A shamefully late update from Rwanda

I apologize for the lack of updates while here in Rwanda but my access to internet is limited and when I get it I'm typically busy typing my scholar's blogs, doing my reporting for ThinkImpact and trying to stay in the loop with news and Facebook. I look forward to putting something together to cover the eight weeks of the program when I return stateside but I'll give a quick summary to tide you all over and there are scholars blogs, photos and updates on the ThinkImpact webpage (www.thinkimpact.com).


The Institute focuses on social entrepreneurship, innovation, design thinking and sustainability so scholars go through several stages (Mind, Immerse, Inspire, Innovate and Shift) as they get to know their community and work with a local design team. Six weeks in, we are progressing through Innovate and the design teams are hard at work establishing their product/service/business idea and starting to prototype. My eight rock star scholars in Nyarubuye ended up creating five design teams and each is focused on a different idea. Mariah is working alone with a mostly female team to create peanut oil to sell in the community while Alison and Rachel have joined forces to create "Team Sass" and tackle the issue of clothing availability by opening a clothing boutique. Brian and Ed's team chose to try growing mushrooms, Karelle and Julia are examining the cooking experience and trying to develop a more efficient fuel source of the cook fires and Vincent's design team will be starting a vegetable garden/nursery in an attempt to provide a variety of veggies all year round. So with two weeks left, they scholars are trying to get a solid team set up with a sustainable project so that work will continue even after we leave.

As an advisor, my role in this process is to lead the scholars through a series of workshops to prepare them for design team work, facilitating guided discussions and reflection sessions, serving as their connection to the country staff and ThinkImpact staff and generally acting as a sounding board/counselor/teacher when they need assistance or just a friendly ear. As a group, we meet at least once a day to go over logistics and curriculum and I have weekly one-on-ones with each scholar. My day-to-day schedule varies a lot but I'm always busy and generally go to bed exhausted. I hit the jackpot with my fellow staff members, especially the other two advisors, but that group deserves it's own post when I can properly focus.

The past two weekends have been spent on excursions (last weekend on safari in Akagera National Park and the past two days at a picturesque resort on Lake Kivu not far from the DRC border) and were a much needed break from the community. And now, we're sitting at Bourbon Coffee in Kigali giving the scholars some research time before we all head home. With just two weeks left in the program, I'll be staying out in Rwamagana District until we reconvene in Kigali for our closing activities on August 12th.

It has been quite the experience thus far and I' ve found yet another potential living abroad option here in Rwanda. This beautiful country has found a special place in my heart and I look forward to sharing my stories and experience with anyone who will listen!  

Change

*I wrote this back in February on how I was adjusting. Sorry it took so long to post*

There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unchanged to find the ways in which you yourself have altered.

-Nelson Mandela, 'A Long Walk to Freedom'

I’ve been putting off writing this blog for a good long time now. I arrived back in Colorado two months ago and have tried to start multiple times but am continuously distracted by the wonders of high speed internet, movies and good craft beers. But I’ve done a lot of “reflecting” the past couple weeks and think I may be ready to put my thoughts and emotions into concrete words. So I’m going to try and we’ll see what I produce.

Leaving Dombe, and ultimately Mozambique, was tough. Overall I felt ready to go and was happy to be finishing the school year but actually getting on the chapa for that final trip through the mountains was surprisingly emotional. One of the last national exams was underway that morning and as Mona and I ran to the road with what was left of our possessions on our backs, proctoring teachers waved goodbye from their classroom doors and I caught sight of a few kids watching from a neighbor’s quintal. We barely spoke on that three hour ride, both of us fighting back tears and headphones firmly in our ears, but by then I feel like Mona and I had figured out how to gauge the others state of emotion. Really no words were needed. It helped knowing someone else knew how I felt.

Chimoio and Maputo were blurry with final adventures, teary goodbyes and a fair number of Manicas. My two years of service were ending and a part of me felt like I had just arrived. As I hopped around outside Marika’s office, anxiously waiting to get my final signature and that sought after ‘R’ (I would then be an RPCV or Returned Peace Corp Volunteer), I began to allow myself to look forward to what was happening next – Cape Town, Greece and ultimately Americaland!  And those trips were incredible. The final days of Peace Corp-esque life in Cape Town with wine tours, great white shark diving, hiking and daily happy hours. The history and pure astonishment at every site in Greece and the time spent catching up with family over glasses of wine and Greek specialties. But I was ready to be back in the States with a few luxuries, my friends and my car.

