Carl Wilkens - Rwanda's Only American — Transcript

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1. 0:00Good morning, uh, Cambridge MUN. I'm
2. 0:04really excited ha to have a small part
3. 0:07in your conference here. Um, wish I
4. 0:09could have been there in per in person.
5. 0:12Uh, but uh, next best thing, I guess. I
6. 0:15I'm I'm excited for this conference uh,
7. 0:17on many levels, but but particularly so
8. 0:20much of my hope for the future and for
9. 0:22the UN in general uh, stems from my
10. 0:26belief in the power of the MUN program.
11. 0:28We've only been involved in a few
12. 0:30recently. We were in uh Doha at the
13. 0:33Thimon Qatar MUN conference and uh spoke
14. 0:36to the security council there and I was
15. 0:38just well I was really impressed with
16. 0:40the amount of work you guys put into
17. 0:42these conferences. Number one and number
18. 0:44two your your your um commitment to to
19. 0:48not only learning but building a more
20. 0:51peaceful tomorrow. That's that's good
21. 0:53for my heart. So anyway, many of you
22. 0:56know Carl Wilkins and and um I was in
23. 0:58Rwanda. Oh, the snow. Yeah. I I just
24. 1:02thought maybe you could use a little
25. 1:03snow in Abu Dhabi. We're in Pennsylvania
26. 1:06right now. Um in 1990, Trice and I moved
27. 1:10to Rwanda with our three small children.
28. 1:12Went there to build schools, operate
29. 1:14clinics. We were at the Adventist
30. 1:15Development Relief Agency. And we were
31. 1:17there for four years before the genocide
32. 1:19started. That night the plane was shot
33. 1:21down. We actually heard the explosion
34. 1:23from from our house and um we didn't
35. 1:26really know well at first we didn't know
36. 1:28what it was but then when we heard it
37. 1:29was the president's plane we knew it was
38. 1:31bad but we didn't know how bad we didn't
39. 1:33know it was the beginning of of um the
40. 1:36murder of of nearly a million people. We
41. 1:39actually had two people, a young lady
42. 1:41living in our home who was part of the
43. 1:44minority group that had been they'd been
44. 1:46working for several years to construct
45. 1:48this enemy, to convince people that
46. 1:50here's the dangerous people. Here's the
47. 1:52the people we need to get rid of. And
48. 1:54and the smaller tribe in Rwanda just
49. 1:56because her ID card said Tootszie meant
50. 1:59that she was marked to be eliminated.
51. 2:00And a young man who worked at our home
52. 2:02in the evening as watchmen, same
53. 2:03situation. When all the foreigners were
54. 2:05leaving, my wife and I, we just
55. 2:07couldn't. We couldn't just leave these
56. 2:08people to what we were convinced would
57. 2:11be certain death. And so Teresa and I
58. 2:13made the decision that I would stay. And
59. 2:15and uh my we we didn't think it would
60. 2:18last more than two weeks, much less
61. 2:20three months. But uh yeah, that's a
62. 2:23whole another story. What what I want to
63. 2:25share with you today though at the
64. 2:27beginning of this conference or whenever
65. 2:28I'm talking to you during the conference
66. 2:31um is is not only the power of presence.
67. 2:35I mean the fact that me being able to
68. 2:37stay actually helped save the lives of
69. 2:40those two people just by being present.
70. 2:42Um, I want to tell you another story
71. 2:44that I think illustrates the power of
72. 2:46presence and and then also the the need
73. 2:49for allies in every situation,
74. 2:52especially in a crisis, and how the
75. 2:54potential for good is in everybody. And
76. 2:56if you if you believe that, then you've
77. 2:58got a really good chance of um finding
78. 3:01allies where many people wouldn't find
79. 3:03allies. You know, it's it's it's the
80. 3:06problems in Syria. We're like, okay,
81. 3:07where are the allies? And right now in
82. 3:09Central African Republic, who are our
83. 3:11allies? Because allies, allies are
84. 3:14people who share the same passion and
85. 3:17vision. Well, no, no, wait a minute. Not
86. 3:19necessarily. They don't always share the
87. 3:21same passion and vision. Sometimes they
88. 3:23do. Sometimes allies might have very
89. 3:26different motives, but we might be able
90. 3:29to come together on one thing at one
91. 3:31point that could save lives or that
92. 3:34could build peace. So, I better be
93. 3:35careful about generalizing about allies.
