HREP organizes the Roméo Dallaire Human Rights Scholarship at Lewis and Clark College. This scholarship, for international students of English, allows qualified international students who otherwise could not afford such an opportunity to attend the Academic English Studies program at Lewis and Clark College for one year. The scholarship fund, in conjunction with tuition graciously provided by Lewis and Clark Collge, allows for travel and living expenses such as lodging, food and books during the academic year.

The scholarship for 2005/2006 has been received by Romeo Umulisa, a young man active with human rights and reconciliation issues in Rwanda and the great lakes region. Romeo is currently heading up the HREP project in Rwanda, and has just started a monthly human rights journal. He currently studies at the Rwanda Cinema Centre in Kigali. Congratulations Romeo!

I had the pleasure of working with Romeo in Rwanda during the previous summer.  Despite being only 18, and having nothing to call his own but a pen and borrowed notepad, Romeo spent the summer traveling around the country, talking with his fellow country men and women, exploring with them the horrors of their past lives and sharing their hopes and dreams for the future.  Though I was deeply struck myself by the capacity for cruelty in human beings, I was struck more deeply by Romeo’s passion, curiosity and bravery in standing up to the worst in the world, in seeking out change and healing for the Rwandan people.  I left the country with a little of the pain of the past and present, but more with a strong hope for the future.  If there are students of life like Romeo out there, there will always be the potential for change, if those with the means are willing to provide the necessary support.

There are two ways you can help.  The first, of course, is to donate what you can to the fund.  Your donation will be used to pay for housing, meals, clothing and books.  We also invite you to join the Dallaire Scholarship Committee, and help us find creative ways to raise the funding necessary to make this scholarship a permanent legacy at Lewis and Clark College.  With your help we can continue supporting international students who have a commitment to humanitarian values, the will to be a force for change, and the hunger to learn. 

To make a donation, please make checks payable to Lewis and Clark College, and mail them to us at:

Romeo Dallaire Human Rights Scholarship

Lewis and Clark College

0615 SW Palatine Hill Rd.

Portland, OR 97219