I never thought that there would come a time when I would speak about the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi and commence with the following words: I am so glad to be here today! But, that’s exactly what I said this week on 5th July when I accompanied several survivors of the Genocide from Survivor’s Tribune who had been invited by Hampton School, a London-based independent school for boys aged between 11 - 18 years old, to speak to them about what happened before, during, and after the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Survivor’s Tribune is a London-based organisation that was established by Eric Murangwa, a survivor himself, with the intention of giving survivors like him a voice to speak, share, and educate the rest of the world about the events of the Genocide in Rwanda. So, what really inspired these London youngsters to care about what happened in Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur - was it because they were simply following a school curriculum or pushed by their teachers? Truth is; these youngsters are passionate about ensuring that what happened in Rwanda in 1994 is not repeated elsewhere. To achieve this, they believe, everyone, young and old, poor and rich, must know the effects of a tragedy such as the Genocide. They believe that learning about past genocides is partly a way to ensure that when signs of an attempted genocide begin to emerge, the international community will not sit back in ignorance and continue business as usual. The noble mission of these youngsters began after research from the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust revealed that a whopping 80 per cent of young people in the UK knew virtually nothing about the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, and the genocides in both Bosnia and Darfur. These youngsters could not come to terms with the fact that only 20 per cent of their peers in the entire country knew about historical tragedies that befell other parts of the world. Likewise, the group also discovered that although some students are taught about past genocides, the vast majority know a lot more about the Holocaust and a lot less about the other genocides that have also taken place. The group also learned that the reason why education on this subject was so scarce in schools was that more than eighty per cent of teachers consulted indicated that they didn’t have enough time to teach about other genocides. Likewise, thirty-five per cent of schools asked stated that a lack of resources with which to teach their pupils about other genocides was another stumbling block. Accordingly, what all this indicated to the students was that something had to be done – they wanted change, and as a result, project Genocide80Twenty was born with a mission to change the 80 / 20 per cent statistic. What took place at the London-based school this week was extraordinary. Over 200 students congregated in three separate lecture theatres to learn about the events of the Genocide. They were taught about historical events that led to the Genocide, and also what took place during the Genocide. Equally important, the students received first-hand knowledge about how Rwandans have managed to recover from the dark days of 1994. As all of this took place, it gave me hope that today’s young people from various corners of the globe are prepared to ensure that mistakes made by the international community before and during the Genocide against the Tutsi, particularly the inability to intervene and stop the killings, will not happen again on their watch. Of course, it goes without saying that the objective of teaching any subject in schools is to engage the intellectual curiosity of students in order to inspire their critical thought and personal growth. Teaching youngsters about events such as the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi regardless of where they come from is something that should be encouraged and adopted around the world. Similarly, it helps them understand that silence and indifference to the suffering of others should not be tolerated because that alone can perpetuate these problems. In addition, sharing our history provides the opportunity to explain that genocides are hardly accidental events; they occur because governments, individuals, and other players permit discrimination, hatred, and prejudice to occur, which ultimately can lead to killings as we saw in Rwanda. Ultimately, when we teach young people about the effects of the Genocide, we are also teaching them that it is important to develop awareness of the value of accepting diversity and tolerance. When young people gain insight into the many historical, political, economic, and social factors that cumulatively shaped events such as the Genocide in Rwanda, they gain awareness of the complexity of the subject and a perspective on how a merging of various factors can contribute to the disintegration of norms and values within a perfectly stable society. By and large, if we all agree that it is through such shared knowledge that young people in particular come to understand that it is the responsibility of citizens in any society to learn to identify danger signals and to know when to react, then we should also agree that it is our responsibility as adults to share this knowledge with youngsters from all corners of the world to ensure that we don’t have a repeat of the Holocaust or what happened in Rwanda, Bosnia, and Darfur. When we accomplish this mission, I’m confident that the staunch silence we witnessed from the international community when our loved ones were being slaughtered will be no more. So, yes, I was glad to speak to youngsters about the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi because it gives me hope that these youngsters, together with their counterparts around the world, will in the future be able to identify danger signals of discrimination and hatred, and will act accordingly. Email: junior.mutabazi@yahoo.co.uk
