UB will host a three-day series of events honoring the life of Alison Des Forges.
Des Forges, who served as senior advisor to the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch for the last 20 years of her life and was a part of the UB community, received an honorary doctorate from SUNY during UB's 155th general commencement ceremony in 2001. She had an early start when she first began her human rights work.
Her book, Leave None to Tell the Story: Genocide in Rwanda, is a story of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda and her efforts to awaken the international community to the horrors of the event. The book earned her much recognition, including a MacArthur Foundation Award in 1999. It has also been translated into a few different languages, including German and French.
'[The title] was a saying – it was spoken by the people carrying out the genocide, which is pretty good proof that they wanted to eliminate an entire group of people,' Des Forges said.
The events bring out how much Alison Des Forges cared about her work. This remains as a reminder of how her passion has touched others and, hopefully, will continue to.
'It's a difficult moment for all of us who are survivors,' Des Forges said. 'I think the fact that we lost our own relatives a year ago … makes us more sensitive to the tragedy of millions of people in the world who have suffered more than we have. That's an important part of this for us.'
Miracle in Rwanda,
Hotel Rwanda
The reception on Feb. 11 will be hosted by the Alison L. Des Forges Memorial Committee, which is raising funds for a scholarship and lectures in her name. The reception will begin at 6 p.m. in the Flag Room, 215 Student Union. Tickets for the reception and that night's performance are $125 and will be available at the door, by e-mail at ALDMemorial@gmail.com, or from Helene Kramer at 866-3876. Contributions also will be accepted.
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