Hungry for Truth, Peace and Justice

USA: College staffers recount Rwanda venture

BY PATRICK McARDLE
Staff Writer
Rutland Herald
January 3, 2010

BENNINGTON-For two Bennington College staff members, a trip to Rwanda in the summer of 2009 as the first beneficiaries of the Richard Holme Fellowship, was a life-changing experience.

"This was a country that was decimated by genocide, literally decimated, and that is hard to wrap your mind around in terms of the potential for human suffering and for how poorly humans can treat each other," said Tonya Strong, 37, of Brattleboro. "But on the other side, just 15 years later, to see how much the country has accomplished in a positive direction and how much has been rebuilt and how much hope exists, at least with the people we encountered, really solidified for me, this is what human interaction can be, this is what we've capable of in a positive, constructive direction."

Strong, an associate director of admissions, and registrar Kathy Posey, 43, of Bennington, spent three weeks in Kigali, Rwanda, at the learning center sponsored by Network for Africa.

The trip came about after an inspiring commencement address in 2008 by journalist Rebecca Tinsley, Posey said.

After the speech, many faculty members and students asked Tinsley what they could do to assist survivors of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.

Although students have a field-work term and faculty can take sabbaticals, and both groups have the summer to do service work, Elissa Tenny, dean and provost of Bennington College, began to think about how staff members could more easily get involved.

The college created the fellowship, named for a former trustee of the college and a mentor of Tinsley's who died of cancer in 2008, which will provide an opportunity every summer for two staff members to spend three weeks in Rwanda.

Posey said she was an already experienced volunteer when she learned of the fellowship.

"When this was proposed and suggested, I remember thinking, 'I really have to apply for that,'" Posey said. "Even if I didn't end up going, I think I would have been very disappointed in myself if I didn't at least apply."

Strong said she was inspired, in part, by reading Philip Gouravitch's 1998 book, "We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will be Killed With Our Families: Stories from Rwanda."

"At the very end of the book, he talks about how it's easier to declare one's allegiance to hope than enact it. … When you think of something as large as a genocide, you feel like you can't make a difference (but) being at Bennington I've watched so many people making a difference in that effort to enact that allegiance to hope," she said.

While in Rwanda, Posey and Strong taught English and skills related to finding and obtaining jobs. Posey said a group at the center asked for lessons in English, which gave the pair an opportunity to interact with older people, but most of the students were in their early 20s.

"(Many) had just unbelievable stories about how they survived. You don't ask about where they were, what they did, what happened, but they would, at times, bring it up and if they brought it up, then it was OK to have that conversation." Posey said.

The students were so committed to improving their lives that some walked two hours a day to get to the learning center, according to Posey.

"As soon as they heard there were volunteers, some of them would just show up, not knowing if there would be something for them there that day or not but just hoping they could learn something," she said.

Strong said she and Posey were treated differently by the learning center workers, who were about her age, and the younger students because both are married and Strong is a mother.

"Because so many of them were orphaned at very young ages, they see us as sort of motherly figures. They have a real need for a connection," she said.

Shortly before they returned to Vermont, Posey and Strong shared pictures of their families with a women's group they taught and Posey said the women told them that they "now have many Rwandan daughters."

Both said they keep in touch with people they met in Rwanda by e-mail, text messages and social networking sites.

"It's still very emotional to talk about because I never thought I'd be able to go and do it and to go over there and see what people live through and how strong they are, it's just a very different perspective," Posey said.

Related Materials:
What they don’t tell you about Rwanda

What Really Happened in Rwanda?

The Power of Horror in Rwanda

Human Rights Watch 's Response to The New Times Article on Rwandan Genocide

The state of governance and human rights in Rwanda does not satisfy Commonwealth standards

Rwanda has not healed: "Tribalism, state sponsored abuses continue"

Yesterday a victim, today an oppressor: how aid funds war in Congo

Political repression in Rwanda, as August 2010 elections approach

Rwandan peasants on the brink of extinction

Rwanda: campaigners say the country is starving while the government says criticism is unfounded

More than 50% children in Rwanda are stunted

Rwanda: World Bank (WB) agrees with International Monetary Fund (IFM): Rwanda is off track to attaining most of its millennium development goals (MDG)

On The Myth of Economic Prosperity in Rwanda

Rwanda: Economic Growth Sustained Through Free Labor

Rwanda Today: When Foreign Aid Hurts More Than It Helps

Rwanda: Paul Kagame’s War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity, and Crimes of Genocide

posted by Mamadou Kouyate @ 3:11 PM