Global Community Leadership

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Youthlinc and Utah State University were finally able to send two teams out after a 2 year hiatus due to the pandemic. Both teams were co-lead by Dr. Shannon Peterson, the Director of Global Programming, and Justin Powell, Executive Director of Youthlinc.

Rwanda

The Rwanda team was originally scheduled to travel over Christmas break in late 2021, but a few weeks prior to departure the omicron variant broke out, so Dr. Peterson and Justin made the excruciating decision to postpone the trip until May 2022.  We are glad we did, because the restrictions in December were much heavier than when we finally arrived in May.

Check out this great article from the Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy about how this partnership in Rwanda came to be.

Preparation

Leading up to the trip in Rwanda where the team studied about genocide, peacekeeping, and reconciliation.  All students on this trip were required to read two books in preparation for the trip to Rwanda as part of the a 3-credit course from Utah State University.

The Girl Who Smiled Beads. This memoir was about a girl who fled Rwanda with her family as a refugee, her story of being separated from them, building a new life in the United States after she was resettled, and how she sought to make sense with her traumatic history. 

I Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families. This memoir had historical context about what lead up to the genocide in 1994 and how Rwanda paved a path to recovery in the years following.

Exchanges with Refugee Students

We had two different exchanges with refugee students attending Kepler University. One group was from Karongi Refugee Camp near the Congo and we hosted them for a day at a guesthouse we stayed at on Lake Kivu.  We did community building activities, cultural exchange, shared meals, and did a book group on The Girl Who Smiled Beads, which the Congolese students also read in preparation for the exchange.  It was an uplifting and empowering experience for all of us as we came together as lifelong learners, as friends, and as people now connected and having a better understanding of the complexities in our worlds.

The Team also did an exchange with refugees in the capital city of Kigali, hosted by Kepler University. Rwanda takes a progressive stance on allowing refugees to integrate into Rwanda society if they choose to.  In most other countries, refugees are restricted from leaving designated camps and have few rights in the country in which they are seeking refugee and are unable to return to their home counties for fear of persecution and death. We asked Rwanda government officials what has guided their compassionate stance on allowing refugees to integrate into society there rather than being corralled exclusively into camps, and they said, “Rwandans have been refugees for many decades and know how it feels to be displaced and have no rights as displaced persons, so we want to do what we can to make any refugees in our borders have a better chance at successfully rebuilding their lives.”

Hands-on Service

The Rwanda team was able to do service with a local community to build gardens to improve food security and visit reconciliation villages.  The team build a complex community garden alongside community members that was drought tolerant and could provide nutritious vegetables more easily to families in the area.  They had a wonderful time building that together and interacting with the community and the younger students at the same time. 

They were also able to visit two reconciliation villages. One was a government program where they provide housing for poor families., the other was supported by a private NGO. A complex aspect of rebuilding communities is that some families are the families of genocide perpetrators and other families are victims of genocide. So community and economic rebuilding is highly emotional and psychological reconciliation efforts must be undertaken to help individuals begin to heal from the traumas relating to the genocide.

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Rwanda Substack Articles by Students

All students on the team wrote articles about their experiences in Rwanda.  Here is a sampling of articles published by the team about their time in Rwanda.

