"We Speak Up Because They Cannot"

“We Speak Up Because They Cannot”: Remembering the Families Completely Wiped Out in the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda

Join Providence Nkurunziza and fellow survivors as they commemorate the families completely wiped out during the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

Providence and other survivors will share their testimony and highlight the effects that hatred can have on a society. As survivors, they now carry the responsibility of speaking for those lost and sharing their story. Through speaking up we remember; through speaking up we prevent these atrocities from happening again.

Speakers
Madhawa "Mads" Palihapitiya is a conflict early warning expert with over twenty years of experience working with vulnerable communities around the world to prevent political violence and mass atrocities. Mads is a practitioner of "third generation" citizen-based conflict early warning with notable academic work in the areas of ICTs for peace, religion and peacebuilding and the arts. Mads is the Associate Director of the statutory state dispute resolution office in Massachusetts, the early warning consultant at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and a Lecturer in conflict resolution at the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He is also the co-convener of the TRUST Network, which is the first conflict early warning system in the U.S. Over the years, Mads has developed several tools to address the warning-to-response gap in early warning systems. He is also an expert in mediation/Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) methods and program evaluation, particularly needs assessment, asset mapping and participatory methods.
Mads will speak about combating hate.

Omar Ndizeye is a genocide survivor, author, and public speaker. He has 9 years of experience working for non-Government organizations in Rwanda, where he developed the Humura Nturi Wenyine (Don’t worry you are not alone) initiative, which is a psychosocial program, that supports Genocide survivors by combining counseling helpline services and volunteer-based first aid intervention. His work focuses on cultural memory, societal healing, peacebuilding, and youth engagement. He published his first memoir “Life and Death in Nyamata: Memoir of a Young Boy in Rwanda’s darkest Church” in March 2020. Currently, Omar continues his writing work and a research project “Journey through Rwandan Memorials,” which focuses on the 265 Genocide memorials/Sites of memory and the memorization process in Rwanda. He is a graduate in Genocide and Mass Atrocities Prevention (GMAP) from SUNY Binghamton University.
Omar will speak about preserving the memory and fighting Genocide denial.

Hassan Mugabo is a survivor of the Genocide perpetrated against the Tutsi in Rwanda in 1994. He was 14 years of age when the Hutu radicals and Interahamwe mercilessly butchered one million innocent lives just because they were Tutsis. He believes that he survived for a reason: to tell the atrocities of the genocide as well as the painful death and agony the perpetrators put those victims through. A lawyer by profession for over a decade in Rwanda, he later moved to the U.S. where he continues to share his testimony to shed a light on resilience and hope.Hassan is a Texas resident where he lives with his wife and two children.
Hassan will provide survivor testimony.

Providence Nkurunziza is a speaker, author, and advocate. She is a child survivor of the 1994 Genocide perpetrated against the Tutsis in Rwanda that claimed more than a million innocent lives in a span of 100 days, including her two parents and five siblings. She was 11. Provie worked at the Kigali Genocide Memorial and went on to found the "Kabeho Neza Initiative," a nonprofit organization that raises awareness of the Genocide against the Tutsis and fights denial in all its forms. She advocates for women who contracted HIV/AIDS as a result of sexual assault during the Genocide against the Tutsis. In 2023, Provie was invited to share her survival story with the Swedish Parliament and the United Nations in Geneva and Vienna. Provie is the first Rwandan and the youngest person ever to be appointed to serve on the Texas Holocaust, Genocide, and Antisemitism Advisory Commission. Provie recently authored her remarkable and moving memoir, Next Couple Hours, which recounts her experience during the genocide, explores loss and trauma, and emphasizes preventing genocides from happening anywhere else in the future. She is currently working with Holocaust museums across Texas, public schools and libraries, as well as churches and temples, where she shares a story of hope and a desire to unite communities to form an inclusive coalition practicing tolerance and standing up for positive change. Provie lives in Texas with her husband and children.
Provie will discuss why it matters to remember.

This event is free and open to the public, however registration is required.

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