Memorial Performance of Miracle in Rwanda, Films, and Speakers commemorate the Rwandan Genocide and Honor the Life of Alison Des Forges
The celebrated one-woman play Miracle in Rwanda, which tells the story of a Rwandan woman who survived her country's 1994 horrific genocide, was performed on February 11-13, 2010 at the University at Buffalo in memory of the late human rights activist, historian of Africa, and MacArthur Fellow Alison Des Forges. Alison was one of the world's foremost experts on the genocide.
Miracle in Rwanda was written and performed by award-winning actress Leslie Lewis Sword.
It is based on the bestselling book Left to Tell by Immaculée Ilibagiza, which describes how Ilibagiza survived the Rwandan genocide by hiding in a tiny bathroom with seven other women for 91 days. The play has been performed by Sword to much acclaim in venues throughout the United States, and in Canada, India and Rwanda.
The opening night performance and reception were hosted by the Alison Des Forges Memorial Committee, as part of its efforts to raise funds for a scholarship and lectures in her name. After the performance, comments were offered by Rwandan genocide survivor Aloys Habimana, who was then deputy director of the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch, and by Alison’s husband Roger Des Forges, Professor of History, University at Buffalo.
Miracle in Rwanda performances on February 12 and 13 were presented for students and the general public. They were preceded by film screenings hosted by University at Buffalo English department faculty members Bruce Jackson, SUNY Distinguished Professor, and Diane Christian, SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor.
On February 12, a screening of the award-winning 2004 film Hotel Rwanda was followed by in-person commentary by Paul Rusesbagina, whose heroic efforts to save hundreds of Tutsis are portrayed in the film by Don Cheadle in an Oscar-nominated performance. Post-play comments were offered by two colleagues and friends of Alison Des Forges, Monique Mujawamariya, a Rwandan survivor of the genocide and founder of the Rwandan Association for the Defense of Human Rights and Public Liberties, and Tim Longman, Professor of Political Science, Director of the African Studies Center at Boston University, and former Human Rights Watch researcher on Rwanda.
On the final evening, February 13, the Emmy-nominated HBO film Sometimes in April was followed by another performance of Miracle in Rwanda. Post-play commentary was provided by University at Buffalo faculty members Claude Welch, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science and human rights specialist, and Shaun Irlam, Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and a student of the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide.
The Alison Des Forges Memorial Committee is very grateful to University at Buffalo alumnus DeWane Allen Harris (BA '93 Theatre and Dance), who conceived of and organized this extraordinary three days of events. He first saw Leslie Lewis Sword’s performance of Miracle in Rwanda in New York City in 2008 and vowed to bring her to his hometown of Buffalo, New York. He had hoped to have Alison Des Forges provide a post-show commentary. Tragically, Alison’s death in 2009 resulted in a memorial production of the play in her honor.
The three days of events were co-sponsored by: the Alison Des Forges Memorial Committee; nineteen colleagues, friends, and family members; Buffalo Bills’ #58 Aaron Maybin; the Buffalo Teachers Federation; the University at Buffalo’s Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy, College of Arts and Sciences, Humanities Institute, James Agee Chair of American Culture, Law School, Newman Center Catholic Campus Ministry, Undergraduate Academies, Undergraduate Student Association, and Departments of African and African American Studies, English, History, and Theatre and Dance.