Darcy Attaman Is The Founder Of Make Music Matter

“The following is my story of what happened in Rwanda in 1994. It’s a story of betrayal, failure, naiveté, indifference, hatred, genocide, war, inhumanity and evil. ”

Having been so open about his feelings and the events that occurred within Rwanda, therefore bound to surface just how disappointed he was, with not only the government, but mostly with himself. He recalls and describes events that not only shock, but disturb the majority of the readers. The biggest parts of the whole essay that truly emotionally connected to people in more ways than one would have to be the description of the young orphaned boy and the way the government talks about the situation. “We will recommend to our government not to intervene as the risks are high and all that is here are humans.” (Dallaire, 502, 18) Being able to look at the devastating chaos and be able to say “all that is here are humans.” As if humans- young or old, black or white, male or female, aren’t worth our time and oh so valuable finances. If Dallaire did not have readers attentions before his point, it is guaranteed he did afterwards.

“The media often focus on the trauma people suffer, forgetting to tell us about their ability to recover and the humanity that remains intact” (Ishmael Beah). The quote of Ishmael Beah was used to describe Mariatu Kamara’s autobiography called The Bite of the Mango. Kamara’s story shows people the horrible events she lived through and how perseverance and optimism is essential for survival. If it hadn’t been for Kamara’s unbreakable will, she would have died when the rebels first came to her village, captured her, and cut her hands off. Despite the loss of her hands, Mariatu Kamara inspired others with her strength to continue living through her childhood and later in life became an activist and humanitarian.

The group voiced its concerns in a positive, yet proud, way. It celebrated one another’s personal experiences in a non-elitist manner. The members of the group endeavored to show people around the world that their identity considerations and associations do not score their experience of repression. They emphasized that the oppression they underwent is no more than an experience or even more significant compared to the one of any sideline

“I have spent the last four years watching people die.” In his 2005 Massey Lectures, Stephen Lewis, a Canadian politician and humanitarian, caught the attention of millions with these words. Within these lectures, he shared his experiences of watching Africans suffer through the AIDS pandemic, and critically examined how the neglect of global communities and their discrimination contributed to its failure to resolve. While the rest of the world seemed to be unresponsive to an AIDS-ravaged continent, Mr. Lewis found himself passionately involved in the crisis and began to take action. Since his involvement with the United Nations in 1984, Stephen Lewis has tirelessly advocated for African citizens affected by HIV and AIDS, ensured that health care and treatment is provided to victims, and reached out to African citizens with education and counseling through his organizations. Through all of this, Stephen Lewis has proven to be one of Canada’s most influential humanitarian advocates for impacting the HIV and AIDS pandemic in Africa.

While the book “Left to Tell” by Immaculée Ilibagiza and the movie “Hotel Rwanda” by Terry George shows its share of similarities, both portray the Rwandan Massacre of 1994 in diversified ways. First, while both characters share similarities portraying the perspective of the genocide, they also show some major differences in the point of view as the main character in the movie was a hotel manager while the other main character from the book was a young, Tutsi woman. Also, while they face similar conflicts and hardships, both have their own personal field of adversities to face.

The Rwandan Genocide also is still an existing issue which killed one million people, mostly Tutis and some Hutu’s, continues to be one of the most tragic and memorable events in the contemporary society of Africa. Specifically for those who were involved. Lucie Niyigena, a 70 year old woman who managed to survive the genocide, is still forced to face her fear everyday living beside someone who could have potentially killed a member of her family. This is just one of the still existing hardships for those forced to live it. This problem has not been changed since historical times partly because modern society has chosen not to make the change.

