{"id":45610,"date":"2022-04-08T06:38:31","date_gmt":"2022-04-08T06:38:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/rwandans-friends-of-rwanda-in-us-appeal-for-leveraging-storytelling-to-preserve\/"},"modified":"2022-04-08T06:45:29","modified_gmt":"2022-04-08T06:45:29","slug":"rwandans-friends-of-rwanda-in-us-appeal-for-leveraging-storytelling-to-preserve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/rwandans-friends-of-rwanda-in-us-appeal-for-leveraging-storytelling-to-preserve\/","title":{"rendered":"Rwandans, friends of Rwanda in US appeal for leveraging storytelling to preserve memory"},"content":{"rendered":"

The call was made in Washington DC during the commemorative event on April 7, to mark the beginning of 28th commemoration of the Genocide against Tutsi.<\/p>\n

The hybrid event featured panel discussions with academicians, author, and diaspora members. <\/p>\n

Drew Kahn, an award-winning professor, actor and producer reiterated the role of storytelling saying that silence is the enemy of progress. <\/p>\n

He said that Rwanda\u2019s efforts to be in charge of its own story has provided immense success. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am extremely impressed by Rwanda\u2019s ability to use story as a sustained tool against the silence that would encourage denial,\u201d said Drew Kahn. <\/p>\n

The panelists challenged the world to speak out on what happened in the Genocide against Tutsi to help younger generation and the world understand and preserve memory.<\/p>\n

The event hosted testimonies from survivors currently residing in the United States. <\/p>\n

Ms. Providence Umugwaneza, a genocide survivor and Founder of the Kabeho Neza Initiative highlighted the importance of social media in storytelling. <\/p>\n

\u201cSocial media is one of the best tools we can use to tell our stories, internet never forgets. Younger generations need to be educated. We can use Twitter, YouTube, etc. Let us use social media to counter fake information about the Genocide,\u201d she advised. <\/p>\n

She added that telling a story is not only for Genocide survivors, it is everyone\u2019s responsibilities.<\/p>\n

Dr. Phodidas Ndamyumugabe, a genocide survivor and author of \u201cPreaching from the Grave\u201d shared testimonies of the hardships he endured during genocide. <\/p>\n

\u201cBloodshed was everywhere, militiamen with their machetes and knives. There was no way out.\u201d <\/p>\n

Dr. Jean- Damasc\u00e8ne Gasanabo explained that commemoration itself is a way of storytelling that helps the younger generation. He commended the government\u2019s efforts to include Genocide against Tutsi in the curriculum and called for the rest of the world to do so. <\/p>\n

Ambassador of Rwanda to the United States, Mathilde Mukantabana noted that the first weapon against Genocide Ideology is Education. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn Rwanda, we are continuously educating the younger generation about the genocide and instead of what separates us, we rather emphasize on the commonalities of our human experiences,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Mr. Ervin Massinga, the United State Department\u2019s Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of African Affairs reiterated the commitment of his country to bring Genocide fugitives to justice. \u201cUnited States will continue to walk side by side with Rwandan people, Government of Rwanda and International Community to bring those responsible for Genocide to justice.\u201d <\/p>\n

The event organized by the Embassy of Rwanda in Washington, IBUKA-USA and Rwandan community in US was attended by over 600 people both virtually and physically.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

{Rwandans and friends of Rwanda in the United States of America have stressed the need to leverage storytelling to educate younger generations about the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi.} <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-45610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45610\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45610"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=45610"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=45610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}