Babarira - "They Forgive"
The Rwandan Genocide of the Hutus Against the Tutsi began in April of 1994. In one hundred days, approximately one million Tutsi and their sympathizers were killed. Merely different groups before the colonizers came, what it meant to be a Hutu— to be a Tutsi— was forcibly redefined. The Belgians exerted their power by favoring the minority group of the Tutsi in the forced labor they made them do.
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Americans Are Not Human Be-ings
Imagine sitting down at an outdoor café in the green hills of Rwanda. The sky is overcast, the air feels wet and hot, the jungle breeze smells of foliage and smoked wood, and the sounds of tropical birds and boda boda motorbikes drifts up from the streets. You check your watch; it’s been 10 minutes and no sign of a waiter. Looking over your shoulder, you see other Rwandans eating and drinking, laid-back conversations in a different language swirling around. After another 5 minutes, the waiter approaches carrying a menu.
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Polar Opposite Realities
On July 15, 1994, the nightmare ended. It had been 100 days and nearly a million Tutsis were dead. Even though 85% of the population in Rwanda was Hutu, the Tutsi, a mere 10-14 % dominated the country in every way.
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Embracing Ubumuntu
Ubumuntu is a Kinyarwanda word that means “to be human.” It refers to the quality of being humane, to care about others, being generous and kind, and to show empathy by recognizing the humanity of others. The symbol of ubumuntu is a heart formed by two people embracing, connected to the world. A geometric design is used to create the traditional Rwandan imigongo1 art, made by genocide widows that have come together to move forward, beyond their tragic pasts.
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Unfinished Walls of Names
Mukamurenzi Francoise. Mukamunga Editta. Mukamwezi Usta. The list of “M” names runs on and on, white letters on black stone. A tribute to the dead. Evidence of genocide. The wall of names stands close to the Nyamata church, a red brick building with shattered glass and damaged corns. The site of a massacre beneath the cross of Christendom.
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Kwibuka and Reconciliation
From early philosophy Plato stated “that what we call learning is only a process of recollection.”1 Growing up I heard this concept recited as ‘to learn is to remember.’ As humans, can we truly learn without remembering the past? Our predecessors teach lessons of what to do and oftentimes what not to do. History has made progress such as innovations and technological advances spread through generations. What worked in the past seems to be lessons well learned. However, ignoring these treasures can cause a repeat of catastrophe because some history should just never be repeated. So this opens the question, What should we remember?
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Basket Weaving
If asked to imagine what the Genocide was like I find myself lost I find myself confused and heartbroken I find myself confronted with the fact that it’s not my pain to grieve
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The Descent into Genocide
There are two stained-glass windows at the Kigali Genocide Memorial, both of which were designed and created by Ardyn Halter, son of Holocaust survivor, Roman Halter. Each window sends a shaft of light into the memorial’s dim basement—the basement into which visitors must descend as they are led along the path of genocide. Recently, I was the one making that descent. As I walked down those basement steps, I was caught off guard by the darkness of the place, but then it made sense to me. The 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi was a work of darkness.
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The Difficulty of “Never Again” and Heading off Atrocities in the Moment
It is sometimes easy for us in the United States to sit behind our oceans, relative political stability, and economic prosperity and think all is fine in the world. We often forget that on much of the globe there are horrors occurring that we have the ability to do something about. Some may say, “who are we to intervene in the internal affairs of a sovereign state?
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The hope of a refugee
This past May, as part of a study abroad experience to Rwanda, I met with my refugee college counterparts primarily from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) who have been displaced from their homes, fleeing violence or born into harsh conditions in a refugee camp.
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Planting the Seeds of Reconciliation
Twenty-eight years after the start of its genocide, in which some 800,000 people were killed, Rwanda is rebuilding with hope and shining with a new light. Speaking at a commemoration ceremony in 2019, President Paul Kagame said, "Our bodies and minds bear amputations and scars, but none of us is alone. We Rwandans have granted ourselves a new beginning. We exist in a state of permanent commemoration, every day, in all that we do ... Today, light radiates from this place."
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Cultural Crossroads
I did not know what to expect when coming to Rwanda. Over my years of travel, I haven’t come anywhere near the continent of Africa, let alone Rwanda. The Republic of Rwanda is a small country in East Africa surrounded by four other countries – Uganda, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Burundi.
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Can you love thy neighbors?
Human existence has age-old consistencies that globally tie us together. Keep in mind the phrase and historical commandment “love thy neighbor as thyself.” It is a poetic rendition of how love must prevail in community. This particular metaphor of humanity is compared to the common experience of neighbors. To reside next to fellow beings seems safe, smart, essentially human.
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Missed Connections Lead to New Perspectives
Sunday morning, May the 15th, and I was preparing to finally leave to go to Salt Lake City (SLC) International Airport for my flight to Kigali, Rwanda to study the genocide that had occurred in 1994 and Rwanda’s reconciliation efforts since. It was supposed to be a relatively easy flight experience. Leave SLC at 2:30PM, land in Amsterdam for a three-hour layover, and then take the final nine-hour leg to get to Kigali.
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Vietnam/Cambodia

The other GCL trip was a three-week, 5-credit trip to Vietnam and Cambodia.  This trip was designed by Dr. Shannon Peterson and Justin Powell. It had been postponed since 2020 due to the pandemic. 

