Speaking to a crowd of about 150 Wednesday night, Carl Wilkens said while the award-winning film Hotel Rwanda has helped raise awareness of the Rwandan genocide, it doesn't come close to revealing the actual horror that Wilkens saw first-hand while living in the country.
Wilkens' stories from the Rwandan genocide moved his audience last night in the Walker Building during a speech on genocide where he related his experiences in Rwanda to the current situation in Darfur, Sudan.
The only American to stay in Rwanda during the 1994 genocide, Wilkens is responsible for saving the lives of hundreds of orphans and providing care and shelter to many others. He lived in Rwanda for six years both before and after the genocide.
The Rwandan genocide was sparked by political and social tensions between two ethnic groups in Rwanda, the Hutus and the Tutsis. Believing that the Tutsis had an unfair share of power in Rwanda, a group of Hutu extremists formed a militia to exterminate Tutsis. As death tolls mounted, the Rwandan government failed to stop the violence.
"If the government gives you an option that you don't think you can live with, remember that you always have a choice," Wilkens said. "But remember that if you were in Rwanda, you might have paid for making that choice with your life."
Wilkens said that exclusionary thinking is what leads to genocide.
"Genocide stems from thinking that says, 'My world would be better without you in it,' " he said.
Exclusionary thinking is not limited to Rwanda or extremists because as long as America is still a country divided by shades of skin, it exists here, too, he said.
There is hope, though, he said.
"Not everyone in Sudan is an extremist. There are moderate people around, and they talk. They are our hope for change," Wilkens said.
Hope and making a difference also come from building relationships and sharing stories. Relationships give people the strength to stand up for those they care about, and stories can move others, he said.
"Don't fall into the easy trap of 'us' and 'them,' " he said. "It blinds us of the beauty and joy that is always there to be found."
Theresa Perez, a State College resident who returned from working in Rwanda in December, said it was difficult to see the faces of children in pictures that Wilkens shared.
"That's what the kids do. They just pose for pictures and touch us because we're so different. They're incredible," she said.
Perez worked with the Umuryango Children's network.
The network is devoted to getting Rwandan children off the street and into homes with families.
"I feel like not enough is being done in Darfur. It's very connected to hear about horrific suffering in other parts of the world after working in Rwanda. I can't separate my heart," she said.
