Meeting with President Kagame

Though our trip is sadly over, we’re still planning to put up a number of concluding posts this week that we didn’t have a chance to write in Rwanda. Enjoy!

On Friday we had the incredible opportunity to meet the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame. We spent about an hour with him in the cabinet room on the presidential compound, discussing everything from Rwandan development and education to African politics at large.

President Kagame is thoroughly impressive and seemed genuinely interested in our questions, thoughts, and ideas. His emphasis on Africa taking on Africa’s problems is refreshing, though he understands that there is a role for support from the rest of the world. Unlike many leaders, Kagame has realized and acted on the importance of investing in people and partnerships. He argues that other nations, especially those plagued with corruption, would benefit from similar thinking. Africa is rich in resources but poverty is widespread: According to Kagame, the missing like is the Africans themselves. If Rwanda has gotten as far as it has with only this thought process (Rwanda has very limited natural resources), those countries with valuable resources would likely see even more positive results if they begun to emphasize local populations and partnerships.

After our meeting we stepped outside for an official picture and an impromptu press conference. None of us had any idea that our brief meeting would make national news: http://www.orinfor.gov.rw/printmedia/topstory.php?id=2454.

The meeting was a truly once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and also a thought-provoking way to spend our last full day in Rwanda.

 

The Last Few Days

by Sophia:

After a few memorable days travelling around Rwanda without an internet connection, we are back in Kigali and ready to update you on our latest activities.

On Monday, we visited the Nyamata Genocide Memorial. During the genocide, many people sought refuge in churches, places where they expected to be protected by their priests. But even these locations of expected safety turned into settings for unbelievable violence as thousands were killed, sometimes after being betrayed by their priests. The church at Nyamata, which has now been converted into a genocide memorial, was one of the churches to which thousands of people had fled. When the area was attacked, over 24000 Rwandans were murdered within the church parish. The church has barely been altered in the 17 years since the genocide. Today, the rows pews hold the massive amounts of clothing belonging to the victims of the massacre at Nyamata. This second memorial provided a stark contrast to the genocide memorial we had seen in Kigali. While the Nyamata church did not give us any more information about the history of the genocide, it put the emphasis on the magnitude of the loss of human life.

In the afternoon we started to make our way towards Gisenyi, a town in the western province on the shore of Lake Kivu, the enormous lake on the western border of Rwanda. When we arrived, we were enchanted by the beautiful resort-like hotel that would provide us with the chance to unwind for a short while. At night, we enjoyed a great meal consisting of local fish specialties such as tilapia and sambaza, tiny fried fish. Later, we sat around a camp fire and enjoyed the beautiful setting. The next day, everyone could decide what they wanted to do. Some went to a local market to buy fabric, others strolled around the small village, and many simply relaxed on the shore of the lake. The day was a nice break from the physical and emotional experiences we have had since arriving in Rwanda.

Late on Tuesday afternoon, we packed our bus to full capacity once again to make our way to Ruhungeri, a town close to Volcanoes national park. Volcanoes national park is the habitat of the last remaining mountain gorillas on earth. Finally, we were about to go on the gorilla treks that we had been looking forward to for months. Already by 6:30am on Wednesday morning, we were on our way to the national park. After splitting into two groups, we were briefed by our experienced guides about the silverback gorillas and how to behave around them. Then we began our climb up the mountain. The terrain was very muddy, slippery and filled with obstacles. We were hiking into dense jungle. Trackers are in charge of locating the gorilla families in advance and therefore our guide knew exactly where to lead us. After about an hour of hiking, we had arrived. We could not believe that we were standing within 8 feet of these wild animals. The family that my group visited consisted of 8 gorillas with 2 babies. Every family is lead by one head male whose size is simply unbelievable. The 250 kg of pure muscle were awe-inspiring and also slightly intimidating, especially when the gorilla was walking straight towards us. The guides knew exactly how to behave and were even able to communicate with the gorillas by imitating their sounds of aggression and peace. The babies were a special treat! Ranging from 1-3 years old, the young gorillas were behaving just like human siblings. They fought, played, climbed, fell, and teased their elders. The hour that we spent looking at the gorillas from such close proximity seemed to fly by. Walking back down the mountain, all we could think about was the amazing and unforgettable experience we had just had.

On Wednesday night, we also had the pleasure of being invited to the US Ambassador’s house for a small pre-dinner reception. We spent an hour talking about our experience in Rwanda and hearing about the ambassador’s take on the country’s history and future.

We will remain in Kigali until Saturday, exploring the city and making sure to enjoy our final few days in Rwanda!

 

 

A Quick Update from Kigali

by Jeff:

This morning we said our final goodbyes at Agahozo and boarded the bus for the second half of our trip. Departing ASYV was difficult for many of us: Over the course of the week we had grown close to certain students. And though we exchanged email addresses, explaining that we were leaving after such a short time wasn’t easy.

