大象传媒

Front Page

WORLD

-------------

REGIONS

SERVICES

About Us
Contact Us
Help


You are in:		Front Page > People > Children's Rights > Teaching

The right to a Childhood (Rwanda)
Introduction
•	Give basic background to this area of the world.

•	Outline key facts in the following factfile.

•	Refer to Further Resources for more detailed information.

Activity
'Looking after the children is a big worry. . . I'm still a child myself' (Habasa)

•	Listen to Habasa's story What difficulties has Habasa had to face?

•	Listen to Habasa's story Make notes on: a) Habasa's house and surroundings b) how Habasa survives and copes c) the feelings of Habasa and her sister about their situation.

•	Discuss responses as a whole class.


'I don't think about what I've missed.' (Habasa)

•	Look at the Children's Charter made by the class and at the . What rights has Habasa missed out on because of her responsibilities?

•	Design a poster to raise awareness concerning a child's right to a childhood.

•	Save the Children has helped to trace the families of missing children in Rwanda and currently works within the local communities to find and select foster parents. Find out more about SC or other agency activities to help children in Rwanda. Compare how each of them is approaching the issue.

Extentsion activity
•	Read the following extract from Letter to Daniel by Fergal Keane Providing coverage of the massacre in Rwanda left its mark on the news teams involved; it also forced them to ask themselves questions which were often difficult to answer. Although I felt a deep sense of journalistic inadequacy, the Rwandan genocide brought me more kudos than any other story I have ever covered. This has left me with lingering feelings of guilt. Perhaps it is an inescapable part of the territory. If you operate in the zones of misery, the sense of somehow being an exploiter is never far away. I have had people call me a vulture and there are times when my own reactions have made me feel ashamed. I can remember attending a mass funeral where the families of the dead were almost knocked over by jostling cameramen and photographers...
	Copyright Fergal Keane Letter to Daniel (Penguin / 大象传媒) 1996 pp 157-163

•	Students discuss responses to the extract considering the following questions: a) are the journalists/the Media simply 'doing their job' or are they exploiting other people? (explain and give reasons). b) how and why should this story be told? c) think about other situations where the media has played a key role in bringing issues to the attention of a national or international community. Discuss the significance of the media's part in these events. d) how can writers challenge or change attitudes? Think about poets / novelists who have written the truth in times of conflict. Find out about their work. e) consider the use of language in television reporting, radio reporting and written accounts of events.Which is most effective and why? f) at the end of the chapter quoted from above, Fergal Keane writes: 'Our trade may be full of imperfections and ambiguities but if we ignore evil we become the authors of a guilty silence' (p163). What do you think he means by this statement? Do you agree? Discuss the role of the bystander in situations where a wrong is committed.

Rwanda factfile:

- Tutsi cattle owners were dominant in Rwanda for over 500 years.

- In 1959, the power was seized by
land-owning Hutu.

- In 1962 Rwanda gained independence from France. Since then, ethnic tension and conflict have been at the forefront of Rwandan life.

- In the conflict in 1994, up to
1 million people died.

- Efforts by the then dominant Hutu to eliminate the Tutsi population were described as "genocide".

- As a result of the 1994 conflict, around 400,000 children became orphans and 60,000 households were then headed by children

Further resources

We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families
Philip Gourevitch
(Picador ,Macmilllan)
ISBN 0 330 37120 7

Season of Blood: A Rwandan Journey
Fergal Keane (Penguin)
ISBN 0 14 0247602

Letter to Daniel
Fergal Keane (Penguin/大象传媒 Books)
ISBN 0 14 026289 X

Visiting Rwanda
Dervla Murphy (Lilliput)
ISBN 1 901866 11 4

Hope for Rwanda
Andr茅 Sibomana
(Pluto Press)
ISBN 0 7453 15615



	^^Back to top
	Front Page
	\| \| \| \| \| \| \| \| \|

	大象传媒 World Service Trust \| \| About Us \| Contact Us \| Help © 大象传媒 World Service, Bush House, Strand, London WC2B 4PH, UK Privacy Statement