Part of the coursework preparation for this humanitarian-focused trip was to read four memoirs all dealing with different perspectives of the war and conflict in that region.  

The Things They Carried. This Pulitzer Prize winning memoir tells the story of an American soldier as he was drafted into the Vietnam War and as a soldier in Vietnam.

The Mountains Sing. This book was written by a Vietnamese author and tells the triple generational story of a family that helped the team understand life in Vietnam through French, Japanese, and American occupation, and the time after the American War as Vietnam asserted its sovereignty to govern themselves.

The River of Time. This is written by a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who lived in Vietnam and Cambodia during the tumultuous years of war and genocide and gives a fascinating glimpse into the complexities of the situation during that time.

First They Killed My Father. This memoir was written by a survivor of the Cambodian genocide who was able to escape and immigrate to the United States where she rebuilt her life.

VIETNAM

While in Vietnam the team did cultural exchange projects with a youth group in Hanoi, organized by SJ Vietnam.  They did an exchange with university students in DaNang with Dr. Ben Quick, a USU alum working at American University in Central Vietnam.  The team met with VAVA, which is an nonprofit based in Hanoi that works with victims of Agent Orange and the team was able to support their work at a rehabilitation center in the outskirts of Hanoi. The team visited the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the Vinh Moc tunnels, Khe Sanh military base, and the Mekong Delta where they witnessed and supported community development efforts in the context of a post-conflict society. The team met with USAID and the UN offices while in Vietnam to learn about the efforts the US and the UN are taking to improve relations and address humanitarian issues in this beautiful country.

CAMBODIA

After Vietnam, the team traveled north to Cambodia.  First, the team worked with Elephant Valley Project where they did ecological projects and learned about how conflict has caused harm to the ecological health of the area and the Bunong minority group in the Mondulkiri Provience.  The team met officials at the US Embassy in Phnom Penh and at another UN office to learn about systemic issues affecting the welfare of Cambodians and about the work being done at a community and humanitarian level to support the development of Cambodia. The team visited the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng museum to learn about the genocide that happened in the late 1970’s.  Lastly, the team traveled to Siem Reap where they worked with Halo Trust, an NGO that works on eradicating landmines in Cambodia that were placed there during the Vietnam War era that still have humanitarian implications today.

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Vietnam and Cambodia Substack Articles by Students

All students on the team wrote articles about their experiences in Vietnam and Cambodia.  Here is a sampling of articles published by the team about their time in Southeast Asia.

