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By Tamer B. Shabaneh ‘07
We hear often nowadays about peace between people being the basis for coexistence between countries. This idea has never been thoroughly tried; peace between countries is historically one signed by governments on behalf of their people. As a student from the Middle East, I would safely say that peace between countries is a “White Sepulcher,” a sugar-coated idea, one intended for pure public relations purposes and U.S. aid. Peace is not what our governments sign, to be sure, it is what we, the people, make of it for ourselves.
What I said might sound like common sense, but how many people know that there’s not such a thing as peace between Egypt and Israel? The U.S. government now pays both countries enormous amounts of money from American taxes ($3 billion to Israel and $2 billion to Egypt in the form of military and economic aid) for the sake of keeping the 1978 peace accords signed in Camp David alive. The peace between Israel and Egypt is, more or less, a clinically dead corpse living on machines.
For over 25 years we have witnessed no substantial cultural exchanges, no effort toward economic interdependency, and even traveling between the two countries is limited. For example, an Egyptian with a valid Israeli visa in his passport who has already traveled abroad once cannot leave the country until it expires. Worse still, an Israeli visa stamp in an Egyptian passport is considered by Egyptians to be an everlasting social stigma, one that puts you on the blacklist (the potential-spy list), assures you humiliating hours-long interrogations in the dark offices of the Secret Police, and usually makes you prone to constant imprisonment. These are the repercussions of being friendly to the “other” country on the Egyptian side of the equation, not to mention issues faced by Israeli or Jordanians who want peace.
The reason why peace failed miserably is simply that the peace was signed by the top officials, for the top officials, with no effort whatsoever to let the people have a taste of it, and with no effort to create a context for such peace. We need to get the people involved by changing the mentality of the people of Israel, Egypt, and Jordan. In other words, do the hard work needed for a just, lasting peace. This is why we desperately need organizations that work on the level of the people, like Seeds of Peace.
Seeds of Peace is an organization that was founded in 1993 by John Wallach, award-winning author and journalist, who was motivated by the first bombing of the World Trade Center. The birth of Seeds of Peace resulted from a most awkward moment felt by Israeli, Palestinian, Egyptian, and Jordanian delegations at a dinner table. Before the official signing of the Oslo Accords in the Rose Garden, the delegations were having a celebratory dinner one night with John Wallach. John had had the idea of Seeds of Peace for some time, but he realized that its birth could not take place unless the delegations were cornered into accepting it. He proposed a toast and declared that it was time for them to send children from their countries to a summer camp, where they could learn what living in peace was like and realize the potential that lies in the peace agreement. Had they said no, the delegates would have looked bad in front of all the American officials present; so they said yes in clearly embarrassed voices.
Ever since that moment, a miracle started to happen every summer in the Seeds of Peace Camp (former Powhatan Summer Camp) in the woods of Otisfield, Maine. On the outside, it looks like a normal American summer camp: sports facilities, a dining hall, and a long row of bunks, with a beautiful lake on one side and woods on the other. One can see fifteen-year-olds playing sports, sharing a snack, or walking hand in hand. This is where the transformation begins. The Seeds of Peace camp is the only place on this planet where people from the Middle East can not only see each other as human beings, but just see each other. We live in such secluded communities back home that the only Israelis I used to see were either rude and abusive soldiers, or angry, armed, Jewish settlers in the West Bank.
Coming to meet people from the “other” side is a totally shocking experience for all new campers. The first shocking realization I had, as did everyone else, was that none of the stereotypes and prejudices which one was taught to believe on either side of the conflict actually apply to the “other.” We realize, for example, that we both have an astonishingly similar taste, most importantly in music and girls. The barriers of stereotypes don’t dissolve; they shatter. Shedding the stereotypes one used to carry allows relationships at Seeds of Peace to transform from acquaintances into best friends. Many Israelis became closer to me than any of my friends from home. I even bonded with many of them more easily than I did with my Palestinian peers at camp.
Seeds of Peace is a program intended to cleanse one’s mind of all prejudices. The purpose is to get to know and understand the “other” which inevitably leads to trust. Living on the neutral ground of the Seeds of Peace summer camp enables us to experience first-hand what living in peace feels like, looks like. We learn the sacrifices and risks necessary for coexistence with what we have been taught is the enemy.
Bonding at Seeds of Peace takes many forms at many levels. It starts with the fact that we are sharing the same bunks, sharing the same camp. Campers face a big step in acknowledging that they are sleeping with their enemies in the same bunk and that they have to trust them, like it or not. On the other hand, a sense of belonging and loyalty starts to develop and transform all campers. They are not only campers from bunk 12, 16B and so on; they are “Seeds.”
