Panel Discussion: Paths to Healing Post-Genocide(Dec 9, 2020)
Cambodian genocide was the systematic persecution and killing of Cambodians by the Khmer Rouge under the leadership of Pol Pot, who radically pushed Cambodia towards communism. It resulted in the deaths of 2 million people from 1975-1979. Rwandan genocide was the mass slaughter of Tutsi, as well as Twa and moderate Hutu, carried out between 7 April and 15 July 1994 during the Rwandan civil war estimated around 500,000 to 600,000 Tutsi deaths.
Our second Charter For Change panel of discussion will be led on the 9th December which is the International Genocide day with Yogeswari and her Azahar Foundation. Peace camp it’s a platform where organizations, artists and beneficiares can meet and share experiences, methodologies and best practices to build peace. Azahar foundation offers many programs at Peace Camp using yoga, mediation, the arts and techniques of non-violent communication, with the goal of improving social issues and not repeating the cycles of violence of past generations.
In this panel of discussion dedicated to genocide the members of the Azahar foundation locals from Cambodia and Rwanda will be participating sharing their experiences with different themes related to peace building, volunteerism, environmental issues, women’s empowerment and inner peace by using the forms of art & yoga that helped them to improve their well-being. Society as a whole helps to elicit goodness inside out. Please read a brief biography of the panelists participating in the second Charter for Change Panel, led and moderated by the founder of AZAHAR Foundation and senior advanced Jivamukti Teacher Yogeswari.
DARA HUOT
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Since 2012, Dara has been the CEO of Phare Circus, a project with disadvantaged youth that he has developed into one of the most successful social enterprises in Cambodia. Growing up, he still was impacted by the last years of the war. He later had the privilege to attend Phare Ponlieu Selpak, a school for the arts that emerged from the healing effects of art therapy on genocide survivors. He joined the first group of performing artists doing awareness tours to educate rural Cambodian populations on landmines, malaria, dengue fever and other public health and safety issues. He became a board member of AZAHAR Cambodia in the spring of 2020.
EM VUN
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Em grew up in rural area Cambodia. She followed the path of many women in Cambodia, working in a garment factory for five years. During this very difficult period, she found time to volunteer for Women’s Agenda for Change, where she began to know activism. In 2017, she became the coordinator for Messenger Band, a garment worker’s music ensemble that quickly became a leader in movements for social justice and gender equality. Em joined AZAHAR Cambodia in 2017 and became a 300-hour certified Jivamukti teacher in 2019.
JEANINE MUNYESHULI
Kigali, Rwanda
Jeanine was born to Rwandan parents in exile. In 1994, she landed in Geneva, Switzerland, to study, leaving behind a million of her people swept away by the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda. Soon after, she was working in the financial sector. The first time she stepped into a yoga studio, there was an immediate sense of home and childlike happiness. When she met Sharon Gannon (and David Life), she knew she had found the teacher(s) she had been looking for. Jeanine completed her 300-hour Jivamukti Teacher Training in 2012 and has been a board member of AZAHAR Foundation for several years, initiating AZAHAR’s project in Rwanda.
ABDOUL MUJYAMBERE
Abdoul Mujyambere is a Rwandan visual and performing artist and yoga teacher based in Kigali. He discovered contemporary dance in university and has since trained in various movement forms and acting all over Africa and in the US, most importantly at the Ecole des Sables in Senegal. As a visual artist, Abdoul focuses on identity, beauty and human social interaction among others. He is the recipient of several grants and awards. He is certified to teach yoga by Africa Yoga Project in Nairobi and teaches yoga infused with dance for AZAHAR in Rwanda.
YOGESWARI
has been a Jivamukti Yoga teacher for the past 20 years, teaching at the New York Center and around the world. Having had the privilege to learn closely from Sharon Gannon and David Life, she is advanced certified and has been a facilitator of Jivamukti teacher trainings since 2007. As a former dancer/ choreographer, she is known for her seamless sequencing and thought-provoking teachings that often reflect current socio-political issues within the context of yogic teachings. She is the president and founder of AZAHAR Foundation, whose mission is to promote a peace culture through yoga and the arts. Its pilot project is in Cambodia, with a smaller project in Rwanda.