Marshall Scholars for the Kigali Public Library has joined local Rwandans and the Rotary Club of Kigali-Virunga with the hope of opening the library by the end of 2004–10 years after the country’s catastrophic genocide. Nearly all of the 2002 class has participated in the project by fund-raising, making donations or helping publicize the group’s efforts. Eleven have spent the last few weeks in Rwanda, meeting with President Paul Kagame, discussing the 1994 tragedy with survivors and hauling rocks and wooden beams to help build the library itself. This week, at the request of the U.S. Embassy, the group will promote literacy and higher education, and encourage local women to pursue the sciences. At night the Americans hang with their Rwandan peers–comparing both life experiences and hot dance moves. Says Claudia Veritas, a 2002 Marshall Scholar, “You realize that you’re no different from the people here and feel thankful to live in the stable political and social conditions that we have in America.”