Another level of bonding happens through suffering, obviously not in the literal sense. We really disliked camp food (non-seasoned American food in general) and fostered our nostalgia for home-made food. We bonded on that simple level; bad food is part of a shared experience.
The facilitated Coexistence Sessions are another imperative element of the Seeds of Peace program. At the beginning of camp, we are assigned to a Coex Group with which we stay throughout the three-week camp session. Twice a day, we sit in a 90-minute facilitated session where we not only talk about our experiences in the conflict, but also reflect upon them in creative ways. In a psychological sense, they are therapeutic talk sessions, but on another level, they are a source of bonding. In the Coex Group we learn that not only our own people suffer, but that the “other” people suffer as well. The Coex Group is the place where we share our own experiences as young victims of the conflict and start looking toward the future and thinking about what should happen.
Bonding also occurs in Color Games, the affectionate name Seeds of Peace gives to what summer camps in the U.S. call “Color Wars.” The last three days of actual camp (before leaving for DC to meet with officials and what not) are pure fun. We are split into two sides, a Green and a Blue. One is no longer an Egyptian, a Palestinian, an Israeli Arab or an Israeli Jew; one is either Green or Blue. Loyalty completely changes and Arabs and Jews productively collaborate (for the first time in history) to achieve one common goal: beat the other team!
Now, after 11 years of dedicated work, Seeds of Peace has more than 2000 alumni from over 22 war-ravaged nations including Cyprus, India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan as well as other countries within the Balkans and Middle East. What Palestinians and Israelis have started at camp, they continue at the Seeds of Peace Center for Coexistence located between West and East Jerusalem. All the skills of communication and all the friendships that we started at camp are now a living fact at that center, extending to the community in the form of community service and coexistence workshops. More and more people back home are accepting the work of Seeds of Peace as essential to any work of peace between Israel and Palestine. For all reasons aforementioned, I say we need organizations like Seeds of Peace. “Treaties,” after all, “are negotiated by governments. Peace is made by people.”
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By Stephen Silver
The International Office has hired Marcia Calloway to fill the new position of full-time International Undergraduate Student Advisor in the International Office. Since 2001 the International Office has been short-staffed, hence stymied in its efforts to serve Dartmouth international students, scholars, and staff. Our international advisors face new challenges and much heavier workloads as they comply with ever changing and more burdensome federal rules and regulations. It is far more difficult to advise and assist our foreign nationals - from their first attempts to secure visas, to traveling back to Dartmouth from outside the U.S., to securing practical training. Although our federal government has given us more than enough justification for a new position since September 11, we are also faced with a growing population of Dartmouth internationals. From the year 2000 through 2003 Dartmouth international students and scholars have increased in number by 22%. The International Office has an active caseload of over 1,050 students and scholars, and an additional 300 international dependents.
In Marcia Calloway, undergraduate internationals now have a full-time advisor to help them navigate through the roiling seas of immigration issues as well as assist with many other concerns and problems they face once they arrive on campus. Marcia brings a strong work ethic, a previous career as a child advocacy attorney, a thorough knowledge of College rules and regulations and their application, along with in depth institutional knowledge, a big heart, and personal experience as a U.S. citizen who has lived in the U.K. All of her excellent personal qualities and experience combine to make her the perfect person for the position of International Undergraduate Student Advisor.
Although born and raised in Vermont, Marcia lived and worked in England, Chicago and Wyoming before returning to her home state. In particular, Marcia recounts her vivid memories of “feeling ‘foreign’ when I moved to England in January 1981 with my British husband. I loved living in a medieval walled city with a cathedral. I liked the tea rooms and pubs, and the new culture and infinitely different accents and words. But even having a ‘family’ and a home in that country, I never really adapted well to the damp cold and bus drivers calling me ’luv.’ However, I learned a lot about myself and my own country by having the opportunity to see it from another vantage point.”
Marcia has a wonderful mind for detail and superb organizational abilities, no doubt honed from her years as an attorney. In this era of rapidly changing federal immigration regulations and policies, her legal perspective is especially welcome. She received her law degree from DePaul University, and has been a member of the New Hampshire Bar since 1989. Marcia practiced law in Keene, New Hampshire, as a member of the firm of Bell, Falk and Norton and later as a sole practitioner specializing in child custody cases. Although federal immigration rules and regulations are a new body of law for her, Marcia is already immersed in their review and is beginning to apply them to the work she will be doing for our undergraduates. Through her office training, Marcia has had several opportunities to assist our two veteran international advisors, Robin Catmur and Ken Reade, in advising international students.
