f i r s t p e r son
Rwanda: Youth Stories
Build a Peaceful Future
B y J oanna H orton M c P herson
We aren’t actors
I stood totally frozen and embarrassed.
Seventeen Rwandan teenagers lined the
room in chairs with their arms crossed.
I’d invited them to join me for a game in
the middle of the room and they didn’t
move. I felt like I was keeping them in
prison by the way they behaved. I began
asking them to introduce themselves.
Only a few spoke. I’d never experienced
such a failure in leading a theatre work-
shop before and contemplated stopping
the program right then and there. Lissa,
too, my student whose family brought
me here, whispered and giggled with her
friend. Why aren’t you helping me? I
screamed in my mind.
Lissa is a tall, outspoken and
funny Rwandan girl. We met when
she arrived in my office at the inter-
national boarding school where I was
the dean and acting teacher. She was
one of several girls who’d bonded with
me and each other in the school acting
group. They all began sharing stories
from home, developing trust and con-
necting with each other. Lissa talked
often about her country—the culture,
the people, the language, the genocide.
Lissa begged me to come see her coun-
try. When we commemorated the
8 IMAGINE l spring 2017
Rwandan genocide in April last year,
Lissa’s mother and I began emailing
each other. We agreed a program like
this would be great in Rwanda and I
made arrangements to go.
Despite welcoming this new
program, the executive director of the
youth organization I joined for the
week warned me, “We don’t ‘do arts’
in Rwanda.” Because education and
economics are the best path to their
future, youth have little interest in
such hobbies.
No problem. I’d been working
with teens for fifteen-plus years doing
theatre. My friends were in disbelief
that I loved working with teens so
much, despite their resistance and at-
titudes. In fact, teens are such home-
ground for me, the workshop process
was that much more enjoyable when
met with a challenging group, reticent
to be drawn out. I went confident that
I would help these teens play, express
themselves, trust one another and tell
great stories. I knew that I’d learn a lot,
but I had no idea how much.
It was clear the cards were
stacked against me in the first ten
minutes. These were very articulate,
well-dressed children of diplomats
and officials. I found out they were