Campus Community

Buffalo State University students, faculty, staff, and community partners are all cordially invited to Kwibuka 32, the annual commemoration of the 1994 Genocide Against the tutsi in Rwanda, on Saturday, May 9, from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. in the Campbell Student Union Social Hall.

Kwibuka means 'Remember' in Kinyarwanda, and is simultaneously a solemn, inspirational, and educational event. Rwandas all over the world commemorate this event under the same theme: Remember. Unite. Renew. The Buffalo Kwibuka 32 is produced by the Buffalo Rwanda Community Association in partnership with Buffalo State's Anne Frank Project. Kwibuka will include testimony from genocide survivors, Rwanda music, poetry, and food. Event speakers include the Rwanda Ambassador to the United States, Her Excellency Mathilde Mukantabana, Buffalo Mayor Sean M. Ryan, other local leaders, local Rwanda leaders, as well as Buffalo State leadership and Distinguished Service Professor Drew Kahn.

The Anne Frank Project has brought over 200 Buffalo State students to the remarkable country of Rwanda where they learn and experience forgiveness, reconciliation, nation building, and cultural immersion first-hand. These students return to Buffalo to create an original play, and tour that play to local schools with an interactive story-based workshop; they are literally bringing their Rwanda lessons learned back home to hungry minds and hearts. This year's tour, The SEED, was performed for nearly 5,000 local middle and high school students.

Kwibuka is an opportunity for our campus to illustrate the importance of our new American communities, celebrate our long-term partnership with Rwanda, and teach our students about cultural and historic realities from Rwandans themselves—the definition of experiential learning! Everyone is welcome and the program is free to all who attend.

For more information about Kwibuka, visit https://africarenewal.un.org/en/magazine/kwibuka-32-reflection-resilience-and-stories-survival.

For more information about the Anne Frank Project's long-term relationship with Rwanda, visit https://www.annefrankproject.com/study-in-rwanda.