Marcia’s other skill base comes from her most recent position at the College. In 1997 she joined the Dartmouth College community as Associate Registrar for Academic Rules and Regulations, and the knowledge she has amassed over the years is already proving invaluable. Marcia is the only person I know who can cite off hand Dartmouth regulations by page in the College’s Organization, Regulations, and Courses (ORC), but most importantly she combines a razor sharp memory with a caring nature. Marcia’s extensive experience in the Registrar’s Office has enabled her to alert several international students of potential problems in their D-Plans which, if left unresolved, could have led to much greater immigration issues.
Hiring Marcia Calloway enables the International Office to refocus on important parts of our mission dedicated to programming, somewhat haphazardly attended to since the fall of 2001. A big part of Marcia’s position will entail working with our most capable Administrative Assistant, Flora Powell, as well as me to create and implement programming for international students and the greater campus in an effort to promote international understanding and education. Marcia will ultimately manage our Friendship Family Program and the International Student Mentor Program with assistance from dedicated student interns. She will work with Flora, our student interns, and various student organizations including the International Student Association to promote and co-sponsor events to which all Dartmouth students are invited and urged to attend. Already Marcia is jumping into the programming portion of her position with great speed and success. For the first time in at least five years the International Office was able to nominate several international seniors for a number of Dean’s Awards. Marcia has plans to help make the hiring of our student interns a smoother process. She is also brainstorming with interns and staff to provide a range of enjoyable and educational programs for both international students and the greater College community.
We are genuinely pleased to have Marcia join the International Office staff, and her own words best summarize our enthusiasm: “I am very excited about the chance to help our international students adjust to their new environment at Dartmouth, and I am looking forward to seeing the academic and personal growth they will experience in this special place.” Please join me in welcoming Marcia Calloway to the International Office!
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 By Flora J. Powell
Dartmouth College’s First Annual International Week was very successful. Held from November 17 to November 21, Dartmouth’s International Week is part of a joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education to promote programs which prepare Americans for a global environment and attract future leaders from abroad to study, learn, and exchange experiences in the United States. At Dartmouth more than 600 people participated or assisted with the week’s many events. Individuals and departments as well as on and off campus groups and performers came together to host a series of student panels, open houses, movie nights, a holiday bazaar, an international dress day, and an international cultural fair.
The main event, “Around the World in 120 Minutes,” opened the week’s activities, showcasing food, performances and informational booths representing various cultures and countries around the world. Pictures from the fair are available on the International Office website at http://www.dartmouth.edu/~intl/news/intlweek.html. With the generous financial support of the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding, the Office of Institutional Diversity and Equity, and Off Campus Programs, we were able to provide an array of international foods, ranging from sushi and salmon platters to banana chili fritters and dolma. The International Office also worked with groups such as Tuck Partners, the Vietnamese Student Association, the African and Caribbean Student Association, the International Student Association and Latinas of the Upper Valley to coordinate educational cultural displays for the fair. Middle Eastern Dance Artist, Alia Thabit, from St. Johnsbury, Vermont and Tango Argentino Instructor, Gerd Hirschmann, from Rutland, Vermont graciously journeyed to Hanover to perform during this two hour event that was a tribute to this world’s diversity. They were joined by seven Dartmouth performing groups as well as Pedro Celaya, a Mariachi singer from the Upper Valley. The support of approximately fifty coordinators and nearly 200 guests made this event the highlight of International Week.
The second annual International Holiday Bazaar was also part of the calendar and organized by the Brewster International House with support from the International Student Association. The event grew in size this year with approximately sixty Dartmouth and Upper Valley community members stopping by to purchase gift items and mementos from around the world. Items included Japanese silk scarves, a Dutch kitchen mitt and apron set, and Brazilian apparel. Next fall we hope to see even greater involvement, as international gift item donations are needed to make this event a continued success. This fall the International Holiday Bazaar brought in over $200 which was donated to the Heifer Foundation.
The Dartmouth Japan Society and Brewster International House worked together to showcase an unusual combination of Bulgarian and Japanese cuisine on Wednesday. Although an unlikely culinary pairing, this event proved to be one of the more popular evening events with over 35 guests including international employees and their children, and undergraduate and graduate students. Guests enthusiastically rolled sushi with DJS members and spoke with Todor Kalaydjiev ‘05 and Ognian Kassabov ‘04 as they prepared banitza.
