{"id":806,"date":"2014-04-18T16:49:10","date_gmt":"2014-04-18T16:49:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/?p=806"},"modified":"2014-04-18T16:49:10","modified_gmt":"2014-04-18T16:49:10","slug":"twenty-aprils-concert-organized-by-centre-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/2014\/04\/18\/twenty-aprils-concert-organized-by-centre-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Twenty Aprils concert organized by Centre students"},"content":{"rendered":"

By ADAM FALUJI<\/strong> –\u00a0STAFF WRITER<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s Centre\u2019s goal to provide a dedicated environment and diverse opportunities with hopes that the four years a student spends here are a transformative experience, that they graduate having achieved their maximum potential and are ready to change the world.<\/p>\n

To this end, a liberal arts education is stressed so that students are well versed and open minded towards all subject matters.<\/p>\n

Convocations and extracurriculars are also a crucial component of a student\u2019s time on campus.<\/p>\n

Studying abroad, however, has proven to be one of the most valuable experiences Centre students can take advantage of during their time at Centre College.<\/p>\n

With this, Centre hopes to make its students \u201cGlobal Citizens,\u201d people aware of what\u2019s happening overseas, and willing to contribute in any way they can.<\/p>\n

This past CentreTerm, 17 students went to Africa for 27 days as part of the History and Religion of East Africa course taught by Visiting Assistant Professor of History Dr. Earle.<\/p>\n

Spending a week in Rwanda and the rest of the time in Uganda, the class found the environment was dramatic shift from Danville, Kentucky.<\/p>\n

\"Junior<\/a>
Junior Michaela Manley spending time with the locals during her trip to Uganda and Rwanda this past CentreTerm. Students who participated on the trip are responsible for organizing the event.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cUganda is kind of anything goes,\u201d sophomore Emily Rodes said. \u201cBut Rwanda \u2026 it\u2019s cold, still. There are soldiers marching and everyone\u2019s driving on the right side of the road and the area is being landscaped.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Rwanda, students met with the founder of Good News International, Pastor Benjamin Kayumba, and stayed in the Good News Guest House.<\/p>\n

There they learned of the genocide that shook the foundation of the country and forever changed its history.<\/p>\n

Good News International is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping survivors of the genocide. They help survivors in ways such as assisting resume writing and developing economic projects such as raising livestock to give survivors.<\/p>\n

The organization also pays survivors to work for the guest house and grow their own crops, since land is expensive in Rwanda.<\/p>\n

At the guest house, survivors gathered to support each other and share their testimonies.<\/p>\n

Professor Earle\u2019s students heard their stories, and gave testimonies of their own.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of them don\u2019t like Americans because we didn\u2019t help during the time of the genocide despite being such a powerful nation,\u201d Rodes said. \u201cBy sharing our stories with them and opening up, I think we made it easier for them to see us and relate, and I think it restored some of their faith in humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The accounts of the native Rwandans were heartbreaking, and students left wanting to help them in any way they could.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the time Americans visit and meet with these people only to leave without ever helping,\u201d Rodes said. \u201cIt hurts them to see us not stepping in, and they understood that we were young at the time and couldn\u2019t have done anything ourselves personally, but now we\u2019re at an age where we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

Upon returning to campus, sophomore Megan Foley and Rodes worked with Professor Earle to organize a fundraising event in partnership with Good News International to benefit survivors of the genocide.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy brother in Louisville had a party with a DJ and my mom was telling him to donate some of the money to charity, and so I got to thinking \u2014 why not have something like that and make it even bigger but donate all the money to charity?\u201d senior Megan Foley said.<\/p>\n

Since then, students have been hard at work planning the Twenty Aprils Benefit Concert.<\/p>\n

A strip of West Walnut Street is to be fenced off, and a stage with a DJ will be set up. In addition to music, Day Glo and paint will turn the event into a block party mixed with a paint run.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that overall it\u2019s going to be one night that\u2019s going to be a lot of fun for Centre students and hopefully the results will impact the lives of people in Rwanda forever,\u201d Foley said.<\/p>\n

All the proceeds will go to Good News International.<\/p>\n

Pastor Kayumba has three cows for donation currently, and hopefully the money raised will help breed and buy more cows to be distributed to survivors.<\/p>\n

Details about the event are shown on a Facebook page as well as a donation website.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s impressive that students not only had the opportunity to go abroad, but also upon getting back on campus, were able to put together an effort to make a difference in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cCentre gives us this idea of being a \u2018Global Citizen.\u2019 The school is doing such a good job supporting us,\u201d Rodes said.<\/p>\n

Take the opportunity to study abroad while at Centre, and make sure when you do you keep your eyes and ears open, and take whatever chance you get to make a difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis April, communities and colleges around the world are commemorating the horrors and controversies of the 1994 Rwandan genocide \u2014 twenty years after. In the past, international communities were severely criticized for failing to intervene,\u201d Earle said.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwenty Aprils is important because it illuminates some of the ways in which our students are not satisfied with remaining silent, with doing nothing. By supporting income-generating projects among widows and orphans, Centre students are telling their friends and colleagues in Rwanda, we are united \u2014 we carry this emotional and economic burden together,\u201d Earle said.<\/p>\n

Be sure to attend the Twenty Aprils Block Party on Fri., April 25 at 9 p.m. on West Walnut Street.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By ADAM FALUJI –\u00a0STAFF WRITER It\u2019s Centre\u2019s goal to provide a dedicated environment and diverse opportunities with hopes that the four years a student spends here are a transformative experience, that they graduate having achieved their maximum potential and are ready to change the world. To this end, a liberal arts education is stressed so […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":807,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}