There was a trip to Rwanda earlier this month, to film a documentary on the work the Rwandans are doing using TFT. The Rwandans hope to serve as a model for other countries who have suffered large-scale traumatic events. The filming went well, and of course, after hearing the stories of healing, the documentarians want to learn TFT! I am attaching a journal of the 11 day trip for any of you who would like to hear about it. Suzanne M. Connolly, LCSW
The TFT Foundation efforts to make a film documenting the use of TFT in Rwanda got off to a superb beginning. We landed in Kigali Rwanda the evening of the 8th of January.
Bob Stone, our documentarian, Diana Gross, his assistant and I were greeted at the airport by Father Augustin, organizer of the Byumba segments of the filming; Darling Clementine, organizer of the 2008 research and 2010 follow-up and this year’s TFT training; Billy Gatete, old friend and translator; and Jean de Due, former resident and now supervisor at the Rwandan Orphan Project.
We hit the ground running and by 8am the 9th, Diana, Bob and I were in a car headed to meet some of the new TFT trainees, trained by Celestin Mitabu. We entered the training room, located in Stella Bar, a local restraint/bar, and I was surprised to see many so many familiar faces. Most of the new trainees, recently trained by Celestin, were former 2008 study participants from the AID’s group, the Widows’ group, and the older orphan groups. What a pleasant surprise! Their experience of TFT was such a positive one; they wanted to help others using this technique.
The stories were amazing! One by one the trainers gathered at the Stella Bar, told their own personal stories. In a separate room Robert Stone, our documentarian and his assistant Diana Gross got four moving stories on film. In the larger room, others wanted to share their amazing stories of recovery with the help of TFT.
Each one started with something like: “I thought this was crazy. How could tapping help MY problems?” But they did follow the instructions of their Rwandan therapists in 2008, and they did tap. One by one, as they told their stories of trauma and recovery, I heard things like: “I’ve had a sad life.” “The first time in my life that I felt happy was after I joined the Widows group and then we did TFT.” “Now I have a life, a business.” “Now I have hope, where before I had no hope and thought I would just die and my children would be orphans.” We were all inspired and encouraged by these stories of recovery. Read more