Wednesday, May 12, 2004
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Students shaken by tales of horror
Satellite links Rwanda, Atlanta
By PATTI GHEZZI
Inside a Rwandan church where 10,000 people were massacred
a decade ago, students gathered in front of a video camera.
A girl named Yvette described how she witnessed her mother getting hacked with
a machete and then thrown into a pit filled with people, some dead and others
alive.
Then, the pit was set on fire.
The surroundings of the students said as much as their words. Blood. Human
remains. Rows of skulls with machete marks in them.
"It was so powerful," said Paul Siegel, 17, in Atlanta. "A lot
of us were speechless."
Paul and several fellow students at Galloway School in Buckhead got to connect
with Yvette through a satellite link. It was one of eight exchanges the Galloway
students held recently with students in Rwanda through a program sponsored by
the Global Nomads Group. The New York-based nonprofit organization uses video
conferencing to bring students from different cultures face to face.
Awkwardly, the Atlanta students asked questions such as "Did you lose
your parents in the genocide?" and "Do you know anyone who was raped?"
as they gingerly explored the 1994 massacre, in which an estimated 800,000 people,
mainly ethnic Tutsis, were slaughtered by extremist Hutus.
The 1994 genocide in the African nation was one of several topics covered.
Others in the "Rwanda Alive" series included HIV and AIDS, the culture
of the Ba'Twa people, who have lived for thousands of years in rain forests,
and gorilla research at the Karisoke Research Centre.
The ongoing program will next focus on indigenous cultures around the world.
Galloway students said they appreciated the chance to learn about Rwanda directly
from its people. "Their resilience impressed me," Paul said. He was
struck by the description of men and women unable to run because assailants
severed their Achilles' tendons.
Nneka Obiekwe, 15, said she was shocked the students, during another exchange,
knew about Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin. They asked what the Galloway students
thought of her political future.
"They were so hungry for knowledge," Nneka said.
The arrangement allowed schools around the country to interact with the Rwandan
students. That gave Galloway students a peek into other U.S. schools, which
at times seemed almost as far away.
When a Rwandan student asked about the war in Iraq, a student from a Midwestern
school said the war was over and the armed forces were still in Iraq to get
the utilities working.
Galloway students jumped in, noting that more than 750 U.S. soldiers had died
in Iraq and that the country was in the grip of an insurgency.
The Galloway students asked tough questions. During a question-and-answer session
with researchers at the Karisoke gorilla center, Sarah Henson, 17, asked what
was being done to mediate conflict between researchers and the poverty-stricken
people who depend on income from the tourist industry.
The researchers told her the center was committed to sharing the revenue from
tourism and working to identify alternative sources of income for the people
who live there.
The students said they most enjoyed an informal getting-to-know-you conversation
with the Rwandan students. They hope to stay in touch with them.
Dalyn Houser, 16, said the program taught her to pay more attention to under-reported
news stories like the Rwandan genocide.
"I should follow what happens outside our community more," Dalyn
said.
The Rwandan students asked the Galloway kids to share what they learned. "They
wanted us to make sure people know about it, that it wasn't a war," Henson
said. "It was a genocide."
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