This is the film that premiered at the What BETTER Looks Like - Amahoro Women's Circle on January 23rd at the Cinema Arts Center in Huntington, Long Island.

On October 3, 2010, we held a circle at the Cinema Arts Center in Huntington, Long Island.  We explored the questions of What Better Looks Like, and invited participants to think about what we are here to heal, create and teach.  It was our final circle before our trip to Rwanda and the Congo.  People were supportive of us, our trip, and each other.  We will be doing a follow-up circle in January.

In September of 2007, six of our founding members attended a conference on Women, Power and Peace at the Omega Institute in New York.  Among the attendees was Christine Schuler Deschryver who works with women who have been victims of extreme violence in The Democratic Republic of Congo.  Her stories left us shaken, disturbed and moved.  On the last day of the conference, Robin Deluca-Acconi, said to the rest of us, "Tomorrow these women are getting on planes and heading back to face these same conditions.  Are we okay with that?"

Our answer to that question led us to create Amahoro Women, a very special project of the What BETTER Looks Like Campaign.  Amahoro means peace in Kinyarwanda, the language of Rwanda.  One of our founding members, Marie Goretti Ukeye, who is from Rwanda, inspired us with the following thought: "After witnessing how well the genocide was planned, I came to a realization that the same way we use our energy to plan a war, or genocide, or violence, we can use the same energy to plan peace and nonviolence."  With that as our inspiration, we have planned a trip to the countries of Rwanda and D.R. Congo at the end of October to connect with those in need. We will be supporting three existing organizations to encourage them in their work: Heal Africa Hospital, Imbabazi Orphanage, and the residents of a Batwa village with whom we have contacts. Our intention for this first What BETTER Looks Like humanitarian mission is to determine how we can best serve the unique needs of various Rwandan and Congolese communities. Our focus is healing, economic support, educational assistance, and any other help requested by these communities.