I try to read "The Economist" every week, at least a few articles here and there as time allows, and I usually just gloss over the obituaries. This past week was different.
I was first taken by the humble photograph they printed of a woman with beautiful wrinkles in her forehead and around her eyes. The rest of her face looked smooth. Her eyes appeared compassionate, yet holding back worlds of information that could bring many a world leader to their knees.
I am speaking of Alison Des Forges, a human rights activist and historian, who worked tirelessly in the early 1990's and beyond to bring to light a growing crisis in Rwanda. She died February 12, 2009 in the Buffalo plane crash from Newark where ice build up was a factor.
The thing that really struck me about Mrs. Des Forges was just how early she'd figured out what was happening in Rwanda, while the rest of the world waited.
In 1993, she documented a smaller scale version of Rwanda in neighboring Burundi. She gave a detailed account of what happened and her title, "Leave None to Tell the Story" came from a killer's utterance during the horrors of that event.
Her life was and is an inspiration to telling the story of the human experience, both grotesque and beautiful. The world has lost a wonderful example of how to live your life with meaning; betterring the condition of those humans who are consistently forgotten.
Thank you, Mrs. Des Forges, you will not be forgotten.
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