Genocide survivors met pupils at Hampton School and recalled their stories from some of history’s most terrible acts of violence.
More than one hundred pupils from 10 schools across London came together for Genocide Awareness Day.
The speakers were Ruth Barnett, who arrived in Britain as a four-year-old after escaping Nazi Germany on the Kindertransport, Sophie Masereka, who lived through the Rwanda genocide against Tutsis in 1994, and Kemal Pervanic who survived the notorious Omarska concentration camp in Bosnia.
Head of history at Hampton School, Andrew Lawrence said: “It was a privilege for us to welcome Ruth, Kemal and Sophie to our School.
“Judging from the art, poetry and writing that the students produced it was clear that the survivors’ moving testimony made a huge impact on the young people who listened so respectfully.”
After hearing the testimony of the survivors and asking questions, pupils reflected on what they had learned from the day, creating pieces of art and composing poetry.
Paul Wilkinson, 16, a student at Hampton School, said: “I’ve been touched by the inspirational testimonies of the genocide survivors and it is important that my generation does all that it can to make sure such atrocities never happen again.”
Groups from each school built mini-exhibitions using historical sources whilst others modelled the work of journalists to write press releases about the event.
The event was hosted by Hampton School’s pupil-led Genocide80Twenty campaign group, which works to raise awareness of the Holocaust and other genocides.
The Express News