Keeper of Memory
“After you visit this place – you will be a keeper of memory.” Visitors to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, are told this at the very beginning of the recorded audio tour. When guided through S-21 — the secret code name given to the Tuol Sleng prison site — you bear witness to this turbulent period of Cambodian history and view some of the atrocities that took place at this school-turned-prison for victims of the Khmer Rouge.
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Children Are the Pieces in Adult Chess Games
When it comes to war, politicians make the decisions and enforce the rules, but who suffers the consequences of war the most? Historically, it has often been the women and children. A leading children's humanitarian organization, Save the Children, explained that in the last ten years, 93,236 children have been killed or maimed in conflicts. This would equate to about 25 children a day, or the average elementary classroom size in America. Children are suffering mentally, emotionally, and physically through conflicts all around the world. Many of these wars and hostile acts may be well known to us; others, not so much.
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The Long Road to Healing
I am not nervous about facing the Agent Orange victims — how could I be? I have been preparing for weeks for the anger, the hurt, the guilt. I am ready to face them and convey to them countless apologies through my eyes for things I never did. It has been forty-seven years since the end of the American War, which we call the Vietnam War, and new generations of Americans — including young college students, such as myself — still carry the guilt and shame of a conflict they were never part of. What I am unprepared for as I move forward to meet them, is their kindness and gratitude. I don’t know how to handle the excitement at my being there and the willingness to move forward.
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You Hate to Think About it All, But Trust me, Not Thinking About it is Worse
Before I left on my trip to Vietnam and Cambodia, I called my family. First my sister. Then my parents. We talked for a long time, discussed my flight itinerary, said I love you and meant it. Thinking back to those phone calls during my time in Vietnam and Cambodia, a deeply disturbing question continually pushed itself to the forefront of my mind. Would someone, out there in the world, be willing to kill me and the people I love?
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An Elephant Never Forgets
"An elephant never forgets," was the phrase he used. In this particular instance, our tour guide, John1, was referring to Doe and Darling's ability to remember the landscape easily. He explained that despite the vastness of the Cambodian jungle, the Asian elephants will remember the best places on the river to bathe and where their favorite ginger plants to snack on are. The couple towered above me, but against the trees that reached the heavens, vines disguised as giant cobras, and the copper-colored muddy terrain, the elephants seemed much smaller. With no semblance of where we were, remembering the nooks and crannies of the area appeared impossible.
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Are We Good?
In middle school, high school, and even in certain classes in college, I have been asked repeatedly — are humans inherently good or evil? For me, the answer to that question has always been complicated. I like to think that humans are basically good, and want to do what is right. But when I learn about horrific events that have happened throughout history, all over the world — the concentration camps during WW2, genocides in Cambodia and elsewhere, the massacres that occurred during the Vietnam war, and the usage of chemicals in warfare like Agent Orange — these events might lead some to argue that humans are inherently evil. I would like to contend that they are not.
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Children Shouldn't Have to Create Art Like This
The Vietnam War, or the Resistance War Against America as known in Vietnam, is often presented as a one-sided war. In the United States, the dominant perspective I was given at school was that our efforts were brave and pure, that we wanted to protect Vietnam from itself. In Vietnam, I have learned that the people wanted independence and the imperialists from America prevented their long-awaited peace. Each perspective has bad guys, good guys, and -- most importantly -- victims.
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The Definition of Insanity
There are many reasons why the United States failed so tremendously in Vietnam. You can look at the various military defeats, the weakness of the South Vietnamese government, or the absence of a clear goal leading to the general uninterest and lack of morale amongst American soldiers. But, in my opinion, the ultimate root of the failure came from the United States government not understanding Vietnamese culture and history. The War Remnants Museum in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam contains a quote from ancient Vietnamese General and national hero, Lý Thường Kiệt which states, “The Southern mountains and rivers belong to the Viet people.
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What Was it Like to be a Soldier in Vietnam?
While driving through the pillared limestone mountains of Northern Vietnam, listening to the dense jungle critters sing, the uniqueness of this rugged landscape left me awestruck. I began to think about how this landscape must’ve been nearly impossible to navigate during the Vietnam war. I imagined what it would’ve been like to try to survive in these harsh environments as an American soldier who really didn’t know what he was fighting for.
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The Khmer Rouge: Forgotten but not Gone
Southeast Asia is currently the United State’s fourth largest export market and one of the fastest growing markets in the world according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Over the last several years, the US has steadily increased its economic investment in the counties of the region, including Cambodia.[1] Cambodia, however, is plagued by the legacy of one of humanity’s worst moments: the Cambodian Genocide.
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JOIN US IN 2023

There will be two teams with GCL in summer 2023.  One is with Dr. Jessica Roueche from Utah State University heading to India. Learning and projects will be related to public health through a Western and Eastern approach to medicine, communication, and value systems.  This new country-site will be coordinated by our Nepalese partner, Binod Rai, utilizing his network of volunteers.  

The other team will be with Dr. Jessica Pauly from Utah Valley University, which is our first GCL team with UVU. This group will be traveling to Peru and working with a local community, with particular focus on women’s business and vocational programming, to elevate their ability to access additional marketplaces and will evaluate, recommend, and implement structures to improve communication between community groups. 

If you’re looking for an opportunity to be a lifelong learner and join a GCL team, you are welcome to do so even if you are not a student attending USU or UVU.

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