[ti:Rwanda Genocide Survivors Share Memories with US Students] [ar:Jerilyn Watson] [al:Education Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]From VOA Learning English, [00:00.81]this is the Education Report. [00:04.07]During 3 months in 1994, [00:07.46]800,000 Rwandans were killed [00:10.32]in attacks led by ethnic Hutu militias. [00:14.09]Most of the victims were ethnic Tutsis. [00:18.04]Many organizations around the world [00:21.04]are observing the 20th anniversary of the Rwanda genocide. [00:26.28]One of these groups is Shoah Foundation Student Association [00:32.18]at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. [00:36.61]It invited survivors to share their memories of the horrific event. [00:42.99]Yannick Tona has been traveling the world to talk about the genocide. [00:48.79]He spoke about his experiences to a crowed of students at USC. [00:54.25]He told them what happened in his country, [00:57.15]and what happened to his own family. [01:00.21]"I remember the first time I saw the killing. [01:03.12]The first time I saw people been killed. [01:05.71]The first time I saw bodies," said Tona. [01:06.97]He was only four years old at the time. [01:10.11]He said he hid in bushes and heard screaming. [01:14.51]He said he saw big bloody knives and bodies on the street everywhere. [01:20.55]Mr Tona's one-year-old brother and his grandmother were killed. [01:25.82]Rwandan Edith Umugiraneza said she struggled with the guilt [01:31.82]she fought for surviving when her mother, [01:33.92]brothers and many other relatives did not. [01:37.29]"Because I was blaming, [01:38.49]'Why did I survive why I did not go with others?' [01:42.29]I had the question, 'Why, why?' all the time," said Umugiraneza. [01:45.94]Ms Umugiraneza now lives in the United States. [01:51.04]She said prayer and sharing stories [01:54.30]with other survivors has helped her to heal. [01:57.20]"It happened and we can not bring back our people [02:00.20]so we have to move on and we have to help each other," she said. [02:05.32]Her story is a part of the video records [02:08.72]at the Foundation's Institute for Visual History and Education. [02:13.77]The Institute has been collecting stories of genocide survivors [02:18.92]from several countries. [02:20.67]It hopes to gather 500 stories for Rwanda. [02:25.48]It has collected 65 so far. [02:29.23]The Institute is also involved with Kwibuka20, [02:33.98]a series of events to observe the 20th anniversary. [02:38.28]Stephen Smith leads the group. [02:40.78]"People all around the world are coming together as a world community [02:44.52]to reflect on what happened, but also to leave their voice [02:47.23]and to make their point of view very clear about genocide in the world [02:51.68]today what we can do about that how we can be involved," said Smith. [02:54.67]University student Gregory Irwin says [02:58.51]he has wanted to do something about genocide, [03:01.87]even since he visited Rwanda. [03:04.02]He met survivors there and heard their stories. [03:08.02]"I have been more driven to do something [03:12.17]about genocide than ever," said Irwin. [03:14.12]Student Nora Snyder also visited Rwanda. [03:17.83]"Things like what happened in Rwanda [03:19.68]are still going on in the world today [03:21.58]and things will continue to happen [03:23.65]unless we take the time to remember," said Snyder. [03:25.55]And that's the Education Report from VOA Learning English. [03:31.55]For more stories and video reports about education and other subjects, [03:37.44]go to our website 51voa.com. [03:44.45]You can send us comments on the story. [03:47.40]Our email address is learningenglish@voanews.com. [03:55.22]I'm Jerilyn Watson. [03:56.46]¸ü¶àÌýÁ¦Çë·ÃÎÊ51voa.com