Around the world in one week

Student Rwandan films to debut during iWeek

Preparations for the first ever Fanshawe International Week, or iWeek, is in full swing and includes forums, feature films and some good ethnic food, which will start on November 12.

As part of the college's ‘Engaging Fanshawe's Community in the Millennium Challenges,' a set of eight development goals set out by the United Nations to help overcome the world's biggest development problems, which includes eradicating hunger, providing basic education and increase overall health.

“We think [this] will raise awareness on international issues,” said Greg Erauw, Fanshawe's International Projects Consultant. “And hopefully engage the staff and students in the college to those issues and hopefully spur them to get involved.”

Taking a cue from other colleges in Ontario, Fanshawe is hoping to help involve their international students more on campus and within the college's community.

“We have at least 350 students from about 35 different countries,” explained Erauw. “And it's growing, so they're becoming an ever more important component of the college; socially, culturally and academically. Other colleges are doing it to integrate their international students, and that's what we're trying to do as well through it.”

Plans include a feature movie every evening. The movies all touch on important global issues, be it through the award winning An Inconvenient Truth which is Monday's feature, or The Value of Life: AIDS in Africa Revisited, the second documentary on the topic by United Nations' HIV/ AIDS envoy, Stephen Lewis.

In addition to the feature movies, the two mini-documentaries filmed in Rwanda this past summer by seven Fanshawe students.

“There's two films, one is called ‘From Health to Hope' and it documents the work, the project of rebuilding health in Rwanda,” said Erauw. “The other project documents the work of this non-government organization called Inspire Africa and they have child headed households. So children who have been orphaned, from anything like AIDS to the genocide, they have these households that they sort of mentor the young children to help provide for their family and get an education.”

The week will close out with an international potluck, which will be free to those who bring something, and will cost between $3-5 otherwise.

International week starts Monday, November 12 and runs through Friday the 16. More information, including itineraries, can be found at www.fanshawec.ca/international.