94. 3:38But I want to talk about the importance
95. 3:39of allies and how sometimes allies come
96. 3:41from very unexpected places. Um during
97. 3:45the Rwanda genocide, uh I I was stuck in
98. 3:48my home for 3 weeks. The government said
99. 3:51nobody 24/7 curfew, nobody out. But
100. 3:54finally after 3 weeks, they let us out.
101. 3:56I met the colonel who was in charge of
102. 3:57the city. He became a very important
103. 3:59ally. But I'm going to buzz past that
104. 4:01right towards the end of the genocide.
105. 4:03This colonel actually he directed me to
106. 4:05to two orphanages. And there was another
107. 4:07orphanage down the street that were
108. 4:09desperate for help. So throughout the
109. 4:11genocide, I was helping bring food and
110. 4:13water, medicine to these three groups of
111. 4:15orphans around the city. We had to go
112. 4:18through roadblocks. There were people
113. 4:20shooting sometimes at us. Uh often we
114. 4:24were in the crossfire. Um it was a
115. 4:26horrible, horrible time. Uh but but the
116. 4:30story I want to just kind of briefly
117. 4:32touch on with you today is towards the
118. 4:34end of the genocide. Gasiqua, Rwanda man
119. 4:36who worked with me, courageous man. He
120. 4:39had more than 40 people who were seeking
121. 4:41protection in his home. Um he and I were
122. 4:43taking water to the orphanage. He was
123. 4:45driving a big dump truck with barrels of
124. 4:47water. I was driving my little car. And
125. 4:50um when we pulled into the gate, I mean
126. 4:52this orphanage, first time we got there,
127. 4:54there were little graves in the parking
128. 4:56lot. uh not from children who'd been
129. 4:58killed with machetes, but children who
130. 5:00who were dying of diarrhea, dysentery.
131. 5:03And so um we uh came in the parking lot
132. 5:07this day though to bring water. It was
133. 5:09it was life or death. This water really
134. 5:10meant life or death. And uh within
135. 5:13minutes we were surrounded by a squad of
136. 5:16intraomeway, the people who were doing
137. 5:18the killing. And they had threatened the
138. 5:20people the day before. We only found out
139. 5:22now that they had threatened them the
140. 5:23day before. We're coming. Everybody get
141. 5:25out of here. We know there's tootsies
142. 5:26hiding here. We want this place empty
143. 5:28tomorrow. Everyone's going to die. And
144. 5:30they came back now to to follow up on
145. 5:32that threat. And um long story short,
146. 5:36there was about a two and a half hour
147. 5:38standoff, maybe three hours. For some
148. 5:40reason, while I was there, they were
149. 5:42circled around us. They wouldn't come
150. 5:44in. They saw me. They wouldn't come in.
151. 5:47You know, one hour, two hours, three
152. 5:48hours. It was a long time. I was on the
153. 5:49radio calling the UN. Mama, papa zero.
154. 5:51This is ADRO 1. Come in. and that was
155. 5:53the UN and humanitarian group and and
156. 5:56well they couldn't come and help me.
157. 5:58Finally, Philillip at the Red Cross
158. 6:00managed to get some police to come to
159. 6:02our assistance and uh there were about
160. 6:04seven of them that came. Wonderful boy.
161. 6:07When they came in the driveway, what a
162. 6:08relief. But story wasn't over because
163. 6:11they didn't want to spend the night.
164. 6:13They said, "We're too outnumbered."
165. 6:14There were probably about 50 militia
166. 6:15guys all around with their machine guns.
167. 6:17They said, "We're too outnumbered. You
168. 6:19go talk to our commander. Get us some
169. 6:21backups." So now I'm thinking, oh no,
170. 6:23wait a minute. Is are they going to
171. 6:26really stay here and protect these kids
172. 6:28or will they will they join with the
173. 6:29militia? Because sometimes the police
174. 6:31during the genocide joined in the
175. 6:33killing. And and so it was a terribly
176. 6:35difficult decision. Could I trust this
177. 6:37man, you know, or or should I stay? But
178. 6:40then if I stay, what are we going to do?
179. 6:42He's telling me he'll stay until we get
180. 6:44reinforcements. He's telling me go talk
181. 6:46to his commander. I'm thinking if I just
182. 6:48say and stay and say no, what will
183. 6:49happen? And honestly, I don't know what
184. 6:50would have happened if I would have
185. 6:52stayed. But I'm so glad that even though
186. 6:54I chose to leave that that that
187. 6:57lieutenant stood firm and and the
188. 7:00orphanage was not attacked, I actually
189. 7:02got to the office of the colonel who was
190. 7:04out of town and the prime minister,
191. 7:06well, the bogus prime minister was
192. 7:08visiting at the time and visiting the
193. 7:10city at the time. And um he's one of
194. 7:13three people in charge of the genocide.
