Amazing Kids

10/4/10: Our first day teaching the kids! I am so impressed with these young people. We worked with the 86 students in the senior 6 class—those who have to pass the government test in November or be denied entrance to a university which means virtually no options for work. We always start with high energy singing & dancing that they lead. They then began by telling us their concerns about the test. They have no materials to learn from (only a few maps for geography, not enough text books, no internet, only one ancient television & computer, & very, very few books in the library). They talked about how hard it was to learn about things they had no experience with at all, having never been out of Rwanda or just across its borders. They talked about how they freeze up on tests because of the pressure they feel to succeed & their belief that they do not know anything. They also freeze due to the fact that the test proctors are either police or military & it brings back fears from what they experienced in the genocide. They leaned forward in their seats & intensely listened to everything offered. They are hungry to learn. They laugh at awkward attempts at new skills & help one another & keep trying. Some students are triggered by exercises that quiet the mind & allow emotions. They ask what to do to help themselves, not to be “fixed.” There are so many needs it is mind-boggling. I include pictures of their entire library.

We experienced our first African rain today. It lasted about 45 minutes of such hard driving rain on the metal roof that it was impossible to hear the person next to you, let alone teach. It came down in sheets, & the temperature cooled about 10 degrees, but still pleasant. Afterward the red dust became red clay & stuck to everything, but I didn’t have to cover my nose & look like a Muslim on the ride home because the dust was settled. We are back, having a delicious dinner, planning for tomorrow with the 50 student leaders we are going to train in energy psychology & peer counseling. I think sleep will come easily tonight.

TIA (This is Africa)

10/3/10: An amazing, adventurous, heart-touching day. We loaded in a van with 20 people (many choir members from Kigali) & arrived at the school in time for Sunday services. Besides the students, there were neighbors, former students & the choir. The Bishop of the regional church gave the longest sermon—there were 4 others. We had an interpreter for part of it. The singing was so full of uplifting energy & joy, and there were 3 parts where people got up & danced. It was 4 hours long. We again had a celebratory lunch with chicken. Rev. Thoms mentioned how grateful the students should be for having 2 feasts in 2 days thanks to the Americans (we pay for all of their food while we are there).

A former student who was class president & an outstanding young man was there. He did not pass his senior 6 exam. He basically has no future, as there are no training programs & almost no jobs. He has no permanent place to live. He is the type of student that Project LIGHT Rwanda is meant to help. Another former student got up to do a special presentation. He graduated last year & passed his test. Two years ago he was having many problems (from trauma) & was one of the students in Lori’s trauma healing training group. He had not been able to study or pass any tests. He promised if he passed the test the next year he would buy a goat & give it to one of the students left at the school. He brought his goat today to give away. They have never heard of pay it forward. There is so much they have never heard of. I will take pictures of their library—two 6’ x 8’ book shelves that are far from full for 500 students. No internet & one computer. There is still no electricity in the dorms or dining hall. Through all of this they are the friendliest, most loving, compassionate young people I have ever met. Their hugs are totally genuine. They call me “Mama Kathryn” & can’t wait to carry my things & be sure I have water, etc.

We have a new signal: TIA—it means “This is Africa”. We say it when 30 minutes turns into 75 & 3 hours into over 4, & 20 people in a 14-person van, & for our experience coming home today. The roads are indescribable & the bridges (one lane) are big logs placed vertically between the two side of the stream or gulch. We round a curve & see a ½=ton Toyota truck with 6’ tall stick sides full of big cabbages & it has broken one of the logs & it’s back tire is wedged between logs with the fender resting on one log. It isn’t moving! As the African women tell us is typical, the men are just standing around looking at it & saying, “Hmmm.” Christopher (with us—a muzunga) suggests they remove some cabbages. They put the tarp down & start throwing the cabbages to the tarp where they split. He again suggests they toss the cabbages to the men on the ground which they do. Then he just climbs up on the truck so there is more than one man throwing them down. Lori is expecting a miracle. The truck isn’t budging with what they are trying, but they finally figure out to rock it back & forth until the tire comes up high enough they can push hard enough to let it drive away. Most of us walk across the logs & let the vans drive over without their overload. We make it back hungry, tired, & very stuffed up due to the red dirt, but very happy.

Celebration in Rwanda

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 5^th 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.

10/2/10: What an amazing day! I have never felt so welcomed in my life. The students were celebrating our arrival & the 5^th 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 “mashiga” (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.

The dancers. Notice what appears to be on the walls, etc. in an unlit room.

In this picture is the teacher/interpreter Christian, myself, Lori, Rev. Thoms, School Board President, member, & Director of Social Programs for the District.

Africa Time

10/1/10:

Slept well, and needed to. I saw that I repeated myself last night. I write notes in Word & then copy & paste here since you can never count on how long the internet will stay up. I obviously wasn't very focused.

