God Sleeps in Rwanda: An interview with THE DIRECTORS
by MASON SYNCLAIRE WILLIAMS

Director Kimberly Acquaro, Holly Holmberg Brooks, and others attend a fundraiser that showed Kimberely's documentary "God Sleeps in Rwanda" in hopes of bringing awareness about the Rwandan Genocide.

God Sleep in Rwanda is a documentary on the Rwandan Genocide and the women who survived. It is aptly directed by Kimberly Acquaro and Stacy Sherman, and is the first documentary for both women.

This film is not only relevant, but essential in honoring the memory of those lost and helping to heal the wounds of the victims that the western world seemed to forget.

"The women were often made physically sick during some of the filming," Acquaro said in a recent interview with GirlSite.
"When giving accounts of their personal experience," she said, "it made them physically sick to relive the pain. Yet, they did it because they wanted to help someone else."

Ten years ago in the country of Rwanda, a relatively small West African country, a wave of killing took place in the spring of 1994 involving two tribes, the Tutsis and the Hutus. In the course of 100 days, 800,000 lives were lost in a way that can only be described as genocide.

When asked why she was personally compelled to be involved with the project, Mrs. Acquaro stated, "The strength of the extraordinary women who were able to withstand the end of their individual worlds."

"The destruction began when extremists shot down the airplane carrying the president of Rwanda, Habyarimana, and the Burundian president," Acquaro added.

Acquaro said no one (not even the U.N. leaders of the time) could predict the onslaught of senseless violence, suggesting it might have been avoided had the U.N. successfully stepped in, rather than adhering to an imposed “monitoring” mandate.

"God Sleep Rwanda was made with the intention of preventing others from following that same concept," she said

GS Journalist Mason interviewed the directors.

The film depicts the case of one woman, Nora, a genocide survivor involved in the film from the very beginning. It is Nora’s hope that people would walk away from the documentary with a change of attitude towards the people of Rwanda and the struggle that the country has undergone.

"Change is what is needed in the current situation," she said. The lack of attention given to the genocide made the filmmakers choose to use black and white portraits of the women interviewed, in order to evoke a humanistic response.

"You can help!" Kimberly Acquaro emphatically suggests to anyone who sees the film. "The women of Rwanda are just like the mothers, daughters and wives of America who have hopes and dreams for their futures." Not only were families and lives lost, but hopes and dreams as well during the 100 day slaughter.

The lack of participation from the western world only fueled the atrocities being committed in the land of Rwanda. Not only were whole families being executed, but thousands of women and young girls were sentenced to the slow painful death of the AIDS virus, due to the innumerable amount of sexual assaults that accompanied the killing. It takes $60 a month to provide AIDS tests for survivors.

It is completely plausible that with the help of the people of the world, creating partnerships to raise funds for Rwanda, that the country which was almost lost to the hands of iniquity might one day be restored to the plentiful part of the motherland that it once was.

Iraq is not the only place that needs restoration in the world, nor is it the only place worthy of removing terror. Terror doesn’t live in Iraq, it lives in the hearts and minds of those who are not empathetic with the needs of mankind.

With the present climate of foreign affairs and the fact that only one continent on the earth is devoid of war and fighting, the desensitization of the media and the global community can almost seem excusable. It is then that the immortal words, "those who do not remember their past, are doomed to repeat it," find true meaning in the present society.

That is why, out of the ashes of this tragic time in human history, comes the hope in restoring our belief in peace and the hope that "never again" will truly become a reality. For out of every dark time in our history come the lives and recounts of the survivors, the courageous few who escaped annihilation, only to teach others.

The stories of the men and women lucky enough to escape this mass murder hold the key to what the world now needs to withstand the trials the world now faces. To ignore the cries of the people and the work of art crafted to provide them a platform would cheapen the sacrifice made by those who have already paid a dear price.

"Those who have lost their family, friends, and homeland and are still suffering a decade after the ordeal. As young women, we must acknowledge the responsibility to prevent something like this from ever happening again."

With each new generation comes another chance to redeem what was lost. God Sleep in Rwanda is an important and necessary step towards that redemption.

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The 1994 Rwandan genocide left the country nearly 70 percent female, handing Rwanda’s women an extraordinary burden and an unprecedented opportunity. "God Sleeps in Rwanda' tells the story of Rwandan women survivors' extraordinary courage and determination to overcome the genocide's legacy of grief and loss. The documentary follows 5 women as they are rebuilding their lives and in doing so redefining women's roles in Rwandan society and healing a wounded nation.

Donations will be given to the Avega Aghozo organization, which is the umbrella organization that groups genocide survivor bodies representing up to 25,000 widows.

Donations can be sent to:
The Generator Interactive Network (501c3)
15233 Ventura Blvd. Ste. 610
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403

For more information, contact Robert Hirahara at 310-472-4225.