When I Was Young I Said I Would Be Happy

In 1994, one million people were murdered in the Rwandan genocide, leaving one million orphans to survive. An estimated 90% of Rwandans were left traumatized. When I Was Young I Said I Would Be Happy, is the transformational story of the first group of 12 orphaned genocide survivors who take part in a new form of sustainable humanitarian aid called Project LIGHT. When I Was Young I Said I Would Be Happy shows the impact of PTSD on individuals and on a society where dissociation is so extreme it passes as unremarkable. The film illuminates new possibilities for global healing when those in need are provided resources addressing body, mind, and spirit. In only two short years, the first Project LIGHT ambassadors paid forward their healing to hundreds­­—from Rwanda to Sandy Hook, Connecticut.

Published: March 29, 2016
Executive producers: Nick Ortner & Lori Leyden.
Written and edited by Ellen Goldwasser.
Narrated by CCH Pounder.
Produced by Barnet Bain.
Photographed and directed by Paul J. Lynch.