Stories for Hope, founded in 2008, is a storytelling project to help young Rwandans overcome a violent legacy. Many of their lives were ruptured in the 1994 genocide. Their remaining elders are quiet, fearing new grief or the spark of revenge. Lots of young women and men have been left as orphans, without knowing the important stories of where they come from. They need access to the past, without having to repeat it.

To benefit peace, unity, and recovery, we host and help with dialogues between young story-seekers, and their chosen elders. These may be adoptive parents, mentors, aunts & uncles, elder siblings, or widowed parents. Conversations reveal untold family and cultural stories. But, to carry young people to the brink of hope, elders are encouraged to include accounts of resilience and strength.

By 2010, over 100 sessions have been audio-recorded in three provinces, and stored with permission in Rwanda’s National Archive. Young people we followed up have reported improved family relations, self-esteem, and motivation

We facilitate and audio-record conversations between young story-seekers, and their chosen elders. Stories were first recorded in Kigali, Byumba, and Nyamata. By 2009, the collection of 75 dialogues included stories from guardians, fathers, sponsors, mothers, aunts & uncles, elder siblings, pastors, and grandparents.

Stories for Hope honors the Rwandan proverb, Utaraganiriye na se ntamenya icyo sekuru yasize avuze: "A child who does not talk with the father can never know what was said by the grandfather."

Registered in Rwanda with the Ministry of Sports & Culture and the National Commission for the Fight against Genocide (CNLG), Stories For Hope is led by Patricia Pasick, Ph.D., a psychologist from Ann Arbor, Michigan, with a team of researchers and archivists from the University of Michigan and local NGOs in Rwanda.