Nyombayire speaks on inspirations, hopes

In print | Published April 17, 2008

Phoenix reporter Rosario Paz recently sat down with Stephanie Nyombayire ‘08 after her participation with a panel on student peace activism at the Clinton Global Initiative conference last month. Nyombayire’s previous honors include an initiation as a Young Rwandan Woman Achiever by Rwanda’s First Lady Jeannette Kagame as part of the opening for Nyombayire’s Imbuto Foundation.

Nyombayire is also a founding member of the Genocide Intervention Network, has reported on the Darfur crisis for MTV, and has been named by Glamour Magazine as one of the top 10 college women in the country:

Rosario Paz: Congratulations on your participation in the Clinton Global Initiative. What was this experience like?

Stephanie Nyombayire: We worked with the Center for American Progress, which is a think tank that works closely with the Clinton Global Initiative. One of the people who works for the Center for American Progress works for CGI now. So we have some ties with them.

They know about the work that we’re doing and they know about the work I’ve been doing. So, when they had a panel about human rights, and what can be done on campuses, they thought about contacting us and seeing if one of us could go. That’s how I ended up being on the panel.

I met a lot of people who have been doing great work. I met the CEO of Women for Women, an organization that does a lot of work around women’s issues, women’s equality, especially in post-conflict areas … So they’ve been in a lot of the work that I’m interested in, which is post-conflict reconstruction and a focus on women, which I think is a very important aspect … I also met a Nigerian woman who has done a lot of work around social entrepreneurship for women.

RP: We’ve only mentioned some of the numerous recognitions you have received. Is there another recognition, or experience, that we failed to mention that you have personally come to value?

SN: One thing that really mattered to me was this past Christmas break being recognized by the first lady of Rwanda, along with six other women … That was definitely one of the biggest honors I could receive. She’s one of the people I admire the most because she has taken on a lot of the issues that are important to a sustainable development for any developing nation and focusing again on women. They’re the majority in Rwanda. Their participation in decision-making and in contributing to the development of the country is not just important — it’s necessary.

So, she’s made sure that we move up to that level. She has me fighting for equality of women … She’s taken up a lot of projects that I admire a lot and to be recognized by her and what we’ve been doing here really meant a lot.

RP: You’ve done a lot of work in starting up the Genocide Intervention Network as a co-founder. What would you most like people to know about this effort?

SN: The thing I would want people to know the most and to pay the most attention to is that we need each and every one of the people who is reading this, who are seeing this, who have heard about Darfur, to be part of the anti-genocide constituency…

So there are many ways you can do that. Our three ways are to educate, advocate, and fundraise … We believe that the only reason that atrocities like genocide are allowed to happen is because people watched it in silence. So, we’re not just going to focus on the atrocities that have been committed.

We’re going to focus on the power that people who are against the atrocities have in stopping them. Talk about the issues to your communities, advocate through talking to your policymakers, your congressmen, your senators about the issue and what bills you want them to co-sponsor or pass against the Darfur genocide.

Then fundraise – the mission of the Genocide Intervention Network is to provide protection on the ground to civilians because it’s a more of a priority for the Darfurian victims to be protected as opposed to us just sitting here talking about it when someone has to provide that protection, and just understanding that we each have a role and making sure that genocide really never happens again.

RP: Have you ever found your work on the Genocide Inervention Network to be relevant in the classroom? In other words, the work that you have done, can you also implement that into your studies at Swarthmore?

SN: I think it has a lot to do with my major and has a lot to do with … reading books about the role that politics have in shaping human rights policy across the world … Political science has allowed me to see the different aspects of it, to see the role of the nation-state, the role of the United Nations, the role of the international community.

To be more specific, one of the readings that’s assigned … talks about the role of the United States in genocide, how they did nothing and how they could have done something …

We’re not just learning to write papers, we’re learning to apply the theories, to apply all the findings that our professors make us read. So, I think being in Political Science … helps us to realize what are the things that go wrong, what are the things that can go right.

Also, being at Swarthmore and having centers like the Lang Center that encourages you to take what you learn in the classroom and make it happen on the ground … So you don’t wait until you leave Swarthmore to actually make a change in the world. You start from here.

RP: I know this is a question that many seniors this time of year dread to be asked, but what are you thinking of doing after Swarthmore, academic or non-academic?

SN: The long-term plan is going to law school for human rights law. The current plan is to go back to Rwanda to work for an NGO. I don’t know which one yet, but my main focus is working with youth in Rwanda, especially youth who are survivors of the Rwandan genocide, or whose parents have been victims of AIDS or who themselves are infected with AIDS, because that’s also a big problem.

For genocide to not happen again, for us to move forward, we need to focus on what the youth can bring and what the youth can build in Rwanda, and we’re moving in a very good direction … It’s very important, especially when I see the responsibility that people in my generation have to take.

A lot of Rwandans my age for the past 14 years have been responsible for their little brothers and sisters, for feeding them, for getting them tuition to go to school, and all of that.

Being left this vulnerable at such a young age means you have gone through things that you should not have to go through but also that you have the potential to ensure that our next generation doesn’t have to go through this … I just want to be part of that.

RP: Who do you look up to?

SN: There are a lot of people I look up to. I look up to my parents, for sure. I also look up to my president [Paul Kagame] because I think that they are so responsible for leading the rebel movement that stopped genocide and he continuously ensures that Rwandans remember what happened … that the only way we’re going to ensure that we have sustainable economic development, that we have sustainable peace, is if we take it in our hands.

We can’t eternally rely on international help because that help isn’t free … It comes with dependency. I think that message needed to be sent a long time ago…

I think it’s a very good start to say that we are going to make our country move forward and we’re not going to conform to the image that people have of African nations begging for help.

What we are asking for is support to move forward and support to have our own sustainable economy and sustainable development.

So, I think he has taken on a role that has shown us that “You didn’t help us to stop the genocide, we did it on our own. You didn’t help us when one million people were being killed … Now what we’re asking for is support to help ourselves, because we know we can do it,” and that’s something I really admire. It’s a little on the radical side but it’s something I admire.

RP: For those who look up to you, who wish to do the sort of human rights work to the extent of your own, what advice would you offer them?

SN: First thing would be that there’s nothing special about me. Anyone can do it. It’s all about will. It’s not a cliché that if there’s a will there’s a way. It really is that if there’s a will there’s a way. But to that you have to add persistence, you have to add patience, you have to add truly being committed and not being discouraged by any obstacles that come your way.

A lot of people will look at our generation and will say, “You’re too young to take this on,” but when you look around, it’s not going to be taken on by anybody else.

Understanding that we do have a responsibility, that we do have a role to play in what the world tomorrow … that change comes slowly, so don’t expect your actions to change the world in the next two week — expect it to change in the next few years.

Be ready to stick to your mission and be open for it to evolve and change, but make sure to stick to your goals.

Also, I think making sure to work with people. It’s not a competition as to … who will change the world the best. It’s about how can we all work together. If you look at all the issues that we are all are concerned about, if you look at genocide, if you look at climate change, if you look at the proliferation of weapons, if you look at developing nations trying to reach developed nation status, all of these issues, I think, are connected.

I think that the only way we’re going to move forward is if we realize this connection between all of us and work together as opposed to against each other.