Recently there have been a couple of nice articles about Rwanda. Such remarkable story. The November National Geographic is all about women. The article about Rwanda highlights the remarkable restructuring of women’s role in the country and highlights how the percentage of women in government is the highest, by far, of any country in the…
They Committed Genocide. Their Neighbors Welcomed Them Home By Hollie Nyseth Brehm and Laura C. Frizzell April 24, 2019 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/24/opinion/rwanda-genocide.html Twenty-five years after they participated in one of the world’s most atrocious instances of mass violence, their experiences in Rwanda show that peace and reconciliation are possible. What happens when hundreds of thousands of people who committed genocide…
We weren’t able to post-test our cohort 1 teachers in December when their school year ended. Post-testing had to wait until after we ran the November-February summer training. Still, after two month off from school and DISE instruction, they had great scores. Our newly trained DISE instructors did a great job!
Over the last four years, we’ve spent about eight months living in Rwanda—time to pretty much know what to expect, right? No. There always seems to be those “I didn’t see that coming” moments, those jack-in-the-box surprises when you get gobsmacked with the reality of living in Africa. Commercial rental cars in Rwanda are ridiculously…
Third month away from home. Two months in Rwanda, 4th or 5th trip here. At times feels like a second home. We now know the rules of the road, how to barter, who to call when the need arises, where to buy the best bread, the cheapest and freshest vegetables, how long it will really…
Managing this project feels like standing under a hailstorm of confetti that you use to create a puzzle, an elaborate, multidimensional puzzle, each piece a critical part of the bigger picture. Each, a tiny detail that must be picked up, examined, discussed, assigned, and double checked to ensure that it is where it must be…
It’s 4am-ish and we’ve been up sharpening our pencils, reviewing the minutia of the upcoming day. When you run a project alone, you do everything; attendance, schlepping computers, chargers, cable (my god, the cables), sharpening pencils, charging computers, arranging to pay for tea and snacks, transporting teachers, getting money, which requires multiple trips to the…
Wednesday evening. We have had a great week. Everything is up and running, routines in place, teachers learning English, instructors teaching English and some newbies learning how to teach English. Feeling a modicum of satisfaction. Right now, it is raining ferociously. Hammering down. It’s like standing under a waterfall. We are on the second floor…
Monday. A donor’s promised 10K just disappeared. In a flash it was gone and so were the expansions into the local community of Nyamata and for about 300 6thgrade kids in two schools. We have the mayor’s blessing and a venue. It was a go. Was a go. The kids need the English to get…
The plan is to stay healthy, which is much easier said than done. Something as simple as not washing my hands after a meeting can mean eye and skin infections. It seems I touch my face often. At meetings, hand shakes all around, in fact, all social interactions begin with a handshake. And every encounter…
