UF School of Theatre and Dance- Rwanda Project: So Where Can We Run?
2007
A performance directed by Prof. Mikell Pinkney, UF School of Theatre and Dance, is a good example of how faculty and students can work internationally and then return that experience to the local community.
“Where Can We Run? The Rwanda Experience” began with the UF Arts in Medicine/CAHRE program working in Africa to provide medical and emotional assistance to those impacted by genocide (1990s).
Once the students returned home to the US, they transformed their experience into storytelling, poetry, songs and video.
“Rwanda serves as a model for the devastation that can occur as a result of cultural divisiveness, for the capacity for healing in a wounded society, and for the roles that the arts can play in such healing,” says Jill Sonke, director of CAHRE. “Our goal is to bring the arts to genocide survivors and their families in Rwanda and to bring these important messages home to Florida communities.”