Giving survivors a voice

Published 15 May 2006

That The Overwhelming is being staged at our National Theatre is symbolic. As debate rages about the responsibility of the west to intervene in Darfur and the Democratic Republic of Congo, J T Rogers's play will focus attention on a simple fact: these conflicts are about more than global politics. They are about people.

As the world moved on from Rwanda, Survivors Fund has been left to pick up the pieces. There are 365,000 survivors, and each and every one is a life, not just a number. We work to aid and support survivors, to ensure their voices are heard, and to keep the memory of genocide alive.

Films such as Hotel Rwanda, Sometimes in April and Shooting Dogs have graphically portrayed the brutality of the 1994 genocide. However, although they help raise awareness, these films sadly fail to show the plight of survivors today. They have provided no financial assistance to the survivors and, through artistic licence, they have distorted the historical facts.

The Overwhelming, on the other hand, does not purport to be anything that it is not: it is a fictional drama. As a result, it is a more meaningful production for survivors. Survivors have been consulted in its staging, and survivors will be given a voice during its performance.

This is more important now than it has ever been. In recent months, many survivors have been attacked and, in a number of reported cases, killed, following the mass release of prisoners who were involved in the genocide. If there is ever to be justice for survivors, it is our duty to help them - before it is too late, again.

Mary Kayitesi Blewitt, director, Survivors Fund

www.survivors-fund.org.uk

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