Rwandan genocide survivor to speak at NipU

Nipissing University
News Release

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Nipissing University is pleased to present Yannick Tona, a survivor of the Rwandan genocide, who will be speaking at the university on Thursday, January 20, at 7 p.m. in a presentation titled, An Evening with a Survivor.

The presentation will take place in the Vitorio Fedeli Business Centre (room F210). It costs $2 and all proceeds raised will go to AEGIS Students.

Tona escaped Rwanda as a four-year-old with his mother, fleeing the genocide on foot to the Congo. He returned to Rwanda when the genocide ended and currently works with AEGIS Students, an international student-based genocide prevention movement, committed to educating, campaigning and fundraising to end genocide and mass atrocities. Tona will discuss life before, during, and after the Rwandan genocide and the importance of raising awareness about genocide in general.

Introducing Tona at Nipissing and acting as his host in Canada is Schulich School of Education student Morgann Rymal. Rymal first met Tona last year while working on her Masters of History thesis, titled Surviving Genocidal Rape: Women's Experiences of the Rwandan Genocide. As part of her research Rymal travelled to Rwanda, where she met Tona in his role with AEGIS Students. After that meeting she was determined to help Tona come to Canada to tell his story in order to raise awareness of the horrors of genocide.

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