Chin-ups & Frisbee

10/5/10: The first day with the group to be trained as peer counselors (after their own trauma healing). During their morning dancing our pictures show more orbs than I have ever seen, even in the movie about orbs. The dancing is pure joy, with students spontaneously drumming, starting a new song, making up moves together, and laughing. These are first & second year high school students. The youngest was 17 & the oldest 23. They are aware that they have missed many of life’s opportunities. By the end of the day, more than half of them said the most important meaning of the day was that they now had hope for their future. Like the older students, they listed as their biggest problems lack of materials, including no television, no internet, only 2 dictionaries for 500 students, no physical education, no recreational program or equipment, the remote location with nothing to do & no experience with life outside of villages. They also talked about loneliness, having no family and no house to go to, having to take care of younger children with no support from family, government or friends because their friends are just as poor. They worry about school fees & if the government will pay because they have no other source of income. They talked about how the trauma makes problems in relationships at school & makes it hard to concentrate & learn. There are 10 teacher/parent/counselors for 500 students, with one matron for the girls’ dorm & one patron for the boys’ dorm. Their dedication is amazing. Because of all the visitors, they ran out of toilet paper for the outhouse (a hole in the ground with a leaky-roofed shelter built over it). They will not be able to get any more until next week.

We saw the cow & goats provided by a donor. The goats are problematic because the school doesn’t have enough money to build a fence strong enough to keep the goats in, & they are easily stolen. Cows are better as they can provide milk & cannot get through the stick fence & can be easily tethered. Fortunately, the goats can be traded for 2 cows. We talked to Rev. Thoms about protein for breakfast before tests. There is not money for meat, eggs, avocados or nuts. There is no refrigerator for cheese or a supply of milk. They eat mostly potatoes, rice, bananas, onions, cassava, & bread & pasta. There sometimes are tomatoes, carrots & lettuce or cabbage. I had no idea of what real poverty means. It is amazing to me how these people work together, men & women, building rock aqueducts, sweeping red dirt every day, tilling soil with sharpened sticks, building homes out of eucalyptus branches & red dirt adobe, pulling weeds & harvesting on 45 degree or more slopes, carrying water & firewood on their heads starting at very young ages, walking barefoot on rocky roads for miles to get basic supplies, etc. Yet most of them smile broadly & wave at the Mazungas (rich white people). We have seen a total of 2 other Mazungas during our 6 days here.

Again, these students were so eager to learn. The government has just decreed that the official language of Rwanda will be English, so all of the teachers & students have to switch from French to English (Kinyarwandan is spoken in primary schools only). Of all the fun physical & game-like activities we did, the one they spoke of most as valuable to them was learning how to listen to their traumatized friends. Chris brought a Frisbee & taught them to use it. During lunch they played (only boys) in a lumpy field with the goats. Chris also found a pole that could be used for chin-ups & demonstrated that. None of the students had any idea how to do them. We end the day with such love, joy & gratitude in our hearts for these courageous, loving young people. They constantly tell us how much they appreciate what we are bringing to them.