Lisa Rogoff

Lisa Rogoff (Survivor Corps in Rwanda): Lisa has spent much of her professional career promoting human rights. She earned a BA from Colgate University. She then worked for the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Committee on Conscience where she produced Voices on Genocide Prevention, a weekly podcast. Lisa then worked at the ENOUGH Project, directing campaigns to raise awareness about the crises in Sudan, Congo and Uganda. Lisa returned to academia to pursue a joint-degree at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service and McDonough School of Business. While at Georgetown she worked at the Clinton Global Initiative, designing the Human Rights and Peace Track for the CGI’s second annual conference for university students. During her first year at graduate school, Lisa also worked with the Grassroots and Issues Management Team at APCO Worldwide, a global communications consulting firm. After her fellowship, Lisa wrote: "My experience in Rwanda has taught me the importance of flexibility. I’ve also seen the importance of empowering women...I don’t know that I’ve changed the way I look at myself, though I have come to understand just how fortunate I am to have been born in my circumstances. I have met so many wonderful and talented men and women in Rwanda who have been unable to realize their fullest potential because of their economic, social, or political situations.”



The Importance of Family

13 Jun

Genocide memorials are inevitably heartwrenching and always difficult to visit, but I was not prepared for this morning’s visit to the Kigali Memorial Center.  As I walked past the testimony of those that escaped in 1994 and saw the pictures of children that were not as lucky, a group of students from AERG – the organization of child survivors that I am working with through Survivor Corps – wearing purple handkerchiefs and scarves (purple is the color signifying remembrance) accompanied me.  I was initially struck by their sullen, but stoic, reactions as we toured through the history of Rwanda and the events of 1994.  However, when we reached a room with photos of those that were killed, several of the students broke into tears.  As soon as one student began to cry, he or she was immediately comforted by three to four other students.  I realized that these are the families Kabera told me about during our interview.

Members of AERG leaving the memorial

I’m left with few words to describe this experience, so instead, I share a quote from the Museum’s walls that I think speaks to Rwanda, the recent shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and all those using education and memory to end genocide and crimes against humanity:

“If you knew me, and you really knew yourself, you wouldn’t have killed me.”

Posted By Lisa Rogoff

Posted Jun 13th, 2009

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