Life Saving Fashion:
White Rose shops support the Aegis Trust in its mission to prevent genocide and build peace in countries which have been through mass atrocities or could be on the brink of them today.
The Aegis Trust has developed a successful model for peace education in Rwanda, supporting tens of thousands of young people across the country with the knowledge and skills to overcome the legacy of genocide.
Peace education started as a pilot in 2008 at Kigali Genocide Memorial. A participatory and interactive methodology, where participants learn by doing, is central to Aegis’ peace education programme. In 2013-16 the programme expanded to cover 22 districts, through the Aegis-led Rwanda Peace Education Programme (RPEP) and the Genocide Research and Reconciliation Programme (GRRP). Programme partners included USC Shoah Foundation, Radio la Benevolencija and the Institute of Research and Dialogue for Peace (IRDP).
In 2014, the Rwanda Education Board announced inclusion of peace and values education as a cross-cutting subject in Rwanda’s new national curriculum.
From 2016-19 Aegis Rwanda’s Education for Sustainable Peace in Rwanda (ESPR) programme is supporting the curriculum change, embedding peace and values education in the classroom, while strengthening the skills of teachers through Peace Schools. A major shift of the new competency based curriculum is the emphasis on skills: critical thinking, empathy, personal responsibility and trust are strengthened through interactive teaching methods. This 3-year programme focuses on Teachers and Parents as educators as well as Youth.
“Today Aegis has an unrivaled opportunity to break cycles of violence and prevent mass atrocities in three countries at risk – but to do so we need your help, and we need to move fast.”
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Dr James Smith Founder & CEO, Aegis Trust
SUPPORTING WHITE ROSE HELPS SAVES LIVES:
Case Study: Aegis Trust in the Central African Republic
Rwandan genocide survivor Lambert Kanamugire is putting his life on the line in the war-torn Central African Republic (CAR) to save lives – and your clothing donations are helping him. Previously based at the Kigali Genocide Memorial as part of the Aegis Trust’s peace education team in Rwanda, he is leading a project to inspire community, faith and youth leaders in CAR to be effective advocates for peace.
The project involves intensive three-day programmes, each for 30 participants, delivered by our experienced local Peacemaker Team led by Lambert giving trauma counseling, peace education and leadership training. Programmes involve presentations, discussions, group exercises and specialized mobile exhibition and video content.
“The Aegis Trust has helped Rwanda to rise from the Ashes. We have seen the result: Rwandan youth have understood the past that led them into darkness…
It’s about time that our friends from Rwanda come and help us.”
Archbishop of Bangui, CAR
Lives are being saved by this project. In one instance, a community leader invited someone he previously intended to kill to join him for the second day. In another, a woman who stockpiled weapons for revenge forgave former attackers, turning her weapons in to the authorities.
All participants are invited based on their influence at street level in parts of society vulnerable to recruitment to extremist thinking and lethal violence. In some cases they help to shape the thinking of hundreds or thousands of people.
“I said that I had to take revenge. I had grenades, a gun and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. But these workshops, firstly in trauma healing, released my heart. After the peace education training, in the evening I went to the home of the people I had planned to kill. When they saw me they were scared, thinking I was coming to harm them, but I shook hands and asked their forgiveness. And I handed my weapons to the police.”
Female peace education participant, Central African Republic, June 2018
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By purchasing recycled fashion
in White Rose, or donating unwanted clothes, you are making a
real difference.