DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.
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DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.

My second year fieldwork was spent in Rwanda learning the "Healing and Rebuilding Our Communities" approach to addressing the ongoing affects of trauma from the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda. This is truly a community-based intervention, which is very committed to recognizing the importance of creating space for people to explore the complexity of individual and collective trauma within a community context. Perpetrators, victims and bystanders of the genocide within identified communities come together to develop an understanding of the impact of trauma, and to promote healing and reconnection.

HROC has developed a three day curriculum that walks people through a process of learning, sharing and healing that has been derived from the work of trauma specialist, Judith Herman (1992). HROC draws on Herman’s identification of the need to create safety and healing relationships; to have opportunities for remembrance and mourning; to build opportunities for reconnecting with self and others; and to find “commonality” by sharing experiences and redeveloping community relationships that have been fractured by violence.

HROC also acknowledges the use of the Alternatives to Violence Project model for facilitating groups. The AVP model draws on the wisdom of the participants, minimizing the role of facilitators as experts. Rather than breaking down information into neat packages and definitions the focus is on drawing out stories that are relevant and that will touch people deeply while also expanding their understanding of trauma. Opportunities for fun, community building and connection are also vital to the overall process.

DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.
DRAFT: This module has unpublished changes.