The film describing an ordinary woman Noerine Kaleeba devoting herself fighting social stigma around AIDS in Uganda is a powerful scene. Her personal account of seeing her husband dying from AIDS propelled her to fly to Geneva to meet with Jonathan Mann, the leading researcher in the global AIDS program. When she arrived at the WHO building, she was rejected to meet with Mann. However, her emotional response caught Mann’s attention and when she sat down with Mann, he told her that her husband is going to die. But Mann asked Kaleeba “there is a prejudice that is attached to this disease that we have to fight, and will you help me fight it?” Kaleeba later became the co-founder of the AIDS activism group “The AIDS Support Organization,” a group that provides care, support and counselling as well as community education for prevention in Uganda. In this scene, Jonathan Mann recognized an important social factor of the disease which is that AIDS is attached to a serious stigma and discrimination. Due to the fact that there is

The Rwandan Genocide also is still an existing issue which killed one million people, mostly Tutis and some Hutu’s, continues to be one of the most tragic and memorable events in the contemporary society of Africa. Specifically for those who were involved. Lucie Niyigena, a 70 year old woman who managed to survive the genocide, is still forced to face her fear everyday living beside someone who could have potentially killed a member of her family. This is just one of the still existing hardships for those forced to live it. This problem has not been changed since historical times partly because modern society has chosen not to make the change.

Tim O’Brien gives a lot of examples of how trauma affects people. Of course, in his case he was taking about war, but really, it can be taken as how anybody is affected by traumatic experiences. Child abuse victims, domestic violence victims, sexual abuse victims, people who have lived on the streets, people that overcame starvation, all of these people experience trauma in almost the same way. They get flashbacks, nightmares, feelings from when they were in the bad situation, and they all need support to heal. They can’t be left voiceless for their whole lives or they won’t be able to cope and get their story to those who are stuck in those same situations that they used to be in. They all need people to listen to them, believe in them, trust them, understand where they are coming from, and be there when they need help. Will you be that person to help someone feel good about themselves today? Will you stand up for a person who is being bullied today? Don’t be a hero; just be a voice for the

So if it is in our power to help the children in Africa who are suffering from starvation or even disease their country that does not know how to treat yet, we are obligated to help. Some may ask why they are thousands of miles away why are we to give our money to them? In that case as singer has noted distance should not matter in the sense of being able to help starving kids. When you ask yourself whether you’re in the bind of being able to help starving kids or buying the newest up to date iPhone the first answer would be to donate, but many people see the relief organizations as a scam and wonder if they were to donate if the money would really go to the people they said they were going to. In that case you have to do your research in the organization to be sure they have had a good reputation. Singers view on this topic was very strong in the sense of having knowing what would be right or wrong morals in singers

“You can't patch a wounded soul with a Band-Aid.” (Connelly, The Black Echo). Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is a psychological disorder that has the ability to develop in people that have experienced a very violent or especially petrifying event. Through the years, the disorder has gone by many names and has gone under many understandings. Symptoms can vary from person to person so it can sometimes make it difficult to accurately diagnose this disorder. Some limiting factors this disorder has in a person’s life includes, flash-backs, insomnia and especially depression. In the United States Military, there are programs in place to aid in the treatment of PTSD. However some people want to help in other ways so they make non-profit organizations

I WAS SURPRISED THAT I am really interested in how ‘stories’ are used as a means to change the mindsets of the oppressors.

Speeches and music are great ways to bring awareness to inequalities around the globe. Music created by artists can help support many causes, through their lyrics people subconsciously learn about social inequities. “Known throughout the world, Youssou N’Dour is a musical peacemaker in his native Senegal and lends his words and music to critical campaigns, such as malaria prevention programmes.” (Da Silva) Another example is Oliver Mtukudzi, a musician from Zimbabwe, who helps raise awareness of diseases by shaping his lyrics to inspire people to help his causes. Yet another example is Angelique Kidjo, an ambassador of goodwill, who helps causes like hunger by singing about them. In synopsis, music has a major effect on social inequities and can greatly help change to our society. Lastly, speeches have had the biggest impact on our society out of any genre of literature. Susan B. Anthony greatly paved a path for women's’ rights by tenaciously campaigning to get women's rights to be equal to men’s. For example, she helped women get the right to vote. Correspondingly, in The Gettysburg Address, Lincoln focused on fixing the inequality of slavery and helping colored people gain equal rights. When Martin Luther King gave the I Have A Dream speech, he completely changed social inequities by greatly decreasing racism. “Africans found a particularly poignant

Attention getter- Have you ever been forced to leave your hometown without committing any crimes or doing something wrong? Imagine yourself waking up one day, seeing that you are in the middle of the war with people running around and screaming for their lives. Such incident may seem very unlikely to happen to you however, the people of Syria have been experiencing it for almost everyday of their lives. .