Dear Friends,

I have the opportunity to return to Rwanda and Uganda this summer with the dean of my school, Erik Ehn. For the past five years, the CalArts School of Theatre and the Interdisciplinary Genocide Studies Group (Berkeley, Kigali) conduct an exchange program that takes as its touchstone the study of the Rwandan genocide of ’94, and investigates means by which art can participate in conflict transformation, the recovery of historical memory, and the building of a civil society.

Each summer, students and working artists travel to Rwanda to visit genocide sites; meet with scholars, theater artists, survivors, government officials, and health care workers; and engage in artistic projects. This summer we will also put together a festival of performances with local and international theater companies.

Faced with the seemingly impossible task in Rwanda of recovering a nation's infrastructure and identity after genocide, beautiful and inventive human actions are taking place. As many of you know, in 1994 around 800,000 Tutsi and moderate Hutu were murdered in Rwanda over 100 days. In many instances, they were murdered by friends, neighbors, clergy, family members. An extremist wing of the government organized the genocide (with practice genocidal acts in the early 90s, a trained youth militia, media control, stockpiles of weapons from China, funding from the French) but it was carried out by everyday people. The genocide devestated Rwanda's infrastructure and left victims and perpetrators forced to live together, to rebuild together. And the country for the past 15 years has made remarkable progress in recovery. Everytime I go, there are new roads, new houses, new inventive programs for addressing poverty, justice, trauma. Orphans organizing themselves into families to support each other through school and entering the job market, for instance.

We don't go in trying to save anyone. Mostly, we go to be in conversation (meeting people, learning how art can participate in peace building) and our conversations have led to quantifiable results (a genocide library in Rwanda, an annual gallery show and an international conference on art and social justice at CalArts, as examples).

In order to return, I need $3,000 for program expenses. $125 per day (for 24 days). If anyone is interested in sponsoring a day, that would be great. I will be keeping an email journal of my time and will be sure to send you the account of the day you made possible (and, really, the whole thing.) $125 is a lot, I know. Any amount that you can contribute is needed. Every penny helps. As does simple encouragement and fundraising suggestions.

Visit this site to donate:
http://www.chipin.com/contribute/id/a99c548c9a8047ff

My recent experience of loss has galvanized my desire to witness and respond to stories of human resistance in the face of loss and injustice. After seeing how much my mother valued life and her connection to family in an isolating illness, I wish to lend my attentions to other people who are working for life (in the largest sense of this word) with difficult odds. Thanks for sharing this journey with me.

Best,
Emily Mendelsohn