What the Heart Remembers: The Women and Children of Darfur

TheatreUSF presents What the Heart Remembers: The Women and Children of Darfur.

A man holding a folder with a group of girls sitting around him

Women crouching on the floor with an arm stretched upwards

A group of people in the shadows looking at a point off stage

A group of people looking in the distance while a man wraps his arm around a woman’s shoulder

A group of people looking in the distance

A group of people sitting on the floor stretching an arm upwards

A child lies on the floor, embraced by someone, while a group of people surround another woman

A man holds a stick and looks down at the ground

A woman speaking while a man behind her looks at her

A woman leaning on another woman while a man in military gear stares at them

A woman leans on a man who is arching backwards

Written by Fanni Green

Fall 2010

Directed by Fanni Green

Choreography: Jeanne Travers
Scenic Design: G.B. Stephens
Costume Design: Loren Shaw
Lighting Design: David Williams
Video Design: Lynne Wimmer
Sound Design: John Archer

USF Oracle newspaper article by Brenda Medina

While on a fact-finding mission to eastern Chad in June and July 2007, Waging Peace researcher Anna Schmitt was told by Darfuri refugee women how their children had witnessed horrendous events when their villages were being attacked. This prompted Anna to talk to the children. She gave the children, aged 6 to 18, paper and pencils and asked them what their dreams were for the future and what their strongest memory was.

The resulting drawings have toured the world, to raise awareness of the crisis in Darfur. In November 2007, the drawings were accepted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague as contextual evidence of the crimes committed in Darfur and as such they will be used in the trials of the accused, as a graphic illustration of the atrocities.

A selection of these drawings were exhibited at the USF Tampa Library in January of 2009.

The original 500 drawings comprise a collection to be donated by Waging Peace to the USF Libraries Holocaust & Genocide Studies Center upon completion of exhibitions worldwide.

Rebecca Tinsley, founder of Waging Peace and Network for Africa spoke at the USF Tampa Library as the USF Libraries Holocaust & Genocide Studies Center's 2009 Lecture Series inaugural speaker.

In August of 2012, the USF School of Theatre & Dance production, What the Heart Remembers: The Women and Children of Darfur traveled to perform at the International Collegiate Theatre Festival (part of the Fringe Festival) in Edinburgh, Scotland, and was nominated for the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression award at the Fringe Festival.

USF professors Jeanne Travers and Fanni Green have collaborated on this original dance/theatre piece, which attempts to convey the experiences of the women and children in the refugee camps. Following each of the performances will be a symposium, each featuring a different speaker:

Nov. 16: Mogtaba Mokhtar, "Lost Boy" of Sudan and USF biochemistry alumnus

Nov. 17: Lianne Stewart, USF Social Science/Public Health student and African Student's Association/Caribbean Cultural Exchange member

Nov. 18: Manoug Manougian, USF Mathematics professor, co-author and associate producer of The Genocide Factor: The Human Tragedy

Rebecca Tinsley, director of Waging Peace and Network for Africa

Nov. 20 (matinee): Edward Kissi, USF Africana Studies assistant professor

Nov. 20 (evening): Musa Olaka, USF Holocaust and Genocide Studies librarian

Nov. 21: Jeanne Travers and Fanni Green, creators of What the Heart Remembers: The Women and Children of Darfur