With departure a week away, the word "excitement" doesn't even cover the feelings that Joe and I have. I am fortunate to have Will representing Never Again at the Global Conference on the Prevention of Genocide because I don't think it would have been possible to manage that as well as taking care of last minute details on this end.

Never Again officially closes off the evening!








We have such a great team of organizers for the Heritage Centre. With Senator Dallaire supporting our efforts, the African Canadian Cultural Heritage Centre is sure to become a reality!

















The end of an incredible conference and fundraiser and the beginning of a new era for Never Again International.

Thank you Senator Roméo Dallaire for being my personal inspiration and one of my guiding lights.

Expanding the Dialogue: Preventing the Use of Children as Soldiers

The folks at York - the Hotel (Yes, that is the actual name of the hotel. Say it with a dramatic pause and you cannot help but smile at the name) ere kind enough to provide me with internet access to prepare some of my Never Again materials for the Child Soldier workshop. I had over two hours to be productive and being put up in a suite to do work for that time was a brilliant arrangement.

Dr. James Christie, Dean of Theology at the University of Winnipeg introduced Senator Dallaire on Sunday night's opening ceremonies.



Sandra Melone, the Executive Director of Search for Common Ground addressing the workshop participants at the opening of the workshop on Sunday.
Rev. Pierre and I on one of our quick breaks between sessions!











The crew at the University of Winnipeg did a wonderful job of welcoming the 109 plus participants to 3 day forum.


















































Mireille and Joe and I at Booster juice. The company was even more delightful than the mango strawberry extravaganza.
























Senator Romeo Dallaire lends his pen to an informal book signing after the keynote address.
























Nick and James at the head table during the evening reception. Thank you Akim for giving me a first class seat despite my late arrival.

Child Soldier Conference

The facilitation of this conference is making blog entries next to impossible. Between directing foreign dignitaries, organizing power point presentations and keeping minutes of the workshop discussions, I am fortunate to have 2 minutes before leaving for the University of Winnipeg for the third day of the conference proceedings. This has been a great opportunity for people to learn about Never Again, and the youth involvement has been both eye-opening and inspiring. The youth delegation had, by far, the most entertaining presentation at yesterday's plenaries. Yesterday evening would have been an opportune moment for some great photos, both with Peter Mackay, who was speaking on Child Soldiers, and with General Dallaire. Unfortunately, my camera seems to have been destroyed. I returned from a wonderful day yesterday and when I turned on the camera to take some pictures during Mackay's speech, the display was completely broken. How that managed to happen whilst I was in the plenaries and workshops, I will never know!

Today promises to be a great one as it will be an opportunity for the delegates from the military, humanitarian, human rights, conflict and transformation and academic groups to come together for the workshops.

Here's a link to Nick's blog in Rwanda. It would be great to take a trip to the refugee camp where he is whilst I'm in Kigali. Fresh from Rwanda

Mama Justa's visit to Winnipeg