15 students depart for Rwanda

A total of fifteen students left Los Angeles International Airport Friday morning on a set of three flights that, after more than 24 hours of travel, landed them in Kigali, Rwanda. They are there to investigate the 1994 Rwandan Genocide.

Before they left, in addition to getting through vaccinations, five webinars on Rwandan history, a dinner meeting at one of their homes and a lot of communication by email, they were sorted into smaller groups by Emmy Award-winning producer Jeff MacIntyre.

Each group will produce a media project from the trip, and they were formed based on the aspects of the Rwandan Genocide students wished to focus on. These topics range from clean water to soccer, from general history and “silver linings” to the role of women in Rwanda’s recovery.

“I’m really looking forward to looking into this event that we never really learn about but had such a massive impact,” Katherine Calvert ’15 said.

“I think it’s going to be a really life-changing experience for everyone.”

MacIntyre, Visual Arts Department Head Cheri Gaulke and Friendship Tours World Travel founder Alethea Paradis are coaching the students through the trip and will help them through post-production. The same group chaperoned a student trip to Laos last year.

The trip’s itinerary includes interviewing people with varying views on the clash between the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic groups, such as government officials, western investors in the mineral industry there and representatives of both groups. The students will likely meet President of Rwanda Paul Kagame, who established control over the nation after the genocide.

“I’m really proud of these students,” Paradis said. “Upon awareness of an incomprehensible tragedy, they chose to adventure from a place of curiosity, to intense empathy, to understanding, and creative action through media.

It is in this way that we can make ‘Never again’ mean just that.”

The students missed any midterms they had on Friday to travel to Rwanda through Washington, D.C. and Brussels, Belgium. They will miss the first three days of the new semester.

“Though this trip is about exploring the roots of genocide, it is also about seeing how people can rise out of hatred and live together again,” Gaulke said. “It’s a journey about hope.”

Source:The Chronicle News

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