TOP: Dancers. Notice the lights in an unlit room.BOTTOM: Our teacher/interpreter Christian, myself, Lori, Rev. Thoms, School Board President, Member, & Director of Social Programs for the district.
10/2/10: What an amazing day! I have never felt so welcomed in my life. The students were celebrating our arrival & the 5th anniversary of the creation of their association for genocide survivors. They had decorated with tree branches & toilet paper (a scarce commodity & the only thing they have—no crepe paper). Many local officials were there including the head of the school board (they call it something different) & the mayor of the district which is more like our governors. He gave a wonderful speech (everything is translated, of course) about the new Rwanda, that the government was completely committed to protecting all of its citizens, & even quoted the Bible. He thanked us profusely for what Project LIGHT has done to take a school from the brink of closing due to trauma incidents & lack of ability to educate, to a school with no discipline problems & successful student leaders. The country has a slogan: when a government official says, “Peace,” the people respond, “Tolerance, Reconciliation, Prosperity & Unity.” Can you imagine how that would go over in some parts of our country? The energy of the students was so loving & genuine. They are so excited to have Lori back. The students Lori has taught the trauma healing tools to before have not only taught other students at the school (there are 500), but have gone to other schools with survivors & taught them.
Lori brought gifts from the students at Pacific Grove Middle School (yarn bracelets) with a beautiful letter about being connected in heart. The students sang (beautiful harmony), danced (so graceful) & put on humorous skits. At the end of the dance the students came up & got all of the people on the stage to come dance w/ them—I copied what they were doing & was a hit. We were treated to a special lunch with meat (they have it 3 times a year) & hard-boiled eggs (a few times a year). It was very flavorful. Two young men, one a recent graduate & one a teacher at a neighboring school, tried to get me involved in either sponsoring them to come to the U.S. or giving them money. I was surprised that people dressed in suits with jobs were the ones who saw me as a meal ticket.
The ride up was 1.5 hours, mostly red dirt & rock roads with ruts & potholes several feet deep. The driver was a magician to get us there. I am blowing red dust out of my nose. We passed several villages & one where the market was in session. It is just like the pictures you see: women in colorful wrapped dresses, carrying all kinds of things on their heads from whole banana stalks to big water jugs to a suitcase. Babies are in slings on their backs. The terraced green hills & valleys are lushly beautiful. People do not expect many cars (all 4-wheel drives) on the roads & often completely clog them. The children love to be waved at by a “mazunga” (a rich white person).
I am exhausted, but so grateful & inspired & happy. Tomorrow we go to Sunday services at the school & do more exploring of options for how to help them.
No comments:
Post a Comment