Reality of Rwanda

6/21/2023

June 20, 2023

June 20, 202
The children are full of love here. The children have everything they need here! The children don’t need us Americans to heal they have life here at Rwanda their place of home and love!! The way we view Africa as Americans is so ignorant and false and after the experience I had at the memorial for the genocide of 1994 and then listening to the survivors and the prosecutors of the 1994 genocide explain to us how they forgave and not forget and learned to love is so beautiful and inspiring. The one survivor today gave us advice and told us that people who have conflicts should come together before they go to authority and that is what makes forgiveness, all authority does is give power. Rwanda is a place of love and the children here are learning from their parents they don’t need to “be saved”. The Rwandans are living, us Americans are surviving.

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My name is Rachel Marillo. I am studying at Buffalo State, and am in the social work program and also plan on receiving my child advocacy certificate when I graduate. After graduation, my plan is to continue my education at the University of Buffalo for my MSW, and then be a school social worker. Outside of school, I have two jobs, I work at a youth center with kids where we basically just spend every weekday engaging with the children after school, and then I also work at Wegmans! During my free time, I love hanging out with my dog and spending time outside with him. I also like to make quilts and listen to Taylor Swift. The first time that I heard about the Anne Frank project I saw leadership involved, which always catches my eye, being a leader to me means that you make sure everyone is being heard, being a leader is not to overpower others but advocate for everyone. My desire in this trip is to serve new communities and advocate for individuals who need someone with a stronger voice. This trip will have a new perspective on life for me, and I look forward to those changes.

Rachel Marillo