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Healing a nation; 25 years after the Rwandan genocide

Also, best-selling author Christopher McDougall

Rwandans sitting in the stands hold candles as part of a candlelit vigil during a memorial service held at Amahoro stadium in the capital Kigali, Rwanda Sunday, April 7, 2019. Rwanda is commemorating the 25th anniversary of when the country descended into an orgy of violence in which some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred by the majority Hutu population over a 100-day period in what was the worst genocide in recent history. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

 (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

Rwandans sitting in the stands hold candles as part of a candlelit vigil during a memorial service held at Amahoro stadium in the capital Kigali, Rwanda Sunday, April 7, 2019. Rwanda is commemorating the 25th anniversary of when the country descended into an orgy of violence in which some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were massacred by the majority Hutu population over a 100-day period in what was the worst genocide in recent history. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

In 1994, in the span of 100 days, unimaginable carnage occurred in the African nation of Rwanda. Between April and July inter-tribal tensions exploded into civil war following the assassination of the Rwandan President.

Violence quickly escalated and before it was over an estimated 800,000 people were killed.

The violence also caused an unprecedented “flight of humanity,” with more than one million people displaced from their homes and into neighboring countries.

Twenty-five years later, the world is reflecting on the genocide that killed one in ten Rwandans.

Rwanda

Justin Kocis

Dickinson College President Margee Ensign, Ph.D, and Dickinson College student and Rwandan native Nelly Teta Ntwali, class of 2022, appears on Smart Talk, December 2, 2019.

Appearing on Smart Talk Monday to discuss the anniversary are Her Excellency Ambassador Mathilde Mukantabana, the Ambassador of the Republic of Rwanda to the United States of America, Dickinson College President Margee Ensign, Ph.D, and Dickinson College student and Rwandan native Nelly Teta Ntwali, class of 2022.  Dickinson College is hosting a panel discussion on the Genocide Monday at 7 p.m. at the Schlechter Auditorium.

Mathilde

Rwanda Embassy

Her Excellency Mathilde Mukantabana, ambassador to Rwanda, appears on Smart Talk, December 2, 2019.

Also, when Chris McDougall agreed to take in a donkey from an animal hoarder, he didn’t think it would be that big of an adjustment to family life.

But the donkey, named Sherman, was in much worse shape than he realized. So, Chris took on a radical donkey rehabilitation program designed not only to heal Sherman’s body but to heal his mind, too. He found the best way to soothe a donkey is to give it a job, and so Chris decided to teach Sherman how to run.

Joining Smart Talk to introduce Sherman the donkey and the life-changing power of animals is the best-selling author of Running with Sherman, The Donkey With the Heart of a Hero, Christopher McDougall.

Running with Sherman, The Donkey With the Heart of a Hero, by Christopher McDougall, is the WITF December Pick of the Month.

Chris

Justin Kocis

Christopher McDougall, author of Running with Sherman, The Donkey With the Heart of a Hero, appears on Smart Talk, December 2, 2019.

Running

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