Members of Buffalo State's Anne Frank Project recently traveled to Rwanda. A small group of students and their teacher visited refugee camps, schools and orphanages to meet with youth from the African country.
It simply is a transformative experience for everybody," said Drew Kahn, Buffalo State Theatre professor and director of the Anne Frank Project.
Rwanda is a country that suffered a horrific genocide in the 1990's, Kahn says the students performed a short theatre piece that included excerpts of The Diary of Anne Frank and her experience during the Holocaust.
"That is based on some passages from the dairy," said Kahn. "And also some things that we learned from Rwanda."
Kahn said when he explained who Anne Frank was his audience in Rwanda, they were "in awe."
"But when the get wind of who she is and what happened to her, there's an immediate identification," said Kahn.
The Buff State students will create a play based on what they learned in Rwanda.
As for the nine students that traveled on the two week trip, Kahn said they returned with an intense need to give back to others because they learned that other parts of the world are very poor.