From ASYV we headed East to Akagera National Park for a morning game drive. Bordering Tanzania, Akagera is a truly beautiful reserve, even if it doesn’t have the wildlife of Kenya or South Africa. During our three hours in the park we saw an enormous herd of Cape Buffalo, a family of Giraffes, countless Baboons, and 3 or 4 different species of Antelopes. Before leaving, we stopped for lunch at the top of a hill overlooking Rwanda’s second largest lake. We arrived in Kigali in the mid-afternoon and took a few hours to rest before dinner at an upscale place a few minutes down the road from our hotel. We were all pretty thrilled to find foods like pizza and steak for the first time since arriving in Rwanda.

Tomorrow morning we’re off to Gisenyi in the West part of the country where we’ll hopefully get some time to relax by Lake Kivu.

That’s all for now. Over the course of the week we’ll do our best to keep you posted about the day’s events, but we also want to try to post more about our time at Agahozo and use this as a space to reflect on what the experience meant to us. Thanks again for all your support.

Market Day in Rubona

by Daniel:

This morning, we walked over to the market in Rubona, the town closest to ASYV.  We were warned on the way over that this is not a tourist market, so the locals would be intrigued by us to say the least.  Even on the walk over, we were getting stared at pretty intensely.  Fortunately, most of us had picked up 0n the basic greetings over the course of the week; as soon as you said “Good morning” in kinyarwanda (mwaramutse), the mezmerized stares broke into smiles, as they realized that despite the tone of our skin, we’re still people.

When we got to the market, we split up and combed through the various food sections. Most of us had our first samosas and sat down for cold sodas at the town bar. We also picked up avocados, pineapples, and mangos, which were turned into a delicious bowl of guacamole in the afternoon. Some decided to break out their bargaining skills, but the savings or tourist markups we were facing generally amounted to 5 or 10 cents, so most chose a more passive approach.

Katie at the samosa stand buying tiny hot peppers for our guacamole.

Bags of fruit in tow, we walked back to ASYV, and happened to time our departure perfectly with a recess at the town’s primary school, so we had over 100 kids hanging out on the street as we walked back.  It was amusing to watch how their reactions to us varied with age: the youngest ran up shouting “good morning,” showing off their English.  The slightly older ones were a bit more timid, staring, but not speaking. The oldest had evidently had a bit more experience — they playfully shouted “give me money.”

After the market we returned to our worksite, and, with quite a bit of help from the masons and carpenters, basically finished our construction project. Tomorrow we’ll put a small plaque on the tree we planted and finish laying the gravel path around the garden (after a 6am run with the entire village).

Thursday- March 11 2011

Today we planned on finishing the majority of our construction project, i.e. the tin roof, cement floor and the garden. However, an hour into our workday, we experienced an introduction to the rainy season that hindered our construction project, but allowed for quality group bonding over childhood camp games, such as “Mafia” (Maddie & Dan were bosses.)

The real highlight of our day, though, was an inspiring lunchtime conversation. Throughout the week so far, we have been facing a variety of culture and language barriers with the students that sometimes limit the depth of our interactions and conversations. Many students have recently begun learning English and lack confidence and basic language comprehension. In addition, the difference in pronunciation and accents still cause awkward silences that disrupt the natural flow of conversation.

This afternoon lunch began as usual, but the conversation that developed was unlike any other conversations we’ve had so far at the village. What began as simple curiosity about Wan Joo’s name turned into an hour-long exchange of key phrases in six different languages. Between the seven of us at the table, we spoke Kinyarwanda (the common language spoken throughout the country), Mandarin, Portuguese, Spanish, French (the former primary educational medium of Rwanda) and English (the current primary educational medium). The ability to converse in all these different languages, even though we were only covering very basic terms like “hello” and “how are you”, fascinated us. The students were quick to learn Portuguese, Spanish and Mandarin, while we were slower on the uptake when it came to learning Kinyarwanda and French. At the end of lunch, the students made a list of all the phrases in the new languages that they learned, and insisted we sit together again at dinner to continue this language exchange.

What was really awesome about our mealtime conversations today was that we ‘re all from different backgrounds but also are learning so much from each other. This was a really great example of mutual learning that happens between our group and the kids here at the village, and we hope to continue having these kinds of experiences for the rest of our time at ASYV.

Cole and Wanjoo

Celebrating International Women’s Day in Rwanda

by Diana Saverin:

It is international women’s day, and in the small village of Rubona–a 20 minute walk from Agahozo-Shalom–the weekly market closed for the holiday. The top local news was the need to educate women. At ASYV, the whole school took the afternoon off for a three-hour celebration of women. The students marched across the paths of the campus in a montage of brightly colored t-shirts, beating drums, singing songs, and holding hand-made posters with slogans of appreciation for the amazing women in their lives and around the world.