195. 7:14He's in fact in prison today for crimes
196. 7:16against humanity.
197. 7:19The secretary told me, "Ask the prime
198. 7:21minister." When I explained, "The
199. 7:22orphanage is surrounded. There's some
200. 7:23policemen holding them back. We need
201. 7:25help out there." She says, "Ask the
202. 7:27prime minister." I'm like, "Wait a
203. 7:28minute. This is the guy in charge of the
204. 7:30whole genocide. Why would I ask him for
205. 7:32help?" But you remember that thing about
206. 7:34allies and believing that everybody can
207. 7:38at least make one good decision.
208. 7:41I listened to the secretary. I asked
209. 7:43this prime minister and and crazy enough
210. 7:48he did. He used his influence and those
211. 7:50kids were not killed. In fact, he used
212. 7:52his influence and those those children
213. 7:54were moved a couple days later to
214. 7:56another part of the city. He still
215. 7:57weren't wasn't safe but was better than
216. 7:59that part. And you know, I think back on
217. 8:01that and I think about number one the
218. 8:05secretary. If I wouldn't have listened
219. 8:06to the secretary, who knows what would
220. 8:08have happened. We've got to listen to
221. 8:10the people who are there in the middle
222. 8:12of it with their feet on the ground. Not
223. 8:15that they have uh the whole picture, but
224. 8:18they've got a huge part of the picture
225. 8:20that is often ignored. We've got to
226. 8:22believe that the potential for good is
227. 8:24in everyone. Um because that's how we
228. 8:27sometimes find our most valuable allies.
229. 8:30And not that they're going to make good
230. 8:32decisions the rest of their life or even
231. 8:34the rest of the week, but maybe this one
232. 8:35moment they'll make a good decision. and
233. 8:37and we've got to we've got to um
234. 8:40understand the power of presence. Often
235. 8:43it's not guns. It's about simply being
236. 8:46there. And so, um I don't want to end
237. 8:50our little visit here today though
238. 8:52without telling you how how wonderful
239. 8:55the progress is in Rwanda, how
240. 8:57courageous, how people are moving
241. 8:59forward with courage, with forgiveness,
242. 9:01incredible resilience. young people in
243. 9:04Rwanda. Um, Proclaimers of Love and
244. 9:06Peace is one organization. Never again
245. 9:08is another organization. Has 45,000
246. 9:11students in 250 high schools in Rwanda.
247. 9:14About 31 universities, 41,000 45,000
248. 9:17members. People working together in
249. 9:20Rwanda to honestly build peace and to
250. 9:22say we don't want anything like this to
251. 9:24ever happen again in our country. The
252. 9:26last thing I want to leave with you is
253. 9:28um from the people of Rwanda. And I
254. 9:30think the way that they move forward,
255. 9:32they still put one step in front of the
256. 9:34other. And that is the people in Rwanda
257. 9:36seem to have the ability to not focus on
258. 9:39what what is behind them, what they have
259. 9:42lost. You'll never forget your family,
260. 9:44of course, that you lost, but but they
261. 9:47they seem to be focusing more on what
262. 9:49they have, what remains, and saying, you
263. 9:52know, we won't be defined by what was
264. 9:54taken from us. If we won't be defined by
265. 9:56what we lost, we'll be defined by what
266. 9:58we do with what remains. Or like one
267. 10:01high school kid said who visited Rwanda,
268. 10:03he says, "It seems like in Rwanda,
269. 10:06people are defined by what they do
270. 10:08next." You know, a lot of places people
271. 10:10say you're defined by what you do, but
272. 10:12this idea of what you do next, I think
273. 10:14that's a huge part. And um it's
274. 10:17something that's become really important
275. 10:18in my life, focusing on what remains and
276. 10:22and what we do with what remains. Hey, I
277. 10:25wish you all the best conference. I hope
278. 10:27we can meet up sometime. Facebook, world
279. 10:29outside my shoes or world
280. 10:30outsidemyshoes.org. Send me if you have
281. 10:32questions or things that we could
282. 10:34connect or maybe Skype with your school.
283. 10:36We'd love to do it. Thanks so much for
284. 10:38you students who organized this
285. 10:40conference and uh I hope we'll meet
286. 10:42sometime face to face. Thanks.