Alice Musabende, right, is pictured with Madeleine Albright, former U.S. secretary of state, at a conference in San Francisco. Musabende asked Albright to help genocide survivors who are being killed in Rwanda as they speak out against perpetrators.
Survivor of the Rwandan Genocide to speak
From the Genocide Intervention Network-St. Thomas
In 1994, more than 800,000 people were killed in Rwanda in 100 days during a brutal genocide. Alice Musabende, 14 years old at the time, lost her entire family – grandparents, parents, 12-year-old sister, and 9-year-old brother – in the violence.
Musabende’s talk,“Through Rwandan Eyes: Legacy of the Rwandan Genocide,” will take place at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 20, in Room 100, McNeely Hall. She will speak about the situation in Rwanda and the urgency to take action to end the current genocide in Darfur, Sudan. This event is free and open to the public.
Musabende also will speak at Carleton College during a weeklong symposium, “Eyes on Africa,” and at Congregation Shir Tikvah as part of its Genocide Intervention Action Group programming. Currently a graduate student in journalism at Carleton University in Ottawa, Musabende will meet with journalists from the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and Minnesota Public Radio during her visit. Anna Donnelly, University of Minnesota student and member of the Genocide Intervention Network-St. Thomas board, is coordinating her visit.
Musabende’s visit is arranged by the Genocide Intervention Network-Minnesota and is co-sponsored by the Genocide Intervention Network- St. Thomas chapter; All-College Council; University Lectures Committee; Justice and Peace Studies Department; and the Ohanessian Endowment Fund for Justice and Peace Studies of the Minneapolis Foundation.
The Genocide Intervention Network is an organization with a mission to empower individuals and communities with the tools to prevent and stop genocide. For information about the national organization, please visit its Web site; to learn about the St. Thomas chapter, contact student president Jenny Le, and for information about state-level activities, click here or contact state coordinator Dr. Ellen Kennedy.