A virtual trip back-in-time to Rwanda, 1994 and a journey up to present-day through the lens of restorative justice and trust-building.

To inspire and equip educators to lead their students through experiences that build cultural competency, further fostering an environment of Respect, Empathy, and Inclusion through social and emotional learning.

Using story-based learning, we will draw on lessons from the 1994 Rwandan genocide against the Tutsi and the subsequent rebuilding of unity and reconciliation. Participants will be exploring the decision points, choices, and key relationships involved in navigating times of tremendous risk both during the genocide as well as the psychological and physical demands of the years to follow.

Carl will set the stage for the conversations through:

  1. His personal experiences from the harrowing yet hopeful journey that he and his Rwandan colleagues were on during those horrific 100 days;
  2. His experiences gathered through return trips to Rwanda with educators over the past 15 years


Why did they do it?
Looking at the stories of neighbors betraying neighbors, we will uncover the steps that led ordinary men and women to commit genocide. How does the manipulation of our basic human needs polarize our thinking and choices, particularly in times of crisis?

How did you make it?
Through examining the roots of fierce compassion in the acts of those standing up against genocide, we’ll be working to discover key values and practices essential to staying on course and maintaining hope amid crisis. 

What makes “finding the good” so foundational and inspirational to the reframing of ourselves, the situation, and the “other”?

By unpacking the diverse roles each character assumed, we’ll begin to understand how allies can be discovered in the group we’d normally see as “the enemy.” We will unearth solutions, options, and lines of thought we’d never have imagined without the critical thinking that grows from wrestling with these complexities.

Can people change?
A neighbor who has committed the unpardonable – could we ever accept them as a neighbor again, much less trust them? The potential for meaningful reconciliation and restorative justice hinges on this core question.

In reviewing the concepts of neuroplasticity and our ability to choose which brain pathways we reinforce, we find evidence for a strong framework that allows us to imagine a world where people really can change.

For more information, contact Robbie Ross