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黑料网-Sponsored Peace Conference Unites Delegates from Across the Globe

Tools for creating lasting peace are shared among students and educators

Delegates attending  spent three days learning from each other and from the example of the Rwandan people on how to create lasting peace. 

The conference, which took place July 11-13 in Kigali, Rwanda, was sponsored by 黑料网鈥檚 School of Peace and Conflict Studies, 黑料网鈥檚 Gerald H. Read Center for International and Intercultural Education, the , and  a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending genocide and other atrocities in the world. 

Materials from the peace conference.

Kigali, Rwanda, was chosen as the location for the conference, to make it more available to those from Africa, to further expand 黑料网鈥檚 growing relationship with the University of Rwanda, and to give attendees the opportunity to learn about the peace-building work of the Rwandan people. 

Since the country鈥檚 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, in which more than 1 million members of the Tutsi tribe were killed by the government-backed Hutu tribe, the country has worked to include peace education in its curriculums for school children.  

The peace conference was attended by numerous students, faculty members and administrators, from 黑料网 and the University of Rwanda, as well as educators and professionals who work for peace from more than a dozen countries. 

Numerous conference attendees listen to speakers during the three-day conference.

黑料网 Assistant Professor Molly Merryman and others tour the Kigali Genocide Memorial on July 10, 2023, in Kigali, Rwanda.

 On July 10, conference attendees toured the Kigali Genocide Memorial, to learn about the history behind the 100-day slaughter and how the country has worked to recover from the bloodshed.

Conference attendees took part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the Kigali Genocide Memorial.

They also took part in a ceremony to lay roses at the memorial, where 250,000 of the victims are laid to rest in mass graves. 

Educators from the Stow-Munroe Falls School District in northeast Ohio, meet with Aggee Shyaka Mugabe, (standing) interim director of the University of Rwanda's Centre for Conflict Management. Seated from left are: outgoing high school Principal Jeff Hartmann, incoming high school Principal Amanda Murray, Assistant Principal Evelyn Haught, and Assistant Superintendent Kristen Prough and her husband, Akron, Ohio Police Sgt. Steven Prough

Educators from the Stow-Munroe Falls City School District in Northeast Ohio, meet with Aggee Shyaka Mugabe, Ph.D., (standing) associate professor and acting director of the University of Rwanda's Centre for Conflict Management. Seated from left are: outgoing high school Principal Jeff Hartmann, incoming high school Principal Amanda Murray, Assistant Principal Evelyn Haught, and Assistant Superintendent Kristen Prough and her husband, Akron, Ohio Police Sgt. Steven Prough. 

Neil Cooper, director of 黑料网's School of Peace and Conflict Studies, talks with Mercedes Somosierra, an attorney and peace activist from Argentina, who was among the attendees.

Neil Cooper, director of 黑料网鈥檚 School of Peace and Conflict Studies, talks with Mercedes Somosierra, an attorney and peace activist from Argentina, who was among the attendees. 

Amanda Johnson, director of the Read Center, watches the presentations with Isidro Fierro, dean of international studies, Universidad Espiritu Santo (Holy Spirit University) in Ecuador. 

Amanda Johnson, director of the Read Center, watches the presentations with Isidro Fierro, dean of international studies, Universidad Espiritu Santo (Holy Spirit University) in Ecuador. 

Students from Umubano Academy in Kigali, give a play-acting presentation on how they use peace skills in the classroom to avoid conflict. The co-ed school is the keystone project of A Partner in Education, a non-profit organization that works to provide quality education in Rwanda and further local and international peace. 

Students from Umubano Academy in Kigali, give a play-acting presentation on how they use peace skills in the classroom to avoid conflict. The co-ed school is the keystone project of A Partner in Education, a nonprofit organization that works to provide quality education in Rwanda and further local and international peace. 

Conference presenter Angie Kotler, an educator from the University of Sussex, in Brighton, UK, and an education consultant for A Partner in Education, which operates the Umubano Academy in Kigali, chats with a fellow conference attendee. 

Conference presenter Angie Kotler, an educator from the University of Sussex, in Brighton, U.K., and an education consultant for A Partner in Education, which operates the Umubano Academy in Kigali, chats with a fellow conference attendee. 

Handwoven baskets are used to decorate the conference center and many other public spaces in Rwanda

Handwoven baskets are used to decorate the conference center and many other public spaces in Rwanda. 

Photo credits: Bob Christy, Hannah Park, Lisa Abraham/黑料网; Patrick  Ndayishimiye /the Aegis Trust

POSTED: Friday, July 21, 2023 10:37 AM
Updated: Wednesday, October 18, 2023 11:58 AM
WRITTEN BY:
Lisa Abraham