Brewster International House was only one of three Dartmouth Affinity Houses participating in the week’s events. Through the collaborative efforts of the Native American Program, Professor Dale Turner led an informal discussion with approximately 25 students on the complicated topic of Native American Native Nation Sovereignty at the Native American House. Also, Assistant Dean of Student Life and Advisor to Latino/a Students, Alexander Hernandez-Siegel, led an informative tour of the Latin American, Latino & Caribbean Studies House, during which he discussed the history behind many of the house’s rare Latin American and Chicano artwork.
During the lunch hour panel series students who participated in various Language Study Abroad and Foreign Study Programs spoke about living overseas. Panelists enthusiastically shared their experiences and everyone enjoyed the various international lunches coordinated by Dartmouth Dining Services. Included in the lunch panel series was a special panel sponsored by the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center and John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding dedicated to internship opportunities abroad. Undergraduates discussed their internships and spoke with other interested students about the variety of existing opportunities as well as the generous financial resources available through the Rockefeller and Dickey Centers.
The week also included two films, In July and Yojimbo, sponsored and organized by the Hopkins Center Film Series. A German film with English subtitles, In July brought in approximately 150 people. Yojimbo, the second film coordinated by the Hopkins Center Film Series, was the last in a series of Japanese films organized during the fall term and fit perfectly into the International Week schedule. Post film discussions followed each film and were led by Professor Gerd Gemunden and Professor Dennis Washburn respectively.
International Dress Day concluded an enjoyable week of international events, and produced three lucky winners of $50, $30 and $20 gift certificates to local restaurants. Undergraduate students didn’t let the chilly fall weather prevent them from proudly wearing traditional international clothing. Participants could be seen throughout the day in apparel from countries such as Vietnam, Mexico, China, Nigeria, the Czech Republic, and India.
It is important to highlight the fact that International Week was a collaborative effort. Dartmouth graduate and undergraduate students, employees, faculty, families, and residents of the Upper Valley all participated in International Week and contributed to its success. We look forward to making next fall’s celebration, nationally scheduled for November 15 through November 19, 2004, an even greater success. If you have any ideas for International Week 2004 or are interested in becoming involved, please contact the International Office.
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 By Benjamin Taylor ‘07
The following is an interview with Dr. Kenneth Yalowitz, Director of the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding, conducted on 12 November 2003 by Benjamin Taylor ’07, International Office Administrative Intern.
BT: What led you to make a career move to Dartmouth College?
KY: Well, I spent 35 years as a U.S. Foreign Service officer, and I had always been interested in the academic world. The relationship between scholarship and policy formulation and implementation intrigued me. Furthermore, I was interested in students, mentoring, academics, and again, policy implementation. I am delighted to be here. Dartmouth has a strong reputation for interest in international affairs, among students and faculty alike. It really is a pleasure to work on international programs with such great students and faculty.
BT: What is the Dickey Center’s role in fostering international awareness on campus? How does it function?
KY: I want to see the Dickey Center become the intellectual think-tank at Dartmouth on international affairs. I want to be able to put on conferences, accommodate post-doctoral students, and provide more room for a greater number of student and faculty activities. I think we need to take advantage of Dartmouth’s strengths to get the College and the Dickey Center well-known and renowned for innovative ideas and solutions in the international arena. One of the Dickey Center’s primary roles is bringing together an array of academic departments to provide an interdisciplinary approach to issues. For example, we’re working toward hosting a conference on global health problems which brings together the Dartmouth Medical School, the Government Department, and the Economics Department. We’re trying to formulate an initiative on global health and bioethics. I think it’s the type of program that will make Dartmouth and the Dickey Center more visible within the academic and policy-making communities. Next summer, we’re hoping to hold an Institute for Security Technology Studies conference focusing on the international economic impact of cyber terrorism, which, again, would bring together a number of departments and disciplines. In addition, I’m working with history professor Dr. Richard Kremer to host an international conference on scientific instruments.
BT: How does the Center work with the international community, both here on campus and around the world?
KY: A number of international students are members of groups at the Dickey Center, and many apply and qualify for Dickey programs. We welcome the international community and believe it is an integral part of the campus. We also have many visiting international scholars. We’re hosting a program on U.S.-Canadian relations, and hoping to get the nations’ respective ambassadors to present. We’re putting together a conference on Arctic issues and we’re trying to get Iceland’s president to be present. Again, I want Dartmouth and the Dickey Center to become places where steady flows of well-known and influential international scholars and luminaries come.
