It is from the numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal or acts to improve the lot of others or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.
-- Robert F. Kennedy

With about 60% of the population below the poverty line, Rwanda struggles economically. Most people depend on subsistence agriculture. Rwanda is now the most densely populated country in Africa and food must be imported to make up for the rapid population growth and not-so-rapid growth in food production. There are a few natural resources and minimal industry in this land locked country. The 1994 genocide left its people severely impoverished and greatly hampered the country’s ability to attract private and external investment. Now that the GDP has rebounded and inflation has been curbed, there is hope of turning things around. Rwanda continues to receive substantial aid money and obtained IMF World Bank Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) initiative debt relief in 2005. Kigali’s high defense expenditures have caused tension between the government and international donors and lending agencies. The lack of adequate transportation linkages to other countries continues to handicap export growth.
On the positive side, the economy does have potential for growth, should strong coffee and tea prices (the countries biggest foreign exchange commodity) and increased tourism continue. However, a more ambitious plan from the Rwandan government may also prove successful. Rwanda has development policies, called “Vision 2020”, focusing on poverty reduction, food security, attracting foreign direct investment, diversification of the economy, and privatization. The goal is to transform the economy from its 90% dependence on subsistence agriculture into a modern, broadly based economic engine, welcoming to investors, creating employment and new opportunities.

Kinyarwanda Words of the day
Coffee - Ikawa (EeKAHwah)
Tea - Icyayi (EeKEYAhYee)
Beer - Ibyeri (EeBeeYehRee)
Fruit Juice - Umutobe w'imbuto (OlMooToeBay WeemBooToe

Exciting

The fundraising is on it's way... THANK YOU to Dave Hoppes and Marcus Alexander for their donations!

History

There are two kinds of gratitude: The sudden kind we feel for what we receive, and the larger kind we feel for what we give.
-- Edward Arlington Robinson

Belgium granted independence to Rwanda on July 1, 1962, after having first been ruled by Germany up until the end of WWI. Rwanda has always had a long history of unrest, mainly between the ethnic groups; the Hutu and the Tutsi. Fighting broke out in 1957 after the crowning of Kigera V, who the Hutus claimed had not been properly chosen. The Hutus emerged victorious and dominated the country for a long time. During this unrest, some 100,000 Tutsis fled to neighboring countries. In 1964, following an incursion from Burundi, many Tutsis were killed in Rwanda, and numerous others left the country.
Against a backdrop of ingrained divisive and genocidal attitudes, repeated massacres, the persistent overflow of refugees, and the lack of potential for peaceful political change, the Rwandese Alliance for National Unity (RANU) was formed in 1979 by some Rwandese, mainly Tutsi’s, in the Diaspora with an objective of assembling Rwandese people to resolve these problems. It was with these forces that Uganda invaded Rwanda. Over the coming years, strife between Hutus and Tutsis in Rwanda and neighboring countries led to the slaughter of millions of people by Rwandan soldiers and Hutu gangs. Over 2 million Rwandans, nearly all Hutus, fled the country and crowded into refugee camps in countries where Hutu extremists held power.
Over 1 million Hutu refugees flooded back into the country in 1996 after a UN appointed tribunal began trying a number of powerful people who had a hand in the genocide, and up to now, about three-and-a half million Rwandese refugees have been repatriated and resettled. Re-growing Rwanda’s society has been difficult and ongoing task. In 1994, there were no functioning schools, hospitals, factories or government departments and the economy was in ruins.
Since then, Rwanda’s progress has been steady and positive, focusing on rebuilding and re-educating. Various groups have been set up to deal with remnants of a troubled past: including a Genocide Survivors Fund, a Human Rights Commission, a Unity and Reconciliation, as well as great strides in Rwanda’s legal system. Economic recovery has been consistent since 1994 when real GDP declined by 50% and inflation stood at 65%. Rwanda has been welcomed to join the East African Cooperation (EAC), in hopes that there will be further cooperation and economic integration between its surrounding countries.

Kinyarwanda Words of the Day
What is your name? - Witwande (WitWAHNday)
My name is ____ - Nitwa heather (NEETwah heather)
Excuse me - Imbabazi (ImBahBahZee)
Good -Meza (MAYza)
Bad - Bibi (BeeBee)

Logistics

No one is more cherished in this world than someone who lightens the burden of another. Thank you. ~Author Unknown

Rwanda, in east-central Africa, is surrounded by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, Tanzania, and Burundi. It is slightly smaller than Maryland. Steep mountains and deep valleys cover most of the country. Lake Kivu in the northwest, at an altitude of 1,472m, is the highest lake in Africa. Extending north of it are the Virunga Mountains, which include the volcano Karisimbi (4,324m), Rwanda’s highest point.
Despite its proximity to the Equator, the climate in Rwanda is cooled by the high altitude. It is warm throughout most of the country but cooler in the mountains. Rwanda has tow wet season and two dry seasons. The short wet season lasts from October to November, and the main rainy season lasts from mid-March to the end of May. During the dry season, which last from December to mid-March and from June to the end of August.
The weather also varies geographically; eastern Rwanda gets less rain than the north and east of the country. The average annual precipitation in Kigali is 1,000mm and average temperature is around 20 degrees Celsius.

