Kalama School District recently welcomed two genocide survivors to campus for an engaging conversation with Kalama Middle School and Kalama High School students.
During a pair of school-wide assemblies and a subsequent, more intimate Q&A session with the high school’s student leadership class last week, Emmanuel Turaturanye, a survivor of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, and Kacrna Saron Khut, a survivor of the Cambodian Killing Fields genocide of the late 1970s, recounted the trials they faced as children, emphasizing the importance of remembrance, tolerance, and standing up against injustice.
“My story took place very far from here, so I’m here in Kalama to bring it closer,” explained Saron. “I want to share my story so that we can all learn a little bit, and maybe take some action to prevent it from happening again.”
“It’s hard to share my story sometimes, because what happened to me 30 years ago feels like it happened yesterday,” Emmanuel told students. “But I don’t want to live in 1994. I want to live in the present, because change is right now.”
Kalama teacher Michael Ready facilitated the speaking event through his years-long involvement with the Holocaust Center for Humanity in Seattle.
For students involved the Holocaust Center for Humanity's Student Leadership Board (SLB), the Holocaust and genocide studies will continue throughout the school year, with planned events taking place between Portland and Seattle.
April 14: "Echoes of Survival" exhibit to open at Kalama Public Library
In partnership with the Kalama Public Library and the Holocaust Center for Humanity, the Southwest Washington Student Leadership Board collaborated and curated the creation of an exhibit of local artifacts that have long been kept in the archives of the Seattle Holocaust Center.
The exhibit, “Echoes of Survival,” connects the lives of Jews before, during, and after the Holocaust through many different artifacts -- both genuine and replica -- providing a connection to the history of Kalama.
An opening ceremony and unveiling will be held on Monday, April 14 at 6 p.m. The exhibit will run for two weeks (until April 25) during the public library's regular operating hours.
At the opening ceremony, representatives from the Holocaust Center for Humanity, Kalama School District, and the City of Kalama will be in attendance, as we hear from a local survivor.
To learn more about the event, and the Southwest Washington Student Leadership Board,