As a humanitarian aid worker, Carl Wilkens moved his young family to Rwanda in the spring of 1990. When the genocide was launched in April 1994, Carl refused to leave, even when urged to do so by close friends, his church and the United States government. Thousands of expatriates evacuated and the United Nations pulled out most of its troops. Carl was the only American to remain in the country. Venturing out each day into streets crackling with mortars and gunfire, he worked his way through roadblocks of angry, bloodstained soldiers and civilians armed with machetes and assault rifles in order to bring food, water and medicine to groups of orphans trapped around the city. Working with Rwandan colleagues, they helped saved the lives of hundreds. Carl returned to the United States in 1996. In 2011 Wilkens released his first book titled I’m Not Leaving. It is based on tapes he made to his wife and children during the genocide. A 40-minute documentary also titled I’m Not Leaving has also been produced. Carl and his wife Teresa have formed an educational nonprofit, World Outside My Shoes, sharing the power of stories and service to build bridges to peace with “The Other.”