Kinyarwanda Words of the Day
How are you? - Amakuru (amakooroo)
I'm fine - Ni meza (nee MAYza)
I'm not good - Meze nabi (MayZay NahBee)

First

"I am only one,
But still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
But still I can do something;
And because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do the something that I can do."
-- Edward Everett

I received my first donation today! THANK YOU to Karen Overstake for her donation!
By the way, Karen will be going to Kenya, Africa to volunteer with the GVN - Childrens Program.

AND... THANK YOU Jennifer Smith, a friend from high school, for your donation!


IDEAS....I am in need of ideas of how I can get more people involved with the whole experience. One of my ideas is to get kids involved is....to have a child make a friendship bracelet, write a letter, and take a picture of him/herself...i would then give those items to one of the kids in Rwanda. The child in Rwanda would then make something for that child, write a letter back and I would take a picture of that child and when I return pass these gifts and letters to the matched child.
I have a girl scout troop leader that is interested in having her girls do this. I am looking for a boy scout troop that could do the same. I am looking for items boys could make...maybe hacky sack covers and when I get to Rwanda I could fill with beans and close the bag. And maybe the Rwanda boys could make some sort of pins for the boys to wear on their sash or scarves -not sure what boy scouts use to display their patches?
I don't want to limit it to just those kids. I would like to offer it up to any of the donors and their kids too.
Keep in mind the home made item needs to be small and light weight because I will need to carry these to Rwanda myself along with all my living items.

...If any of you have any other ideas, suggestions, additions please let me know.

ChipIn

You may not have saved a lot of money in your life, but if you have saved a lot of heartaches for other folks, you are a pretty rich man. ~Seth Parker

For those of you that aren't in the AZ area and want to donate I have added a ChipIn link to the right of the blog...feel free to email me if you have any questions on how it works.
It is a secure site that specializes in collecting payments for fundraising events.

Also, please feel free to forward this blog site to anyone you feel may be interested in donating and/or following along on this journey. I look forward to your comments and suggestions.!!!!
(btw, my official more appropriate letter for donations will be going out soon. i am not a total slacker it's just that some of you that have this website already know the dealio and I guess I am directing my rambling shananigans at you :)

Natasha came up with another brilliant idea for an additional fundraiser. She wants to do a ladies showcase-and all female artist show. Musicians, artists, dancers, etc...I think that is a wonderful idea...Wednesday lunch is going to be busy. I don't think a hour is going to be long enough.
I am a little tired today. I am going to make this a short blog but I will not sign off before our 1st lesson in Kinyarwanda.

First a little history...French, Kinyarwanda, English and Swahili are the most wide spread languages in Rwanda. Recently, the Rwandan government banned French as the main language in schools. This has created a need for English speaking teachers and aides in classrooms. Hence, GVN's literary program. Although, I do not write grammatically correct nor do I always speak grammatically correct...I AM able to lend my hand to those wanting to learn English and I am very excited to learn Kinyarwanda and use it everyday while I am there...

Hello - Muraho (MooRahHoh)

Goodbye - Mwirirwe (MeeReeGway)

Yes - Yego (YayGo)

No - Oya (Oya)

Brainstorm

This was really written on 2/27...


Things are getting down to serious time. I have about 20 days left at work, but all my focus is on Rwanda. Specifically on fundraising. Natasha is a god sent and I thank Katie with all my heart for introducing me to her. These 2 women are another reminder to me that i have chosen the right path. Natasha is this young beautiful spunky gal that is going to school for nonprofit business and she specializes in putting fundraisers together. Her idea-a casino night with a silent auction. I have asked a handful of people if they would donate artwork and so far they have all said yes. I have a list of others to ask and am pretty sure they will each love to donate a piece of their work. And Natasha has a list of businesses for me to pop in on and ask for donations. It amazes me how fast this is all coming together. I am hoping to get the casino night scheduled for april...no date or venue set up quite yet. hopefully by next week we will have more details. my goal for the weekend …to finish the fundraiser letters. I have my mailing and invite list, so i just need to get the letters in order. my brain is overloading. i have so many ideas floating around and continue to imagine how things will pan out and it is all so exciting. for casino night the basis is...gamblers come in and purchase play money to gamble with. there will be 3 grand prizes...not sure what those will be yet but hoping a roundtrip airline ticket, a weekend stay in a condo in tahoe and not sure the 3rd yet...but that is all dependent on how well i can sell the trip to certain companies...so anyways, gamblers will come in and buy play money to gamble with during the evening. hopefully we will be able to convince a bar to allow us to have the event so we may help sell alcohol for them...ok let’s face it alcohol helps adults spend money...and while all the gambling is going on we will have items up for silent auction paintings, pottery, jewelery, haircuts, dinners, hopefully sports items, and maybe a silent auction date type thing..not sure on the latter yet but it’s an idea....another idea is doing a phoneraiser...collecting peoples old phones to cash in for donation money. there is a website that specifically is set up for phone donations with a list of how much each phone is worth.
for now my main ideas are casino night and fundraiser letters. Fundraiser letters to be sent out no later than a week from today and a one on one with natasha to start to narrown down the date and venue for the casino on wednesday...it is coming together....hopefully the fundraising will continue to fall in place as the rest of the whole adventure has and continues to.....