So now it’s February and I’ve had all the foods I had been missing, caught up with friends around town and with those more distant on Skype and that fancy gchat thing, got a well-paying although mindless job and am saving money for my next big adventure. But lately I feel like something is missing. So many of the amazing things in America that I dreamed of from my little bed in Dombe have lost their shine. Day to day life over there was often repetitive and could be tedious but the little challenges and unexpected tasks kept me on my toes. And looking back, even the small annoyances I complained about were charming in a way - a neighbor child telling me I was cooking my beans incorrectly, a student knocking on my door at 7am with a homework question and even hand washing my laundry. Now you may be thinking that those things are charming now that I’m away from them and you’d probably be right. I think what I’m missing is the simplicity of it all. Two years of that quiet, straightforward life left me unprepared for the constant hustle and bustle of the U.S. and it’s starting to take a toll on my psyche. The things I thought were so important before just don’t seem as necessary now. And with the tragic flooding happening over in Moz, where over 200,000 people are displaced without clean drinking water or proper medical care, I’ve been getting more fed up with the greediness and materialism I see so often here. I’m not innocent of this charge myself but what I saw throughout Mozambique has given me a perspective too few people here understand.

I’m happy to be home with my family and friends, don’t get me wrong, but when left alone with my thoughts I often feel disheartened. The last two years have been about service and to some degree personal sacrifice. I wasn’t exactly saving the world but I was there to help my students and community by bringing them skills, opportunities and knowledge. I felt like I had a greater purpose, that my work was meaningful. My current job is mindless and thankfully temporary. It is what I need right now – good pay, flexible schedule, nice coworkers – but it’s not exactly benefitting anyone nor it is mental stimulating or getting me any closer to a more permanent work situation. The idea of suffering through a job I hate just to make money doesn’t sound like a future I want. So I’m looking into opportunities abroad that focus on service, sustainability, environmental awareness and social entrepreneurship. And in the meantime I’ll be spending the summer back in Africa working for an amazing Denver-based company with similar ideals.

 

**And now I'm here in Rwanda with ThinkImpact. More to come!**

I'll be boarding the plane to Addis Ababa in a few minutes and landing in Kigali, Rwanda tomorrow morning to start my summer with ThinkImpact and I realized I never posted anything after getting back from Mozambique. So as I start this new adventure, here is a look back at my adjustment to Americaland and my thoughts on my Peace Corps experience using an excerpt from an e-mail (I'll try to upload a blog attempt from several months ago next time I have a chance):


"I doubt I’ll ever be able to fully describe what it all meant to someone who hasn’t done a similar experience but I’ve been trying. First off, it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life. I kind of thought my experiences moving for college, grad school and Don Lee would have prepared me but nothing in this country truly could have. I cried – more than I probably ever have – over small things, big things, sad events, and beautiful moments. I had strange injuries and wounds and ended up with some cool scars with great stories behind them.  I learned how to simply “be”. How to be silent and still bond with strangers. How to sit and do absolutely nothing and how to clear my mind of all the worries and struggles and enjoy whatever was in front of me. I learned that I need very little in life to be happy and that material goods are often more trouble than they are worth. I was reminded that playing with little kids is the perfect stress reliever after a frustrating day of work and that a simple smile from an appreciative neighbor is enough to make my day.  I managed to learn a new language in nine weeks and had my creativity tested while trying to describe genetics and evolution to tenth graders. Seeing that light bulb of understanding flash in a student’s eye was one of the most fulfill things I’ve ever experienced. I got to go on safaris and see the most beautiful sunsets over African savannas. I saw monkeys on a weekly basis, got chased by a bull, attacked by a baboon and got one step closer to overcoming my ridiculous phobia of spiders. I found a second family among people I didn’t even know existed 2 ½ years ago and shared more details about my life with these “government-issued friends” than with anyone else before. I helped my students, my neighbors and my community but really I got more out of this time than anything else. It’s something you’re told when getting ready to go but you don’t really understand what it means until you finish.  A blog written by a Cambodia PCV was recently passed around and one of the most profound things she said is that “You will become a stronger person for yourself, by yourself” (check out this piece because it describes life well: http://thesharpiemarkerapproach.tumblr.com/post/42420977797/an-open-letter). We had each other to get through the big stuff but sometimes you’re on your own and you alone have to figure out what to do next or how to survive whatever the world throws at you. Like I said, it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done but it was truly the most rewarding and worthwhile things as well."

More to come from my adjustment after Moz and what I'm up to in Rwanda!