One of our most ambitious and wide-ranging projects is the commemoration of the Portsmouth Treaty’s centennial in 2005. We’re working with government representatives from Russia, Japan, and the U.S. along with various New Hampshire institutes and organizations to host a conference here in September 2005. We’re trying to organize public lectures about the Russo-Japanese War, President Theodore Roosevelt, and the peacemaking process. We hope to include leading international scholars who will address the war’s significance from a variety of disciplinary viewpoints. We want to hold sessions involving the history of military diplomacy, and the politics of the war era. We also hope to address some of the other less apparent aspects of war - literature, arts, sociology and popular cultures of Russia and Japan. Again, we’re bringing together a number of departments. The Hood Museum will exhibit Japanese and Russian art, and visual documentation of the war. We hope to work with the Hopkins Center to stage period pieces in music and theater. We want to bring a wide array of international scholars and dignitaries here and really make Dartmouth a point of convergence for international scholarship and policymaking.
BT: How does the Dickey Center facilitate research abroad for students and scholars?
KY: Well, we offer programs for student research - undergraduate and graduate. Students can use Dickey funding to do overseas work that will help with their future careers. We provide grants for undergraduate research and funding for internships. Faculty can also apply for research grants or funds to bring scholars from abroad to complement research. We fund many conferences and provide travel funds for speakers. We operate across the academic board - as long as the program involves international awareness, we will fund the arts, humanities, sciences, social sciences, etc. We’re interested in gaining a better understanding of the rest of the world.
BT: Would you like to offer any concluding comments?
KY: Yes, I would like to suggest to students, in particular, to take advantage of the Dickey Center’s programs, organizations, and library. Organizations like World Affairs Council, World Week in Review, and United Nations at Dartmouth are incredible opportunities for students to increase their awareness and understanding of the world around them. Furthermore, I’m more than willing to discuss careers in public service and international affairs, involving the United Nations, Non-Governmental Organizations, charities, and more.
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By Linda Lomelino ‘06
What is it about Brazil that allures people from around the world? Why do those who set foot on that sweet piece of southern land always take with them fond memories and a promise to return? Perhaps it has something to do with the warm smells and sizzles of our lean steaks, our polenta fries, or our grainy farrofa. Perhaps it’s the way Brazilian life seems more a dance, a walk resembles a sway, and life feels more a party. Perhaps it’s our five-time world champion soccer team, our dazzling carnival, our exotic beaches, our eclectic ethnic mixture, or the breath-taking Amazon. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s the fact that anywhere you go, you are most likely to be greeted with a smile, a kiss or two on the cheek, and a warm cup of strong, freshly brewed coffee.
To define Brazil, or exactly what makes it so unique, is a task most do not see as feasible and neither do I – there is too much to address and too rich of a culture to reduce to mere explanations and descriptions. However, I think there is much behind the ethnic composition of Brazil that justifies a part of what makes Brazil what it is today. The big erroneous assumption that still circulates is that Latin America as a whole is Hispanic. People tend to group the continent together, yet not only are all the countries very distinct, but amongst them is a country whose people have a very distinct history, ethnic composition and who speak another language. What most people do not know about Brazil, besides the fact that we speak Portuguese, is that it’s a product of a world-class ethnic and cultural mixture: European, African, Oriental, and Indigenous. You name the ethnicity and we have it. Scholars have even deemed it to be the most ethnically diverse country in the world - the poster boy country for diversity. When referring to the words ‘ethnically diverse,’ scholars refer to the mixture of races and ethnicities, not only as the mere sharing of common living space, but the infusion of mixed blood from around the world. Whether or not there is racism or a racial democracy in Brazil is another issue entirely - what we are addressing here is simply the diversity of its people. So how did Brazil rise to become such an amalgamation of peoples? Where did these people come from?
Pedro Alvares Cabral (1500), in the name of Portugal, sailed upon the shores of a land mass divided amongst several tribes spread across the north, south, east, and west ends of the country. Although not a consistently peaceful encounter, Portuguese men took a liking to indigenous women whom they saw as exotic, and gave birth to what many of us call the beginning of the Brazilian identity. Like the creation of a compound which requires several elements to produce a new substance, from that initial encounter onward, Brazil was only to acquire a richer and more complex ethnic consistency. The third, and a predominant element in the creation of the Brazilian, is that of the African slave. Mostly from western Africa, they brought along with them an entirely new set of values, customs, and rituals that were then fused with that of the Portuguese and the Indian – to create a new hybrid. This is not to say in the least that the encounter was by any means wanted or smooth for that reason, but the mixture happened and is strikingly present today, when you look at the faces of fifty percent of the Brazilian population. The Portuguese, Indian, and African are seen as the basic elements to the Brazilian compound. Next, Brazil fell under the influence of the French, the Dutch, the Spaniards, the Germans, the Italians, among other European immigrants who all found a home in Brazil. But the European was not the only one who succeeded in making a home out of Brazil. During the period of World War II, Brazil witnessed a mass immigration of Japanese. Today Brazil accounts for the largest population of Japanese and Japanese descendents outside of Japan.
