‘Get involved,’ students urged at opening ceremonies for TRU’s International Days

NEWS/ TRU — Students show off their cultures with performances, art, food, games and workshops as the annual International Days is underway at Thompson Rivers University.

International Days runs until Friday and will include guest speakers, displays, food tasting and the popular Showcase.

Human rights activist Clementine Wamariya delivered the keynote address at opening ceremonies Tuesday night, talking about her experience surviving the genocide in Rwanda, and about the importance of becoming involved in the world.

Wamariya has gained international attention since her first appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show in 2006 to share her experiences of the Rwandan genocide and a childhood spent in African refugee camps.

Since that first visit, when she and her sister were reunited with their long-lost parents, Wamariya has been a guest on Oprah three more times, has graduated from Yale with a comparative literature degree, and was appointed by U.S. President Barack Obama to the board of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

She said young people need to be aware of causes and issues of the day.

“It’s important for youth to get involved in the challenges because we are so free, we have the time, we have so much energy, so much power in us right now to really tackle things that are challenging us,” she said.

“So when we are older and have kids, we can say, ‘I’m glad I did that because my kids, our kids, won’t have to worry about that challenge anymore.’”

Today’s International Days events include guest scholar Dr. Prasit Wangpakapattanawong, an Afro-Caribbean Dance workshop, an indigenous artist’s exhibit, traditional Metis storytelling, and a showing of the movie 12 Years a Slave.