The @Google program was pleased to welcome Senator Aloisea Inyumba to the Google NYC campus on November 30, 2007. Senator Inyumba discussed her experiences in Rwanda's Parliament, working for peace in the aftermath of genocide. She has been named as one of the 21 Leaders of the 21st Century and was recently honored at the Women for Women Gala in New York City.

About the Speaker
A senator in Rwanda's Parliament, Aloisea Inyumba is a member of the Senate's Committee on Political Affairs and Good Governance. There she is responsible for monitoring the implementation of decentralization programs, the adherence of political parties to the fundamental laws of the nation, and the implementation of Gacaca, a participatory justice mechanism being used to address crimes of genocide. Until 2004, Senator Inyumba served as governor of Kigali-Ngali Province, responsible for policy coordination and implementation at the provincial level. She is a former commissioner and the executive secretary of Rwanda's Unity and Reconciliation Commission, where she organized and oversaw national public debates promoting reconciliation between Hutus and Tutsis in post-genocide Rwanda. Immediately following the 1994 genocide, Senator Inyumba was the first Minister of Family, Gender, and Social Affairs. She managed the aftermath of the genocide by overseeing the burial of the dead, the resettlement of refugees, and by directing a national adoption campaign that reduced the number of genocide orphans in Rwanda from 500,000 to 4,000. She later helped to establish a national women's network to adjudicate family and property issues resulting from the genocide that exist today, and she continues to play an important role in representing women's voices to local government throughout Rwanda. Senator Inyumba holds an Honors Degree (1988) in Social Work and Social Administration from Makerere University in Uganda, and an honorary doctorate from La Roche College in the United States. She serves as a member of the board of Women for Women International, the Institute of Research and Dialogue for Peace, and Ruhuka, a non-governmental organization that provides trauma counseling.