One might wonder on what common ground does such a vast country, the largest in South America and the sixth-largest in the world, with all its ethnic diversity stand. Whence does the cohesion to form one nationality stem? To be honest, this is a question I’m still looking to answer. Perhaps the answer lies somewhere in the fact that Brazilian culture is very much deeply rooted in happiness and hope – a strong underlying factor which brings us together – a common thread which weaves in and out of every person, and which ties us into the same knot. There is a common love for life, and a genuine happiness and joy to be Brazilian that runs in my veins and in the veins of other Brazilians. Although a country whose population is very much stricken by a vicious cycle of poverty, and a government which has much growing and learning to do, there is something about its people and the culture which just make hearts beat to the same rhythm.
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International Issues Personal Perspectives (IP)2 are panels of international students and/or scholars from Dartmouth speaking about cultural, social and political issues in their home countries or regions of the world from which they come. Some past panels have focused on presidential elections in Turkey and Brazil, the creation of the European Union, social and political concerns in Russia, and the history and culture of Vietnam. With the advent of the US presidential elections in November 2004, the International Office is hosting a series of panels discussing The Effect of the U.S. Presidential Elections on Selected Countries and Regions, from neighboring Canada to the Middle East. Tentative program dates are February 24 (Canada), April 1 (Iran and the Middle East), April 27 (Asia), May 18 (India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka), July 27 (European Union), October 5 (South America), October 26 (Africa), and November 16 (United Nations). We hope to see you there!
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By Anthony Bider-Hall ‘05
“The following is my story of what happened in Rwanda in 1994,” says Lieutenant General Romeo Dallaire in his preface to Shake Hands With The Devil, The Failure Of Humanity in Rwanda (Random House, 2003). “It’s a story of betrayal, failure, naivete, indifference, hatred, genocide, war, inhumanity and evil. Although strong relationships were built and moral, ethical and courageous behavior was often displayed, they were overshadowed by one of the fastest, most efficient, most evident genocides in recent history. In just one hundred days over 800,000 innocent Rwandan men, women and children were brutally murdered while the developed world, impassive and apparently unperturbed, sat back and watched the unfolding apocalypse or simply changed channels.” With these words, Dallaire takes his readers on a horrifying journey into a heart of darkness from which none one with a heart and a conscience return unscathed.
I first saw Lt. Gen. Dallaire speak at a conference entitled “In the Aftermath of Genocide: The Refugee Crisis in Central Africa,” which was hosted by the Dickey Center from April 2-5, 2003. In his keynote address, “The War Affected Children of Rwanda,” Dallaire asked some very pointed questions. His lecture concerned the attitude of the developed world and what he thought was necessary to play a greater role in securing a future, any future, for the children. What affected me most during his address was the story of how he came across a solitary orphaned boy standing in the middle of the road, chewing on a protein biscuit, with the remains of his community and his family hacked and strewn about the huts of his village. Dallaire expressed his overwhelming need to bring the boy back with him and to give the child a home. As it turns out, the boy was functioning as a road-block, compelling any passing vehicle to stop for the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) soldiers hiding in the bushes ready to lay an ambush. This story, with its vivid description and yet powerfully stark circumstances, haunted me. Propelled by a strange hunger to know more, whose satisfaction would only cause knots in my stomach, I read Dallaire’s book.
