Learn more about what SURF is up to in 2008:
• Volunteer to be a reader in NYC
• Learn more about this amazing event
• Learn about SURF's housing programme
• See the new testimony centre SURF supports
• Check out SURF's educational materials
• Read about SURF's work with young survivors
• Learn about SURF's HIV/AIDS programme
• Watch survivors tell their story through drama
SURF is recruiting a new Director for the organisation
Survivors Fund is seeking to replace our founder Director who has worked tirelessly to establish, develop and drive the charity to its current position. SURF is an internationally recognised, high-impact NGO working in partnership to deliver practical support to survivors of the 1994 Rwandan genocide as well as advocating for survivors’ needs to be met and their human rights upheld.
New York Students unite to call for AIDS relief for Rwandan Genocide survivors
Students from across New York united in Washington Square Park to read the testimonies of Rwandan survivors to commemorate the 14th anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide and to call on the Office of the US Global AIDS Coordinator to recognize HIV+ survivors in Rwanda as an at-risk population eligible for antiretroviral treatment.
Students from New York University, Columbia University, Yeshiva University, along with local high schools, each read one of 100 testimonies of young survivors, many of whom were girls raped and infected with HIV and AIDS during the genocide, in The Reading of the Testimonies NYC. It is estimated that almost 5,000 people passed through the square during the four-hour event, which served to reach a wider public to inform and educate more people about the genocide.
The Board of Survivors Fund acknowledges the outstanding contribution made by Mary Blewitt
The Board of Survivors Fund acknowledges the outstanding contribution made by Mary Blewitt to help and empower survivors of the Rwandan Genocide. Mary has been the driving force of the charity. As acknowledged by the OBE she has recently received, she has worked tirelessly to ensure the development of a strong vibrant organisation.
New York Students Unite on 7th April for Reading of the Testimonies NYC
Students from across New York will unite on Monday 7th April from 10am to 2pm in Washington Square Park to read the testimonies of Rwandan survivors to commemorate the 14th anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide.
Components Commemorates Rwandan Genocide in Partnership with Survivors Fund
Components is teaming up with the Survivors Fund (SURF) to mark the 14th Anniversary of the Rwandan genocide with a unique multimedia event at Brixton Jamm on Sunday 6th April 2008.
The event will serve to raise awareness of the Rwandan genocide, and the plight of survivors today. In addition to music, it will feature the reading of testimonies of survivors, which will be extended across the Atlantic as SURF stages Reading of the Testimonies NYC in Washington Square Pak on Monday 7th April at which 100 students will read the testimonies of 100 young survivors in the first outdoor public event in New York to mark the genocide.
Reading of the Testimonies NYC to be staged on 7th April by Survivors Fund
The Rwandan Survivors Fund (SURF), has announced plans to stage a Reading of the Testimonies NYC in Washington Square Park on Monday, 7th April 2008 to mark the 14th anniversary of the 100 day Rwandan Genocide.
SURF Founder receives OBE from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace ceremony
SURF Founder and Director, Mary Kayitesi Blewitt, received from Prince Charles the OBE (Order of the British Empire) that she was awarded in the Queen’s New Years Honours List at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace. Mary’s award is in recognition of her work supporting survivors of the Rwandan genocide, in the UK and Rwanda, through the charity that she established ten years ago, Survivors Fund (SURF).
There's No Place Like Home
Providing affordable housing and a livelihood for genocide survivors in Rwanda
An estimated 21,000 genocide survivors are still without permanent shelter.
SURF is working in partnership with a consortium of local survivor’s organisations to meet the pressing housing needs of survivors. Over the past two years, with support mainly from Comic Relief, and other donors, SURF has built 370 new homes, providing shelter for almost 2,000 survivors.
SURF celebrates awards raising the plight of survivors
Survivors Fund (SURF), the international charity representing and supporting survivors of the Rwandan genocide, celebrates two awards that have been dedicated to survivors of the genocide.
SURF's Co-Chair, Liliane Umubyeyi, was named as Campaigner of the Year by Cosmopolitan Magazine at its Ultimate Woman of the Year Awards 2007. Liliane's award was announced on the same day, that photographer Jonathan Torgovnik was named the winner of the National Portrait Gallery's Photographic Portrait Prize for his work “Joseline Ingabire With Her Daughter Leah Batamuliza, Rwanda.”
SURF Produces New Lesson Plans!
Working with local teachers, SURF has produced a new set of lesson plans that are for use with our education packets. These new lesson are for distribution to and use in UK schools. SURF is producing these packets in keeping with the national curriculum and are available – for free – on our website.
SURF Celebrates 10th Anniversary of Aiding Survivors
On Monday, 16th July, SURF celebrated 10 years of supporting survivors of the Rwandan Genocide in a moving ceremony at City Hall, London. The event gave the London-based international charity the opportunity to thank its supporters from over the years, and to raise awareness of the many difficulties still facing survivors in Rwanda today.