Imagine~ All the People Living Life in Peace: Human Transit

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Human Transit

Mass amounts of people riding bicycles, pushing carts, hanging off the back of trucks, crammed onto minibuses, lounging in Mercedes, piled on top of garbage trucks, and . . . walking! I saw an old man today with the most callused feet, they almost looked like hoofs. A life of never feeling the comforts of shoes. People in motion. The graceful dance of humans in transit. I am amazed by the amount of stuff Rwandans can stack on top of their heads, yet still maintain amazing posture. I jumped out of the gate this morning to see a young women balancing a bible on top of her head as she strapped her baby to back. Religion in Rwanda, that is another topic I hope to cover soon, but I have to run now!~

3 comments:

Marcia said...: Hi Katie,
I'm finally back home and back into "normal" activities like reading your postings--wow--it's safe to say that your life will never be the same. I'm impressed by your ability to remain objective as you are bombarded daily with experiences and sensations. I continue to send up prayers and good thoughts for you daily.
On the home front, it's fair week and the paper is filled with rodeo news, livestock weights and picture of cute kids eating watermelon.
Will be looking forward to hearing more about your next event(s)!
Hugs,
Marcia; July 25, 2007 at 7:35 AM
Betty Golle said...: Hi Katie, I'm so happy I talked to your mom and she told me how to email you! Wow, I have read alot of what has been written! You have truly experienced a wide variety of "life"! I do know some of it had to be very difficult. You are so brave and strong to do what you have been doing this summer.

I hope you and I can get together
this year. Wow, we are so close
that we should just be able to walk and meet each other at lunch.

Take care and stay safe.
Love, Betty G.; July 30, 2007 at 2:17 PM
Ryan Marks said...: Katy!

I've tried to email several times over the past year and kept getting the stupid automatic response from DU saying the email didn't go through. Peter finally directed me to your blog and I'm now using it to attempt to get a current email address (and read up on your recent adventures). I had no idea that you were in Africa. Last I heard, you were teaching in Montrose. How quickly things change when you're out of the loop. Anyway, I hope all is well and you can send me your email address through my old DU address. Hope to hear from you soon!

Ryan Mark; September 20, 2007 at 6:12 AM

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Into Africa!

In under four weeks I will be stepping onto African soil! For five weeks I will be working with a non-governmental organization, Global Youth Connect (GYC), as part of a fourteen member delegation in Rwanda Africa. The delegation will explore the root causes of state-sponsored genocide and its repercussions in a post-conflict context. This exploration occurs through human rights workshops called “learning communities” which brings U.S. participants together with Rwandan peers to build a common framework of understanding. Together we hope to inspire peaceful changes by analyzing shared human rights concerns and by building new skills to better promote and protect universal human rights.

Genocide

On December 11, 1946, the General Assembly of the United Nations declared genocide a crime under international law. On December 9, 1948, the General Assembly went further, adopting Resolution 260A(III), the Convention on the Preservation and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which obliged “Contracting Parties” to “undertake to prevent and to punish … acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethical, racial, or religious group.” "Just as a state's police swear to prevent and punish murder, so the signers of the Genocide Convention swore to police a brave new world order"(Philip Gourevitch). April marks a time of remembrances. The 15th of April has been designated as the Holocaust Memorial Day. After the atrocity of the Holocaust, the global community made a pledge: never again. The Declaration of Human Rights was formed under the conviction that never again would be world teeter into the chaos of genocide. The Declaration recognized the “equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world” (OHCHR 1996-2005). Yet, in April of 1994 chaos surfaced again. Thirteen years ago, in April of 1994, a program of massacres decimated the Republic of Rwanda. Extremist leaders of Rwanda’s Hutu majority launched a campaign of extermination against the country’s Tutsi minority, killing of every tenth person of the population. The rains of April washed over the deceased, weeping for the human propensity towards genocide. The consequences of the Rwandan genocide continue to be felt through a myriad of issues.

Imagine~ All the People Living Life in Peace

Saturday, July 21, 2007

Human Transit

3 comments:

Top~O Africa!

Warm Welcome

Congolese Refugee Camp in Rwanda

Genocide~Never Again

Rwandan Country Side

Destination: Rwanda, Africa!

Blog Archive

Into Africa!

Genocide