Essentially, Dallaire provides an account of how what was to be a classic Chapter Six Peacekeeping Mission became a ticket for a ringside seat to one of the worst genocides in modern history. Rwanda was a small, heavily populated country bordered by Uganda to the north, Tanzania to the west, and Burundi to the south. In 1962, Rwanda gained independence from her Belgian colonists. Historically, two main communities had peopled the area: the Tutsis and the Hutus. The Belgians exploited their differences by establishing the Tutsis as overlords of the Hutus, despite the fact that the Hutus vastly outnumbered Tutsis. When independence was achieved, the Hutus established a government led by Gregoire Kayibanda, and engaged in violent attacks (Dallaire calls them pogroms) against the Tutsis who fled in large numbers to neighboring Uganda, Burundi and Zaire where they were tolerated as refugees. Over the years, the scattered Tutsis came together to form the Rwandese Patriotic Front (RPF), a military and political movement which engaged the French-backed Rwandese Government forces in an endless succession of bloody skirmishes and battles. In 1991, the Rwandan Government, unable to reckon with the increasingly powerful RPF, and prodded by the international community, agreed to engage in peace talks with the rebel Tutsis. The peace talks took place in Arusha, Tanzania. Dallaire and his peacekeepers were charged with a Classic Chapter Six Peacekeeping Mission: he and his international force were to be deployed between the warring factions, with their consent, to assist with the implementation of the peace accord.
Within weeks of his arrival, however, it became clear to Dallaire that his mission was being undermined by the very institution that had called for his presence in Rwanda. He records how he had “pushed” his forces to meet the first 90-day milestones established by the Arusha Accord against incredible odds. “We were still bogged down in a political quagmire that threatened to hijack the mission,” he writes. “We had less than three days’ water, rations and fuel; we had no defensive stores (barbed wire, sandbags, lumber and so on); no spare parts; no night vision equipment; and severe shortages of radios and vehicles. Staff officers worked on their bellies on the floor because there were so few desks and chairs. We had no filing cabinets, which meant none of the mission information and planning could be properly secured . . . .” All this was a foreshadowing of what was to come or not to come, as was the case.
When, by a stroke of luck, Dallaire made contact with a member of the Interahamwe (an organization of young, Hutu males who were eventually organized into killing squads) and learned of arms caches and the drawing up of lists of Tutsis who were to be eliminated, he turned to his superiors in New York for permission to seize the weapons. Their response signaled to Dallaire the inefficacy, if not absolute impotence, of his mission: “[Kofi] Annan spelled out in excruciating detail the limits New York was placing upon me as force commander . . . not only was I not allowed to conduct deterrent operations . . . but in the interests of transparency, I was to provide the information that [the informant] had given to us to President Habyarimana immediately.” Those weapons caches were used to butcher 800,000 men, women and children.
The remaining three hundred pages of Dallaire’s story provide a painful, up-close look at the shameful and unnecessary massacre of the Rwandan peoples and Western indifference to their suffering. Dallaire makes it very clear that the architects of the genocide (and he records names, and details of his meetings with the killers) had carefully gauged Western indifference to genocide. The brutal killing of ten Belgian peacekeepers on April 7, 1994, he suggests, was engineered with full knowledge that Belgian citizens would not tolerate Belgian casualties, and that remaining peacekeepers would be withdrawn en masse. Dallaire reveals how the masterminds of the genocide took their seats in the UN Security Council day after day, with the blessings of the United States and other member nations, and no one uttered a word of protest. As the piles of corpses grew, Dallaire submitted plans for a Rapid Reaction Force to dismantle the genocidaires, but the UN Security Council rejected the plan, and the United States refused to apply the term genocide to the events in Rwanda in order to avoid any legal obligations to stop the killings. The genocide continued, on schedule, as planned.
Dallaire’s book is difficult for Western eyes to read, not so much because of the gruesome descriptions of daily atrocities, but because it reminds us that we allowed our governments and institutions to speak for us, to express our indifference to genocide, our reluctance to engage with evil, and our implicit racism. Those who read this book must necessarily emerge from the tale with a sense that the world must change the way it does business. The UN needs revitalizing; the role of international peacekeeping forces must be revisited; the endorsement of the International Criminal Court by the United States is crucial to its long-term efficacy; and the issue of complicity in crimes against humanity and genocide through acts of omission as well as commission requires immediate consideration.
Many reviews of Dallaire’s book end with the story of his return from Rwanda, his struggle with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and his ongoing struggle to get on with his life. For me, Dallaire’s book resonates on a different note. I think of John Donne, and that famous passage from Meditation 17, wherein he writes that “No man is an Iland Intire of itselfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of thy friends, or of thine owne were; Any Mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.”
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 By Min Zhang ‘05, President
The Dartmouth Class of 2007 comes from around the world, and they brought much energy to the International Students Association last term. Go ‘07s! During the undergraduate International Orientation, they learned about ISA from the Campus Resource Fair and the ISA Dance Party. Many ‘07s were involved in most of the ISA events during the fall, including the ISA Dinner, the Boston Trip, Thanksgiving Dinner, the International Fair ISA table and the European Culture Night. Since most of the ‘05 and ‘06 officers are not on campus for the winter term, the newly elected ISA officers are all first year students. The passion and capabilities of the ‘07s, combined with experience from last term will enable the new executive board to lead the organization in making effective changes.
