Kigali native Allen Kendunga to speak at TEDxBatesCollege

2014 Nov 4

Inspired by a phrase from the Bates College mission statement, eight Bates students, including Kigali's Allen Kendunga, will address the concept of the "transformative power of our differences" in the college's first homegrown TED-style event at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8, in Bates' Schaeffer Theatre.

Kendunga, a 2014 graduate of the Bridge2Rwanda Scholars Program, is a Bridge2Rwanda scholar and first-year student from Kigali, Rwanda, who plans to major in politics. Her TEDxBatesCollege talk, "We Are All Rwandan: Lessons from Rwanda's Post-Genocide Renewal," will offer insights from that nation's history of ethnic division, the 1994 genocide and the civic transition of the past 20 years. She is the daughter of Joselyn Nyamwiza of Kigali, Rwanda.

Developed in California 30 years ago, TED presentations are driven by short, engaging talks on trending themes. ("TED" stands for technology, entertainment and design.) Bates was the venue for a TEDxDirigo event in 2012, but TEDxBatesCollege is the first such program originated by members of the campus community.

"Every day, we see our classmates, professors and other members of the Bates community," says student organizer Michelle Pham, of Vancouver, British Columbia. "But you rarely get to know someone else's story. This is a great opportunity to hear those stories on a much deeper level."

Pham, a Bates senior, is organizing the event with Samreen Fatima, a junior from Karachi, Pakistan, and Daniel Oyolu, a senior from Houston.

Bates College adopted a new mission statement in 2010. Central to the four-sentence text are these words: "With ardor and devotion . . . we engage the transformative power of our differences, cultivating intellectual discovery and informed civic action."