rwanda coalition - stui

we had a meeting with USC's stand chapter yesterday, and i'm so glad to hear that so many of you are pumped! i will formally announce the project to the rest of the DAC tomorrow evening, but i thought i'd give you all a heads up.

we are planning a trip to rwanda :)

several ideas are floating around, but one of the more exciting one's is the possibility of attending "Ingando" which is taken from the Kinyarwanda verb "kugandika," meaning a halting of normal activities to reflect. Ingando is a national program run by the National Unity and Reconciliation Commission (NURC) through which perpetrators and survivors of the genocide come together to learn about the history of their country, political and socioeconomic issues in Rwanda and the greater continent of Africa, as well as their individual rights, obligations and duties. 

we have a number of partners in Rwanda, thanks to the coalition-building of Kathy and USC students who visited Rwanda this winter break. through Ibuka, we have come to enlist the help of Prime Minister, Bernard Makuza. we, have truly become an "International Student Coalition Against Genocidal Indifference" with the addition of student genocide organization, Association des Etudiants Réscapes du Génocide (AERG).

in regard to what we will do while we are there, we are discussing those options. i think that for those of us in DAC who want to go on this trip, it doesn't quite matter what we will do there, because simply being there promises unique opportunities for us to be a part of rebuilding post-genocide Rwanda. however, with regard to the idea of bringing in the greater UCLA community (school of film & television, school of law, school of business, department of psychology, etc.), we must lay more solid groundwork. 

for those of you interested in getting involved, please email me at rwanda.dac@gmail.com

we need help!

updates:

• Anjana has scheduled a meeting with the manage of O'Hara's (the bar formerly known as "Maloney's). we are trying to work out a special event where we will get a percentage of the profits for a given night. 
  
• Dodo is going to write a viewpoint for the daily bruin about this trip, and to publicize the event by lavishing O'Hara's with praise for taking action against the genocide. 
  
• Anjana, Dodo, and myself will pitch the idea to O'Hara's
  
• I (stuart) have spoken with Sheila Breeding who has given me the contacts of several people experienced with planning these sort of travel programs. we're gonna need legal counsel with regard to protecting ourselves from liability. we'll need as much of this figured out before even thinking of recruiting UCLA students to join us on the trip. 

If you would like to help, there is help to be had! Please let me know if you're interested in helping/joining us on the trip.