Alison Babil Horowitz P’86, ‘87, ‘91, ad S’93 says hello from Maryland!  She graduated from Haverford with a BA in socio-cultural anthropology and got married in 2001.   In 2004, she became a licensed massage therapist and now has a four year-old daughter.  Congratulations, Alison!

Hello,

I am in Rwanda; Africa after having completed an intensive retreat called Bearing Witness Rwanda. The purpose of the Retreat was to bear witness to the 1994 Genocide that occurred here and its aftermath.

In short, over 800, 000 people were brutally killed because of their ethnic background and a conspiracy by other nations who knew what was about to happen and turned the other way. This genocide has left Rwanda in many ways devastated. Of course, after 16 years the country is rebuilding itself; yet many resources are not present.

70% of Rwanda is comprised of youth with the average age being 17 years old.  As a result of the genocide, many children are orphaned or living on the streets.  Many people are still in a state of post traumatic stress or face trauma related issues.

The unique and interesting thing about Rwanda is that the memory of the genocide is still fresh.  There are many mass graves and memorials, some of which still have bones exposed and decomposing.  There are many survivors who have stories fresh in their minds.  Some are willing to talk and some are still not yet ready. There are also stories of heroes/sheros who risked their lives to save others.

And, in the midst of all of this; Rwanda is absolutely beautiful.  Rwanda actually means land of one thousand hills. The people we have met have been generous, kind, and unbelievably resilient.

Why am I interested in sharing with you about Rwanda?

I believe that Rwanda offers many opportunities and lessons for humanity such as the capacity of humane beings to be profoundly evil and/or profoundly good. Also, an opportunity to be conscious of our freedom to choose in any given situation.

During my time here, I have hugged survivors and shook hands with killers. I have stood face to face with thousands of skulls, bones, and clothing worn by those who perished. I have comforted young adults as they visited the memorial sites which held the remains of their loved ones in mass graves. I have cried. I have laughed. I have prayed and been in deep silence.

I have asked myself: What is the work of my hand? Why have I come here? How do I commit little genocides each day through my words, thoughts, or actions?

While here in Rwanda, I have been the died; I have survived; I have been the killer. I have been the rescuer. American; African; and the world that closed its eyes and pretended nothing was happening and nothing happened.

The three tenets of our Retreat was:

1. Not knowing
2. Bearing Witness
3. Loving Action

Not knowing involves suspending judgments and the ways we think things should be. Bearing Witness involves being with everything just as it is and is not; being present. Loving action for me involves looking at what ways I can consciously act and be differently given all I have witnessed.

As I continue to be with and process my experience, I continue to be in the spaces of not knowing, bearing witness, and loving action.

So, I guess I am having a personal retreat after the retreat. I guess it is no accident that the entire Retreat group is still here in Rwanda because of the Iceland volcano eruption.

Thank You.
God Bless You.
Peace Be Still.

Lorraine

Name: Jordan Schwartz

Nationality: American

GYV Staff/ Participant during: 2006

Education: High School Junior at the Atlanta Girls’ School

Occupation: founder and artistic producer of the Children’s Bilingual Theater

Most Interesting Country Visited: Ecuador

Favorite GYV Memory: preforming with sock puppets for Cabin Idol

Biography: Jordan Schwartz began in theatre in 2nd grade. When her school offered Spanish in the after-school program she had an idea to put theatre and language together. At 10 in 2003, she founded The Children’s Bilingual Theater and premiered a show in 2004. Jordan started with raising $3,000 in donations and getting schools to host the shows, then 17 kids 2nd grade to college age staged a bilingual play at 4 schools in Cobb County. The Children’s Bilingual Theater not only brought students together, but brought community volunteers to help them make the show a reality. Jordan’s project helps the Spanish first language speakers to improve their English and Spanish second language speakers to improve their Spanish and all benefit from theatre, learn about public speaking and work with a diverse group while exploring Hispanic language, culture and history.
CBT has staged 3 musicals and cast and crew volunteer as literacy advocates with Sheltering Arms, Park Street School and HeadStart programs in Metro Atlanta. CBT has worked with over 100 volunteers, performing to over 3000 audience members and many school audiences. Jordan has raised over $10,000 for production costs and received over $20,000 in production grants and scholarships to help sustain the theatre company. In 2007 “Cinderella Eats Rice and Beans” a salsa hip-hop bilingual musical was filmed by a Wisconsin Public Television crew for a segment in “Democracy it is!”, an educational documentary series reaching school audiences all over Wisconsin.

In 2008 in an unprecedented move in selecting a 14 year old, the Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities Organizing Institute chose Jordan as one of six participants to be trained in organizing skills to return to her community to promote systems change around issues that affect people with disabilities. Jordan wrote a bilingual play. “Mr. Ooba’s T.E.A.M.” addresses the issue of bullying of developmentally disabled and medically fragile children and diversity in our classrooms. Jordan’s work with The Children’s Bilingual Theater is an effort to encourage her community to bridge the language and cultural gap through theatre arts and to exemplify and teach tolerance.

Nationality:

GYV Participant: 1996 (staff)

Education: PhD research student at the Faculty of Health & Life Sciences, De Montfort University, Leicester, UK. The research aims to get a fresh look at the mind of State governance and deepen the moral debate about the provision of targeted and support services for young people in the UK.

Most Interesting Countries Visited: Japan, Basque Country and the US.

Favorite GYV Memory: My memories of GYV include cultural sharing nights, (very) early morning Ti Chi, playing football in the hot sun, reciting poetry, slap stick comedy with custard pies, drumming, and the wonders of tofu (before and after consumption!) GYV introduced me to a type of education that values individual worth and builds inclusive relationships rather than generate resistance or rejection. My experiences at GYV still influence my passion for youth work as I remember the stories that the young people brought with them and the optimism and joy of the potential futures they took away – transcending culture, language, opportunity, and the even the politics of war. It left my spirit with a global footprint and the knowledge that changing beliefs can change behaviour.

Biography: My background includes youth work, social work, research, civil rights & police monitoring. I remain particularly interested in helping young people in times of challenge, often based in settings that are characterised by conflict. From the Caen Peace Museum to integenerational projects in Funibashi my work has taken me to the Netherlands, Basque Country, Japan and France to meet with cabinet ministers, colleagues, and young people.

In 2006 I published an article entitled ‘Keep It Together, Keep It Safe: Violence, Peace and Young People’ (Development Education Journal, October 2006) and the following year I set up ‘Peace Techniques’ a self-founded company that offers training and projects to promote youth perspectives and actively challenge the acceptance of aggression and violence.

I now also lecture part-time at De Montfort University at the Faculty of Health & Life Sciences and the Youth affairs Unit, where I am studying for my PhD. This year I am really excited about the potential of a new project called ‘XL’ that plans to create safe communal spaces as part of an international network to holistically integrate age, culture and ability.

For all my friends of 1996 Alumni, please get in touch and send me pics and your memories at my email mikeo_2007@yahoo.co.uk.   Peace.