An archetypal behavior of today’s 20 year-old at the approach of the end of school week may be a mixture of excitement and nervousness, perhaps anticipating the weekend’s events – partying or going out with peers. For the indoor person a weekend might be a time for relaxation. For Stephanie Nyombayire, a Rwandan native and Junior at Swathmore University, Pennsylvania, a weekend means devoting her time to activism and advocacy for an intervention in the Darfur conflict –a reminder of her very own painful experience.
The Horrific Experience
Nyombayire lost over 100 of her family members including grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins during the 1994 Rwandan genocide that killed between 800,000 and 1,000,000 people, though she and her immediate family fled to Congo.
“You could still see the physical destruction and emotional destruction of the people,” she describes the aftermath of the genocide from the perspective of a 7 year- old –her age at the time.
“They talked about how this and this person survived, and how this and this other person had not. It was just a discouraged country and a discouraged people,” she reminisces.
Nyombayire is the fifth female of six children; she has two siblings currently living in the U.S., two others back home in Rwanda and another in China.
The loss of her family and lack of immediate action from international leaders during the genocide enticed her into activism and the founding of an organization in school with then-Swathmore College students Andrew Sniderman and Mark Hanis in 2004, to empower and engage citizens in taking action to protect civilians from violence like genocide and other atrocities and inhumane acts around the world. What began as a school club activity eventually turned into something else –it was formally recognized as a non-profit organization in the United States and named the Genocide Intervention Network (GI-Net) in 2005, of which Nyombayire is a spokesperson. Read about other impactful African-initiated NPOs here.
“The reason why we made it official was because there was a need for it,” she says of the organization.
A Determined Stephanie Nyombayire
On April 6, 2007, Nyombayire and her fellow GI-Net members hosted an event on campus to commemorate the 13th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide and past similar crises around the world. Representatives from the Rwandan embassy in the United States and some Darfurian speakers were of those who attended.
“On one hand I’m sort of glad that people try to remember and talk about it and [are] not ignoring the issue. Obviously I’m sad because my family members were killed but also I’m pissed because the same thing is happening in Darfur and people are not reacting any differently than they did in Rwanda,” she expresses her feelings about the anniversary.
Although the world seems to be gradually grasping the depth of the Sudan crisis, the GI-Net is not loosening its grip on creating awareness throughout the country. The organization has already gained the support of many people including Gayle Smith, a senior fellow at the Center for American Congress, who was once based in Africa for about 20 years as a journalist to cover economic, military, and political affairs for the BBC, Associated Press, Reuters and other notable networks. GI-Net has also held campaigns in support of their cause, one of them being its “100 Days of Action Campaign” organized in 2005 to pay respect to the lost lives of the 100-day Rwandan genocide in 1994. Other campaigns co-sponsored by the organization in 2006 included the “Rally to Stop Genocide” in Washington, D.C., which was led by prominent human rights activist George Clooney and politician Senator Barack Obama (D-IL) as well as Rwandan Paul Rusesabagina, whose story inspired the movie Hotel Rwanda. Another participant was Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, an American-Jewish novelist and political activist.
Creating awareness
On July 13, 2005, Nyombayire introduced President Bill Clinton on behalf of GI-Net at the annual Campus Progress conference, a comprehensive effort of the Center for American Progress to empower new generations of progressive leaders in colleges and universities nationwide. In her speech she shared her story and encouraged students, educators and policymakers to “stand up and fight against the ongoing genocide in Darfur.”
In the same year, Nyombayire caught the interest of MTVu, a 24-hour college network affiliated with the mega cable television network MTV, which dubbed her as its special student correspondent along with other students to cover the Sudan crisis in Darfurian refugee camps in Chad
By the end of the summer of 2005, GI-Net had raised over $250,000 and its network of supporters had grown significantly. Though its initial aim was to raise $1 million, the organization has toppled that goal and continues to increase beyond the previous set target.
The objectives of the organization have also stretched beyond raising money; it is currently involved with the Sudan Divestment Movement, a campaign that encourages companies, states and universities to divest from Sudan.
Nyombayire explains the number one priority of GI-Net to be to seek security for displaced citizens of Sudan; their funds go to support the African Union peacekeeping mission in Darfur.
Task Ahead for Stephanie Nyombayire
Today, Nyombayire spends most of her weekends travelling to college campuses, high schools, and other communities to educate and create awareness about the catastrophe in Darfur.
“The reason why we are at college campuses is to make students know that they can make a difference. We want students to know that there are things they can do,” she states.
Besides working arduously for the GI-Net, she devotes some time to other organizations on campus like the African Students Association and works with the Hurricane Katrina Relief organization as well. “I don’t have any particular hobbies other than sleeping and eating,” she chuckles softly, “Other than that I go out with my friends,” she adds. And despite her schedule, she still makes time for school and keeps up with that responsibility.
Academic interests
At the moment, this plucky soft-spoken young woman is undertaking Political Science and Psychology in college and hopes to use skills and knowledge acquired from her degree as an act of service to others. “The reason why I’m doing Psychology is that I’m interested in [the] tempering of trauma, provided it’s Darfur or other wars or conflicts,” she says passionately.
Nyombayire also firmly believes in taking action to change stereotypes of the continent (Africa) and educating others. She criticizes ignorant individuals whose skewed perception of Africa is narrowed down to what media feeds broadcast.
She describes her initial sentiments after coming to the United States in 2001 as an interesting one. “When I came people didn’t even know where Rwanda was, it was shocking!” she says.
“There’s no way that no one knew that a million people got killed and no one did anything, it’s not possible,” she refers to the 1994 Rwandan genocide. This, she explains, was hard for her to deal with and is part of the reason she is sold out for advocacy and activism.
“There are many people who actually think that Africa is a country. It was shocking to me because I thought school was a place where people had much access to education, education is free, if you really want to know you can find out,” she says.
The thing that moves Stephanie Nyombayire
As for her passion, besides being deeply concerned about seeing justice in the world Nyombayire expresses, “I’m most passionate about going back to my country and rebuilding my country. Not single-handedly, but making Rwanda a better place, if you want to put it that way.” Though there have been tremendous improvements since 1994, she believes there is still a lot more to be done.
“I think as a Rwandan or Africans, it’s a call for us to go back home to create programs… like economic development programs for us to have ownership of these programs because most of the time [they] are operated by non-Africans, which is not a bad thing. What I’m passionate about is having ownership of our own developments and becoming countries that are of international interests”… “And seeing that African countries become important economically [and] socially,” she shares her vision.
Stephanie-Nyombayire frequently visits her country and says, “My home is still Rwanda,” and then quickly adds with a laugh, “I intend to move back as soon as I can.”