Survivors Fund (SURF), in partnership with Redress, has launched a new legal aid project in Rwanda. With four of our partner organisations – IBUKA, AVEGA, AERG and Solace Ministries – we have recruited interns (all of which are current or … Continue Reading »
Category: Survivors’ Rights
Kamembe
Kamembe is the base of AVEGA Western Region (AWR). Survivors Fund (SURF) provided the initial grant to establish the office of AWR in 2003, and through our current grant for the HIV+ Survivors Integration Project (SIP) from Comic Relief we … Continue Reading »
Coexist
Coexist is a remarkable independent documentary film examining the unique social experiment of reconciliation in Rwanda. It tells the stories of genocide survivors searching for ways to coexist with their loved ones’ murderers. Earlier this month I participated in a panel … Continue Reading »
Reparation
For the previous year, Survivors Fund (SURF) has been working with REDRESS on a coordinated project focused on securing reparation for survivors of the Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. In a brilliant piece in Pambazuka News, Juergen Schurr, legal … Continue Reading »
National Social Protection Strategy
Last week, SURF’s partner organisations had the opportunity to meet and question the Right Honourable Andrew Mitchell, Secretary of State for International Development on the policy of the UK Department for International Development. In preparing for that meeting, we discussed … Continue Reading »
AVEGA wins Gruber Prize
Left without the legal protection of husbands after the ugly bloodletting of 1994, fifty women stood together in Rwanda to form AVEGA Agahzo, the Association of Widows of the Genocide, and 17 years later they are still helping one another … Continue Reading »
Reparations
A new UN report published today calls for reparations for victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as “a matter of priority”. The 55-page report is a fascinating read, not only for the conclusion that it … Continue Reading »
“Well, President, I manage…”
In a speech today at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, President Paul Kagame spoke on “The Challenges of Nation-building in Africa.” He focused on Rwanda, and in so doing referred to the legacy of the genocide: And so when … Continue Reading »
Fighting Genocide Denial
Over recent months, there has been a number of articles on the prevalence and politics of genocide denial, both in Rwanda as well as internationally too. Survivors Fund (SURF) along with its partner organisations strives to raise awareness of the genocide … Continue Reading »
International Funding
SURF was founded with an objective to raise funding internationally for survivors of the genocide in Rwanda. In her memoir, You Alone May Live, SURF Founder, Mary Kayitesi Blewitt, recalls her first few months of work on her return from … Continue Reading »