Hi, I'm Evelyn Gallardo, coming to you from Kigali, Rwanda, and this is my new friend
Richard.
Yeah, I'm Richard ___________.
Pleasure, pleasure meeting you.
Can you please explain to our audience, what you do here and what your project is all about?
I'm Richard, Richard from Kigali, from Rwanda, Kigali.
Our company is New Dawn Associates as you can see in the background.
We're a social enterprise.
Pioneers of community based tourism in Rwanda.
This idea came to us after seeing plenty of visitors coming after the Rwandan genocide,
who were coming to visit the gorillas.
And, we thought we could actually capitalize on that.
Try to show them something much more than just the gorillas, and if there was something
that we really could show, it had to do with the development.
You know, we'd show where like our people have actually came from.
Through their own strengths, coming together through such initiatives like we have New
Dawn Associates, which I will be explaining to you further.
Beautiful.
So, anyway, we decided the first project that we started with was the Millenium Village
Project.
As you well know.
Yes, Millenium Village Project.
I love these head dresses.
It's beautiful, yes?
I would love, I want to visit this village.
Yes, you want to visit this village.
Yeah, I do.
Oh, man, I hope to take you to this village.
If you do have the time, I would be glad to do so.
Now, is the idea for tourists to be able to go into an authentic village and experience
culture.
Culture, but so much, ask anyone who comes to Rwanda, like what most people do know Rwanda
for would be the genocide.
Unfortunately, but that is what got most coverage.
Yes, so, when it comes to that we had a certain priest in Rwanda, who wanted the President
of this country to pardon some of the villagers who had actually had been reformed in the
crimes that had perpetrated in the genocide.
The President's response was, "I'm the not the one to pardon them."
"They should ask the families with which they did those crimes against."
So, they actually did so and they were pardoned.
So, we do have this reconciliation village in this place called Nyamiarambo.
Excellent.
Of which we now have the victims and the perpetrators who are living side by side.
Oh my gosh.
And, we bring them together through this… that's amazing… initiative like basked
making.
We actually call this peace baskets.
Peace baskets.
I love that.
Yeah, because basically, as a component of what I just told you.
The reconciliation village but since it was something that was initiated by the United
Nations.
What we offer is tours to this particular place.
We make some for ourselves and the locals make some for themselves.
Part of our proceeds go to them but at the same time they have the opportunities to sell
their peace baskets, and maybe other things.
But even… that is excellent… far and beyond this, the cultural exchange, which takes place
there, and I think for me this has been part of the largest impact.
So, so the Hutu, the Tutsis, and the Batwa all work together.
All work together.
Now, if people are interested, how do they get hold of you?
How do they find out about your project?
Okay, basically go to www.newdawnassociates.com, which is our main website, and you don't
even necessarily have to go through us.
Any tour company that you might pick in Rwanda, basically conducts these tours, and they actually
conduct the tours.
Well thank you so much.
No thank you, thank you for giving me your time of day.
Yes.
So, this is all part of Kwita Izina, gorilla naming.
Yes, the gorilla naming ceremony, and we're at the exhibition hall, and we're going
to make more videos while we're here.
So, you can visit our website as well.
We'll post this on www.discoverybeachouse.com.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, thank you.
I look forward to meeting you again, definitely.
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