The addition of European Culture Night was the highlight of the ISA during the fall term. On the night of Friday, November 7, the ISA presented the Dartmouth community with cuisine and cultural performances from all over Europe. With the talents and hard work of the Culture Night Co-Chairs Todor Kalaydjiev ‘05 and Meghan Hill ’05, as well as the dedicated efforts of many other active ISA members, our first large-scale event of the year was well received. The meetings, auditions, rehearsals, and preparation of food, music, and decorations for the Culture Night enabled our members to work together and to get to know each other better. Like most events that the ISA hosted this term, the European Culture Night brought members as well as the campus together. We consider the European Culture Night the beginning of a series of ISA global cultural presentations. The new executive board will continue this tradition to promote the diversity of our membership and international understanding on campus.
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By Caroline Engel ‘05
This past fall, I started the community service program “BlitzBuddy.” BlitzBuddy is a student-run volunteer program that pairs elementary, middle, and high school students with Dartmouth College students, in one-on-one mentoring relationships. The program has been growing exponentially. As a Canadian, I am turning to my fellow international students in hopes that BlitzBuddy can spread worldwide, via the cooperation and involvement of Dartmouth’s International Students’ Association.Correspondence occurs via email, to emphasize English (including grammar and spelling), self-expression through letter-writing, positive use of the Internet, typing skills, friendship, responsibility, hard-work, education and healthy relationships. The benefits for young students are tremendous, and many teachers are recognizing this. Heather Harrington ’03 teaches Grade 6 in Manhattan, and praises BlitzBuddy because her “kids are English-Second-Language, and very bright, so this would be an excellent way for them to practice English with real world motivation.”
This mentoring program is unique due to its technological base, allowing relationships to grow and continue even through travel, graduation, study-abroad, off-terms and job changes. One hurdle that BlitzBuddy has run into is that many schools still do not have computers or Internet access. Thus, BlitzBuddy has developed a component of the program that uses “SnailMail” so that those technologically-lacking students can still benefit from the mentor-relationship aspect of the program.
BlitzBuddy began on January 7, 2004, when a 10-year-old boy in New Mexico and a Dartmouth College First Year student (an international student, in fact!) began to exchange emails. Since then 32 teachers across the U.S. (from Phoenix to Baltimore and from the Bronx to Houston) have expressed interest in the program, and 92 BlitzBuddy couples have been paired.
Essentially, I saw a niche to create and found the BlitzBuddy program. There are many college students who want to volunteer but who keep traveling abroad, studying in Italy, working in Washington D.C. or going home for vacation (which, for many international students involved in the program, is often far away). BlitzBuddy means that these relationships can continue even as Dartmouth students’ schedules change. In addition the time commitment is smaller than many of the physically-based mentor programs and allows Dartmouth students to fit this community service into their schedule at any hour of the day.
Dartmouth students, such as Kelly Sennatt ’05, have responded with positive feedback about the program and their ability to help their buddies: “It’s going well...she seems like a pretty good kid - it’s very obvious that she’s pretty far behind in English.” Haley Peckett ’05, is in Boston on an off-term, and continues to correspond with her BlitzBuddy, an 11-year-old girl from New Mexico.
College students who express interest in BlitzBuddy (206 to date) must complete a standard application that emphasizes their commitment to their future BlitzBuddy and inquires about their past experiences volunteering and/or working with children. Once accepted to the program, the Dartmouth student is given the email address of his/her BlitzBuddy as well as any information that the student’s teacher wishes to provide. The relationship begins with, at minimum, weekly correspondence via email; it is up to the pair to build a strong, positive, relationship.
Teachers across the nation are responding enthusiastically to BlitzBuddy. One teacher has even requested that BlitzBuddy send him Dartmouth posters for his Grade 7 Houston, Texas classroom. Teach for America is already supporting the BlitzBuddy program. This can be seen in the Teach for America National Newsletter: http://click.exacttarget.com/?fe9110797463007e77-fe5a15797065077b7211. A Grade 5 teacher from Baltimore writes: “I am overwhelmed by my students’ inquisitive eagerness to learn, and yet I do not have enough time or energy to answer all their questions or even give them the attention they so badly need. Thank you!” For further information contact: BlitzBudddy@dartmouth.edu.
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