When they arrived in the dining hall, cheers echoed off the walls right up until the ceremony began. Over the course of the afternoon, the stage held different acts. Some women performed traditional dance, another read a poem she wrote. Two students demonstrated how women can defend themselves with a display of karate against “attackers.” The hosts gave a speech on the value of women and the importance of this day; sometimes I could barely catch the translation because the students were cheering so loudly in response to what they were saying, even the appraisals of female patience made the room shake. A woman police officer and a local mayor spoke about opportunities for women in Rwanda, and a group of mothers dressed up to sing and dance on the stage.

It wasn’t a complex message: women are equal. We should celebrate them. But the sheer force of it—the discussions, the dancing, the unanimous support—was quite impressive. I can’t imagine my high school putting on such an event, let alone one that would receive such celebration.

The students here face a multitude of challenges. Beyond the trauma they continue to confront, opportunities such as attending university are muddled with questions of financial feasibility, national exams, and language barriers. But today gave me hope for many of their futures. I know little about the status of women on Rwanda, beyond the impressive 50% stake they hold in the Rwandan Parliament (shaming the US Congress’ 16.6% female make-up). I do know that today’s emphasis and effort highlighted a movement working towards equality and empowerment, and I hope it helps provide the students here with the futures they dream of.

“Turi Kumwe”

By Zachary Enumah:

In Kinyarwanda, the language of Rwanda, “turi kumwe” translates to “We are together.”

Throughout the day of physical labor, discussions, and individual conversations, I felt that in so many ways “We” were together. By that, I felt that today was the second day of interacting with the students here, as well as starting our service project.

Our project is to build and renovate a space (8 meters x 6 meters) where a carpentry workshop and class can be held, tools can be stored, and projects for the school (e.g. building cabinets for the science center/family houses) can be completed. In addition to this space (which will resemble an open walled building), we will be creating/planting a garden that will be adjacent to this carpentry building.

To be quite honest, before we arrived, I was unsure what to expect from the service project. I came to Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village last year with the Reach Out group, and we spent our time constructing and placing water cisterns to collect rain water. A couple of weeks before our trip here, we heard that we would be renovating a building where they hope to teach carpentry. One of the Village’s goals is to empower students here with vocational skills that will aid them in securing jobs and security in the years after they graduate. When we met this morning to discuss the project, they gave us more details (as started above) and said the project was ours to direct.

It was really amazing to witness how our group worked so cohesively, with each person stepping up to take on leadership roles (props to Raffi for leading/directing us into groups and to Dan for working with an engineer on the layout of the building, and everyone willing to help each other with whatever task they had. Today, we hoed the patch for the garden and moved a huge stack of bricks (Katie and Isobel held down the fort here), but ran into a minor setback of finding an ENORMOUS hole in the ground (formerly a bathroom space), and so had to spend time breaking concrete (shout outs to John) by using a sledgehammer.

I got into it too, after a lesson from John.

While this was happening, several students went up to a “forest” area behind the school (about 1.5 km) to cut down trees to use for the support of our roof. I wasn’t personally there, but after hearing the words of  a few people that went up there (Jeff, Cole, Raffi, Clemantine, Liza, Maddie, Ariel, and Diana), it seemed like a rewarding experience. We still have several more to bring down tomorrow.

After some of us finished breaking the cement and wood, we began digging the holes in the spots that Dan had worked to figure out. Sophia and Wan Joo stepped up to dig and dig while John, Dan, Katie, Sam, and I also starting digging and clearing the holes. We maybe finished digging 40% of them, so we have our work cut out for us with this task (and bringing other wood from behind the school) for tomorrow. Overall, I would say today was accomplishment.

Hole digging

On a more interactive level, we sit down each day for discussions (about a specific topic and “Thorns and Roses” (highs and lows) of each day). Today we talked about what our expectations were prior to the trip, if they have been met, and if they have changed at all. At night, we sat down with the director to discuss Agahozo’s philosophy and then talk about our “thorns and roses” of today.We are all getting to know the students more and more each day during meal times and extracurriculars. For example, today people went to various programs like modern art, traditional art, dance, customer care, photography, sewing, cooking, and others.

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day because we have a meeting with the Village staff, a special International Women’s Day event, construction work, and a party with the staff at night. Everyone seems to still be in very high spirits, even with the jet lag.

On a final note, I’d just like to express a communal feeling of gratitude on behalf of everyone in this trip. The group dynamic has been rewarding in unique ways, and I truly look forward to the next 12 days here in Rwanda. Everyone is very thankful for the opportunity to be here.

That’s it for now. Thanks for reading and for all the support.

Turi Kumwe.