Beginning

this was really written on 2/21...

…I think it started to hit me yesterday. Katie email introduced me to Natasha who is a fundraising goddess of sorts. She very quickly agreed to organize a fundraiser for my Rwanda volunteer trip. Katie already has a fire spinner and music lined up for the fundraiser. Within a couple hours it all became eye opening real. I think what part hit me hard was the excitment in both Natasha and Katie’s emails. I haven’t even left the states yet and this experience is already amazing.I am going to Rwanda in August and there are so many signs that are telling me I have made the right decision. Since I am still in comfortable American mode I will start with work sucks! ...ok done with selfish reasons.Today I turned on the TV (which I rarely have been doing in the last week or so) and Hotel Rwanda was on. Coincidence...I think not :) I have chosen to take that as a sign because I have never noticed Hotel Rwanda to be on TV. And I had just added it to my netflix que last night (speaking of I will need to ax the netflix gig without a job). I watched a bit of it and had to turn it off. I started crying as I did the first and only time I have seen it. And of course then all the mind wandering questions start...how as a nation could we and yes, I mean we as the human race allow that to happen. Cut, stop, zip it....I turned it off. I don’t want my trip to focus on the what ifs. I want my trip to focus on the YES perspective. There are many reasons why I want to go to Rwanda, but I have to admit I have not been able to voice them. The reasons are bundled up so tightly in these feelings I have. They have been smothered and tangled in my heart and head for so long and yesterday they started to unravel. I have been asked quite a few times over the last week or so...Why Rwanda? and all I have really been able to answer back is Why not. I understand that is not a proper answer, but please be patient I assure you a valid worthwhile answer is in me.My biggest goal in Rwanda will be to initiate a Read to Me type program. I currently volunteer with a homeless shelter where the program is a huge hit! Volunteers come in and listen to and help the kids with their reading. If the children are too young to read then the volunteer reads to that child. The goal of the program here is to help instill a feeling of fun with reading, to help the kids improve their reading skills and allow the kids to feel special with the one on one attention they receive.I would like to initiate this program within the community in Rwanda to aid not only the children but the adults to help each learn to read and improve their english. In Rwanda socializing is extremely important. It is far more important to be social and friendly toward each other than to say have a time schedule to get things done that could be done later. A read to me program would not only incorporate the importance of socializing but would also enable them to learn and grow at the same time. Or at least that is my opinion as of now. What I believe, think or feel now may be very much changed when I reach Rwanda and adapt to their customs, social beliefs and day to day schedules. I will be a guest in their community and look forward to all the differences I will experience and adapt to while I am there and after.btw...this is the start of my blogs for the trip since my blog page is not up yet

Purpose

I have promised you all a blog page about the adventure...and here it is. Unfortunately, GVN was unable to give me an early page under their umbrella, so I went for the next best option....blogger.com. A few things before I start...my goal in starting my blogging early is to get those that want to...a from the beginning perspective. What all goes into getting involved in an organizations such as GVN, what happens once accepted, what are the things i need to do and know prior to the trip AND most importantly I want to educate as many of you out there as possible about Rwanda. I want us all to learn together and discover and unravel the beauties and mysteries of this beautiful place. Quite a few of you have mentioned living vicariously through me and I really hope I am able to make this blog as real as possible for those that are wanting a true, honest, upfront diary of what is to come.
I will be writing this blog as I speak...no special punctuations, no extra care to pc subjects, it will be straightforward heather talk. just like if i am having a full fledge conversation face to face with you or with myself. Those of you sharing these entries with your kids (which i hope all of you do) i will ask you to read the blog yourself prior to reading to children...and edit along the way once you do present to your children.
I will warn you on days that may contain graphic words and or pics (speaking of...i am still deciding how to integrate the pics i will be taking). there are at least 2 days during my trip which will provide to be the most challenging days in my life and the pics will be stomach turning to put it mildly.
I will be sure to include website links for those looking for further information on certain subjects. And I will do my very best to find answers to any questions any of you come up with along the way.
Between now and July/August there is a lot to prepare...so let the adventure begin!

cheers-
heather p