Rwanda Development

Genocide has happened many time is various countries, some more widely known about, and some with greater casualties than others. The most infamous of these would be the Holocaust, which took place throughout Germany and the countries conquered by Germany during the Second World War. It involved the annihilation of the Jews, and was an act of racism ordered by Adolph Hitler. In the twentieth century there have been twelve cases of genocide in places live the USSR during the communist revolution, Bosnia in Pakistan, in Iraq during the late 1980’s and plenty other mass killings in the smaller, war-torn African countries.

The task given to us was to try and get the point across that the government should have intervened and a great many lives could have been saved. The title ‘Don’t Let It Happen Again’ inspired us in the work that we did in the lesson, and we feel that it did get the message across.

Script for ‘Don’t Let It Happen Again’ scenes

Lights up

(BBC news music – intro tune)(Two newsreaders)

(Mock serious, sitting sombrely)

Lilly – A government grant has enabled the fire service to buy a longer ladder so that they could safely reach Mr Tiggles and return him to him loving owner.

Frazer – A very touching story – now for the other news – A small country in Africa is suffering Genocide, up to one million have been killed.

Lilly – Yes, now for the sport. (Falsely cheery, dismissing)

Black out – set change

Lights up – a lay out of a football ground

Ollie – Hello and welcome to the Hutu vs. Tutisie game and it’s going to be a thriller tonight. Mow, let’s go down and meet the teams and hear their thoughts as they warm up. Hello there, now, how do you think that the game is going to go today?

Lilly – Their team is stronger, with better tactics and techniques, but we are going to try our best.

Ollie – Okay, a positive outlook, and what about you sir?

Frazer – I bet my life that we are going to loose.

Ollie – Okay then, not so positive, but still here. Now let’s go and talk to the Tutisies.

Josie – We’re going to kick their butts.

Ollie – Okay, very positive, and what about you?

Alex – Their as good as dead.

Ollie – You really think so?

Alex – Their as good as dead.

Ollie – All right then, fighting talk from both sides, but what will be the outcome! And the game is started! The Tutisies start with the ball, and there is a magnificent pass, but Frazer is down, I think that that was a foul by Josie there, but Lilly has the ball, and is coming up on Alex, and she is down now too, a perfect tackle there, but what is this? What is this? The ball lies abandoned at the side of the field as the Tutisies kick their opponents down! Ohhhhhh right in the kidneys, and there, a kick dealt to Frazer across the bridge of the nose, now that’s going to hurt in the morning! And Josie scores a goal unhindered, the Hutus win as none of their opponents rise from their supposed graves! It has been a massacre! They really stood no chance, and the Tutisies are going to need a lot of medical attention!

(Scene played out as Ollie describes it by Alex, Josie, Lilly and Frazer)

Black out

Lights up – tables cleared away

(Blue Peter scene)

Lilly -Welcome to today’s Blue Peter! Today, boys and girls, we are going to learn how to dispose a Tutisie! Over to Alex and Josie to show you how it is done!

Josie – Hello boys and girls, today we are going to show you how to kill a Tutisie! Please bring on the example Lilly!

(Lilly brings on Frazer who has his hands tied behind his back and is looking very scared)

Alex – Firstly, make sure that the victim has their hands tied securely behind their back with a length to hold onto in case they try to run away, (Frazer tries to run but is pulled back by the length of rope) like that!

Josie – Now, assemble your instruments, and we shall show you how to prepare them for the eventuality!

Alex – Yes, a knife is good, and you must sharpen it while holding the point away from you – get an adult to help you with this part – and slide the stone along to form a blade!

Josie – You can also use a gun, machete or club! Before you deliver your judgement, get the Tutisie on their knees …

Alex – This provides you with a perfect vantage point of the neck!

Josie – … and aim before you strike!

Lilly – This sounds like jolly good fun!

Alex – Why don’t you join in, look, her is a machete!

Lilly – Thank you!

Alex – Ready everyone (chorused ‘yes’ from Josie and Lilly) then … 1 … 2 … 3!

(All hit down towards Frazer’s neck in slow motion, who then falls to the ground, dead)

Alex – And here’s one we killed earlier!

(Picks Ollie up by the hair, and throws him on top of Frazer)

(Three girls stand back behind the pile of corpses, smug and satisfied)

Black out

Lights up – two tables with two people each seated at them, Alex standing motionless in the centre – Countdown scene

Frazer – Hello and welcome to Countdown, today we have our reigning champion Josie Howard and the new contender, Ollie Thomas. We are also joined by the lovely Lilly of the letter and number board today. Now Ollie if you would like to start the first round.

Ollie – Certainly, can I have a consonant please?

Lilly – G

Ollie – A vowel?

Lilly – E

Ollie – Can I have a consonant?

Lilly – N

Ollie – Can I have a vowel?

Lilly – O

Ollie – A consonant?

Lilly – C

Ollie – A vowel?

Lilly – I

Ollie – A consonant?

Lilly – D

Ollie – And can I please have a vowel?

Lilly – E

Frazer – Okay, you now have 30 seconds to form a word using all the letters, your time starts now.

(Countdown music starts – Alex becomes the clock and arms move round in time with the music for 30 seconds)

Frazer – Time’s up. Now Ollie, what did you get?

Ollie – Um, Nedicoge?

Frazer – Ah, I don’t think that that is in the dictionary, Lilly?

Lilly – No, there is no such word.

Frazer – Right, and Josie, what did you get?

Josie – Genocide.

Frazer – Well done, you can have 20 points for that. Now for the next round, the number round. Josie if you could do the honours please?

Josie – A higher number please?

Lilly – 1000

Josie – A lower number please?

Lilly – 4

Josie – A higher number please?

Lilly – 250

Frazer – Okay, you now have 30 seconds, begin.

(Countdown music starts – Alex becomes the clock and arms move round in time with the music for 30 seconds)

Frazer – And what did you get Ollie?

Ollie – Um, 20?

Frazer – I don’t think so some how. And what about you Josie?

Josie – I got 1,000,000.

Frazer – Well done, I claim Josie our reigning champion! With Genocide and 1,000,000 she pretty much beat Ollie with a landslide.

Black out – set change

Lights up – News report scene

(BBC news music – intro tune)(Four news readers)

Alex – Hello and welcome to the 8 o’clock news. Genocide has happened in Rwanda which has left over 1,000,000 dead and many millions in refugee camps in neighbouring countries.

Lilly – Our correspondent in Rwanda has the latest.

Josie – Over to Frazer live.

Frazer – Hello, it is absolute chaos here with thousands fleeing their homes and I can hear gunshots in the distance as there is still fighting going on in the villages that have been abandoned.

(News readers walk round behind Frazer acting out the role of the refugees)

Frazer – The gun shots are getting closer, I am going to have to give it back to the studio.

(News readers sit back down)

Lilly – This a great tragedy, and what many want to know is why did this happen?

Ollie – There have been plenty of opportunities for the governments to step in and prevent further loss of life, so why didn’t they?

Alex – I think that the message we can all gain from this is; Don’t Let It Happen Again!

Lights out – end

Throughout the piece, all actors used facial expression, body language and vocal expression to portray their character and how they were feeling at that moment, with levels and status. Black comedy and sarcasm were used in all the scenes to help get the point across. By being melodramatic and over the top we tried to make the audience think twice before laughing, because the topics that we were breaching, especially in the Blue Peter scene where not funny when you thought about them seriously.

In our piece, I think that the most effective part was the Blue Peter scene because it was full of sarcasm and melodrama, with enough black comedy to keep the audience in check, and thinking about what was actually being acted.