By: Harman Kaur
The 1994 genocide that took place in Rwanda was a genocide that every country and every soldier turned their back on. Every nation and the United Nations pulled out their citizens and their soldiers instead of sending more to prevent the death of anywhere between 500,000 to 1,000,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. There were no Americans left in Rwanda after Clinton’s decision to keep the United States out of the situation. Every man and women fled–except for one.
Carl Wilkins watched his wife and children leave his protection as he stood in the middle of the scene of a massacre, only staying for the protection of the two Tutsis that worked for his family. Wilkins was the only American to stay in Rwanda after the Hutus started slaughtering Tutsis for being Tutsis, and moderate Hutus for not assisting in the killings. In his choice to stay, he didn’t know whether he would survive to see his family again but he definitely saved the lives of orphans, the two Tutsis that worked for him, and many others.
Williamsville East has the immense pleasure and honor of having Carl Wilkins come speak on October 26, 2015 at 7 o’clock. This is all due to the efforts of East junior Madison Irene and Dr. Redmond.
Madison came up with the idea to start a Speaker’s series at East after her participation in the Summer Institute of Human Rights and Genocide Studies this summer. The Institute is a program for teens in the Buffalo region to learn about genocides and human rights violations like the Holocaust and the Rwandan Genocide. The most exciting portion of the program is the guest speaker that is invited to come speak to the teens. Madison, with the assistance of Dr. Redmond who assists in running the Institute, was able to set up a day in which Wilkins would be close to Buffalo to come speak to the Williamsville community
Dr. Redmond, having previously listened to Wilkins speak, is particularly excited about him coming to East. “I want students to feel inspired and feel empowered. He’s an absolute human rights hero and icon.” When listening to him speak Wilkins exudes energy and optimism and really forces people to look past the differences in others to help them. Dr. Redmond is hoping that will motivate students, their parents, and faculty to feel that they can do great things and they can help people without having to go and stay in the middle of a genocide, they can assist from right at home.
“As a teacher, I’m most excited for my students to having this opportunity to be exposed to ideas and people,” said Dr. Redmond. He’s hoping that this event will really broaden students’ horizons and will really bring all the things they have been learning about to life. This event is a chance for students to see how the things they learn about in the classroom is real and it affects people all around the world. Sometimes hearing about this between 4 walls (or in East’s case, 3 walls) can seem fictional or something that is so distant that it in no way can affect anyone we might come in contact with.
Leading up to the event there are two mini events happening: a book club discussion and a screening of Hotel Rwanda. In collaboration with East’s Book Club, many students in the school are reading Carl Wilkin’s book, I’m Not Leaving to learn about his life during the genocide and a little bit of the before and after. It is a way of gaining a bit of knowledge and insight for the author himself comes to speak at East. The meeting will be held on October 19th after school in the library. The school will also be showing a screening of Hotel Rwanda, a movie about Paul Rusesabagina, a Hutu hotel manager who protected Tutsi refugees in his hotel. The date of the showing has yet to be confirmed.
Dr. Redmond and Madison really hope that all East students who can make the event will attend and bring any family or friends that are available. Students are welcome to being any community member even if they do not attend East. If all goes well, East is hoping to bring in at least one more guest speaker in the Spring.
