"Never are we nearer the Light than when the darkness is deepest."
- Swami Vivekananda
800,000 children were orphaned in the1994 Rwandan genocide and left to fend for themselves in a broken and battered country. 15 years later, a majority of these children, now adolescents, still suffer from the effects of complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Rwanda, one of the poorest country's in the world, still has no formal mental healthcare system. The deep sorrow and traumatic memories they carry, coupled with feelings of loneliness and despair makes meeting basic survival and safety needs a constant daily struggle.
Yet within this dark story there is a light of hope to be found. Reconciliation is an official policy of the Rwandan government. The essential Rwandan spirit of unity, strength, and love has not been broken nor has the dream of building a better tomorrow. Indeed, the people of Rwanda, including these orphan survivors, are demonstrating an extraordinary willingness to look within to heal their pain and reach out to each other to create a new kind of peace in Rwanda.
For the past three years, The Grace Process International (TGPI), a registered non-profit corporation, has been leading a unique grassroots humanitarian effort in Rwanda to address the trauma needs of these deserving orphans by providing both conventional and alternative therapeutic modalities that address the root cause of PTSD. In addition, they have focused on empowering those they care for with self-help skills and self-sustainable resources for food and water, so that once trained, these orphans can continue on with their own therapeutic process and help other orphans at the same time--a breakthrough model for children helping children heal.
This year TGPI took its largest team of 4 volunteer trauma experts and has made substantial progress with several hundred orphans, including training 150 leaders. Their goal is to hone a replicable and scalable model that other war-torn nations can implement.
Join Dr. Lori Leyden, the founder of TGPI (link), as well Christopher Lowman, a 2009 team member and founder of Moving Toward Peace, on Thursday, November 5 at 6pm PST for this truly special free webinar. You will:
LEARN
... about the exciting results of the 2008 and 2009 programs
... how TGPI and its collaborators plan to expand the program
... what you can do to be part of their work
BE
... moved by the personal accounts of the genocide survivors
... inspired by the underlying story of celebration, strength, and resilience
... touched by our common humanity and the real possibilities for changing the world
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