Sleeping under mosquito netting is like being in a princess bed. The energy feels fresh & deep here. The hills are covered with adobe small houses, red dirt & a few trees. The American Embassy stands out immediately as being the largest & whitest building in this part of town. Breakfast was great with veggie omelet, African tea (like Chi), banana & something like a passion fruit (we didn’t eat the peeling).

We had our first example of Africa time—last night Ben had said we would all meet this afternoon. Rev. Thoms came at 10:15 AM with Lori still in wet hair. We ate breakfast at the meeting & she participated, complete with video, as she was. I learned that you do not brainstorm while using a translator. Be specific & concise or they get lost. All of the people I have met so far really want to cooperate & please us. Lori informs me that is not always the case here. I think part of the difference is that we make it so clear we want to hear what they need, not just impose our agenda.

Rev. Thoms was obviously moved by the gift of the computer, & amazed & excited about Skyping. There are many reasons his students do not do well on tests—almost no books & materials, no internet & only one computer, constant emotional reminders of their trauma, & having no schooling at all for the year of the genocide. If the seniors in high school do not pass the state tests, they cannot go to a university, they cannot continue to live at the orphanage & there is usually no work for them. They end up on the streets. In the past only 10% of them passed. We are going to work to do as much as we can in a week to improve their chances, and to set up more help at the school for future seniors. The Center we are creating is intended to fill the gap for those orphans who do not go on to a university. By the way, students at universities have to learn everything in both French & English.

One thing about Africa—there are many opportunities to be reminded about what we have to appreciate in the US. It takes two minutes to delete more than one e-mail & you never know when you are going to lose the internet altogether.

We met with Ben in the afternoon & he told of his sister-in-law & her severe problems due to PTSD from the genocide. She is not an orphan, but the whole family has issues that make their lives difficult which are directly a result of the trauma. He said there are so few counselors here that no one even thinks of getting help—there’s no one to give it. The churches are the main treatment centers. We go tomorrow to the mountain orphanage with Rev. Thoms for a celebration. I can’t wait to report on that.

I am here! I have never had such a warm welcome. There were 6 men & 3 women who met us at the airport, all speaking some English & most speaking English well. It is a clear, balmy night of about 80. These people are so open—they know Lori, or course, but also to me. The motel is clean, charming, with a fantastic view overlooking the city. The room is very small, but sparkling clean with lots of storage, a hand-held shower, & a cafe that you custom order 30 minutes before you want to eat. The driver, Ben, told about his wife going through the genocide & she was pregnant. The baby was born a month early because of her stress & while she was in an attic hiding. Her husband was killed. Ben also went through it, but he didn’t tell me his story yet. The country has made changes just since Lori was here last January, making it easier to start a business, buy property, get credit, etc. Roads are improved, although the last couple of miles to the motel were red dirt with huge ruts & potholes that Ben had to skillfully dodge. I would hate to navigate it in the mud. We may get to find out how that is.

I am exhausted, but excited & not quite ready for sleep. It has been 30 hours since we left the L.A. hotel & I got about 3 hours sleep from Brussels to Kigali. The flight from Chicago to Brussels was in a plane with no leg room & narrow seats & 250 packed in. That plus crossing 9 time zones had my body crawling out of its skin. I had kept up with the first 3 time zones using Dona Eden’s acupressure points jet lag energy system, but the next points were on the feet & legs & there was no room to move. When I finally bit the bullet & sat in the restroom & caught up on all the points, I immediately felt better.

We have had some anxious moments with jet-ways not operating, security staff strikes, etc., but every problem there was someone who went out of their way to solve our problem & the plane to Kigali waited for us. Brussels Air is amazing, serving gourmet food & snacks during the whole flight & very comfortable seating. It's been over 30 hours since we left the hotel in L.A. w/ about 3 hours sleep, so I'm ready to crash now--I hope I'm coherent. A happy good night.

Reports from Rwanda

Muraho! ("Hello" in Kinyarwandan). It warms my heart so much to know how many of you are pulling for me to have a safe, exciting, fulfilling trip to Rwanda. So for any of you who are interested, I am planning on blogging from Kigali (when the electricity is on) about my experience there. You are welcome to come along! Murakoze (thank you) for your kind thoughts and support. In case you don't know where Rwanda is (as I didn't before I signed up to go), it is south of Uganda (which is south of Sudan), west of Tanzania & Lake Victoria (which is west of Kenya) and east of the Congo. It is only about the size of Maryland with both rocky mountains & rain forest mountains where the gorillas live. The capital, Kigali, is a large city of about 1 million. It operates on "Africa time" which is slower than Hawaiian time. When someone says they will meet you at 3:00, they mean anywhere from noon to 6:00. I don't know how that can work, but I will be finding out. More after the 25-hour plane flight & I get my bearings. I will be using Dona Eden's Energy Medicine method for re-calibrating my body to the 9-hour time difference. I'll see how that works.