Heroes Day

A beautiful view in the Village. 

     The day started off pretty rough. I woke up early with enough time to do laundry, eat breakfast and get ready for the day. I went to the Administration building to meet with Natan and Parisien at 9 AM sharp, only to find that they were not there. After contacting Natan, I decided to wait in my room and relax until Parisien finally showed up. Forty-five minutes later, both Natan and Parisien were ready to start setting up. Frustrated by their insistence on me being at Administration at 9 AM, rather than 10 AM (which is what I suggested and what ended up happening), I began the day. We went around the Village setting up the different activities. By a chance of good luck, everything was set up and ready to go just in time for the day to begin.

The Spider Web. 

     We structured the day so there would be two hours of games, discussion and an art project, followed by an hour-long presentation. (The night before, over e-mail, we were told that the activities would now only be an hour and a half. With no time to adjust the activities, we had to wish that everything would run smoothly). Every set of four families was given a core value. The activity and discussion were based around the core value.

     I decided to start with my family and check in with other groups after I saw that my group was off to a solid start. I introduced the day to my group and then we split into two groups, Barrett leading one activity, me the other. At first I was concerned because the students did not seem to understand the activity that I was explaining. Luckily, one student understood and was able to translate to the rest of the group. At the beginning the students didn’t seem to be enjoying the game, but quickly they were loving in! It was really wonderful to see the students smiling and laughing.

Some girls listening intently to the discussion. 

     Once I saw that the activities were going smoothly without me, I went to visit two other groups. Both were doing well and the students seemed to be having fun. I was relieved to see that things were running alright.

     When the activities and discussions were done (most people didn’t get to the art project since there wasn’t enough time) we went to the dining hall for a presentation. What I thought would only take one hour ended up being two hours. Intended to be spoken solely in English, the entire presentation was spoken in Kinyarwanda…with no translations! The length of the presentation even pushed back lunch by an hour and a half. By the end of the lecture, I was livid. Luckily I was sitting next to Barrett and Jennifer who were also extremely frustrated, so I wasn’t alone. You can imagine that when the presentation was finally over, I was clapping with sheer joy!

Me with Christine (L) and Claudine (R). 

     Relieved that the day was over, I headed back to my room to relax. Still unsure of how I felt about the day, I was excited when a student came to my house to talk to me. The student, Emmanuel, asked if he could have a copy of the activities that I planned for the day. I readily gave him a copy and then asked why he wanted them. Voted Mr. Core Values of his grade, he said, “Maybe I will use the games in my family and to reinforce the ideas.” Hearing this made me realize that the day was a success. While it was stressful and frustrating at times, it meant a lot that a student had recognized the power of the programming and wanted to replicate it for furthering the development and progress of the Village.

     I must admit that I lowered by expectations for the day. If I was on camp standards, I would not have been happy with how the activities ran, but because I was working with staff and students that did not speak English in a culture that does not embrace informal education and discussion, I had to approach the day in a different way.

The contrast of new and old in upcoming Kigali. 

The house in Kiyovu (with a sign for my bank in the back). 

Another beautiful view in the Village.