Girl Power

The Peace Corps does a lot of wonderful things around the world in their global efforts to promote peace through action. Last week, I was lucky enough to participate in what I consider to be one of the most impactful projects Peace Corps sponsors:  GLOW (Girls Leading our World) camp.

GLOW was created over twenty years ago by three Peace Corps Volunteers based in Romania. Little did they know then the impact this leadership training would have in the years to come. Its importance has never been more needed than during these turbulent times of worldwide gender-based violence and discrimination, some of it (sadly) occurring in my own beloved home country, the United States.  No place or culture is exempt from the damage caused by men's desire to dominate and control the women in their lives.

GLOW camp in Kibungo lasted five days.  After a day of preparation and teacher training, the Peace Corps and Rwandan faculty welcomed fifty campers, each chosen from local groups of girls who wanted to attend the camp, by means of an essay competition around the theme  "Why I'd like to attend GLOW camp."  The girls were each assigned to one of eight "hero groups," each group named after an influential African woman known for promoting women's rights on the continent. The hero for my group was June Akinyi Arunga, a Kenyan woman who worked to break the bounds of poverty for her nation. She is a founding partner of Black Star Line SA, a technology solution provider focused on using cell phones to manage financial transactions such as payments and money transfers.  Each group also had a "tartan" that all of its campers and faculty proudly wore to proclaim their group's identity.

GLOW Camp -- Kibungo East December 20

For the next five days, campers and faculty were immersed in a variety of didactic courses including topics such as leadership and self-confidence; critical thinking and decision making; and societal and health issues including gender-based violence, consent vs coercion, alcoholism, and HIV/AIDS -- all topics that girls need to understand but are often neglected in both schools and families.   The courses took place in the morning, leaving the afternoon free for more traditional camp-like activities like arts and crafts, a three-legged race, a ball toss contest, a talent show, and lots of dancing.  We even had a debate with the very controversial resolution of "Should girls be expelled from school for being pregnant?"

Campers enjoying their first taste of s'mores

On the last night we had a good old-fashioned bonfire where we roasted marshmallows and made s'mores for the campers. They were enchanted and delighted with the whole process and it was wonderful to witness the discovery of the new taste sensation.

Armed with the skills and knowledge acquired during GLOW camp, and supported by ongoing Peace Corps mentorship the girls will return to their respective schools and start their own version of  GLOW. These young women have taken the first step in becoming leaders of their generation.

Please check out the Flickr album created with the many images captured during camp.

Spreading Peace Through Actions

Last Sunday, I celebrated American Thanksgiving in style in a small remote village in Rwanda. The village is called Karembo and is home to a Peace Corps educational volunteer who hosted the holiday feast. 

Byron trussing the ducks

I met Byron for the first time when he graciously agreed to be a judge for me at the English Club debate that I hosted at the school where I’m working a couple of weeks ago. He told me then he was planning a Thanksgiving get-together on Sunday, November 26^th and asked me to come.
 There were eight PCV’s (Peace Corps Volunteers) in attendance, representing only a small portion of Peace Corps’ largest distribution of volunteers in the Eastern district of Rwanda. (Rwanda is divided into four sections covering the all the compass points, i.e. north, south, west, and my section, east.)

Byron at the outside oven

Everyone worked hard all day adding his or her personal contribution to creating a familiar dish that related to the holiday. This was no easy task given the tools we had to work with to create our masterpiece meal.

Outside view of Byron's humble abode

Christine, her daughter and Esther peeling apples for the pie

Caroline peeling mountains of potatoes

Dish washing station manned by Chris

"Imbabura" or Rwandan Hibachi

There were ten of us in all for dinner, including Byron’s adopted Rwandan mother Christine and her husband Vincent. We made traditional American fare for the feast and Christine and her little girl sat next to me, and I watched with amazement as the two of them devoured a huge plate of food shared between.  

My contribution of guacamole and salsa

The menu included:

Guacamole with chips and salsa

Roasted Duck
Mashed potatoes
Green bean casserole
Stuffing
Steamed mixed vegetables
Fresh biscuits

Fresh pumpkin pie
Fresh apple pie
Fresh fruit salad

Truly a piece of art

Didace and Stephanie engaged to be married in 2018

Looking at everyone around the table as we all held hands in a thank-you prayer before “digging in,” I realized … this is truly what the mission of Peace Corps represents… spreading peace and friendship through actions just like these.  

A Lesson in Patience

In western countries people live by the clock. They have many watches but little time… In Africa, they have few watches and a lot of time – Anonymous

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I’m reminded, once again, of the passage of time. Living in Rwanda these past few months has given me a new perspective on the elusive notion of time.

In my previous career, I was driven by time and schedules. I consider myself to be a very punctual person … I don’t like being late, or waiting around for someone else who is late.

So Africa has been quite a shock for me. Time doesn’t really seem to matter here. It’s not unusual for someone to stroll in over an hour late to a meeting and think nothing of it.  It’s been both surprising and frustrating for me, and I'm not sure if I'll ever get used to it.. but I'm trying my best to make it a growth opportunity to see another side of taking your time...  as they say "When in Rome…"

Therefore, in the context of African time, it’s not surprising that my teaching started slowly here.  Originally, the staff was a little tentative about where to place me.  Everyone seemed to be focused on his or her own classroom. I have found most of the other instructors here to be dedicated and hard working, and while they are always courteous to me, there was also a reluctance to engage.  Conjecture suggests that their own English language skills made it hard for them to communicate any desire they might have for instruction or help in their own classroom.

So by default, I sequestered myself at my desk in the English Language lab where most of my daily conversations took place with the students, who in their unabashed teenaged style, didn’t care that their English was less than perfect.

With no courses to teach, I occupied my time with other endeavors.  Recognizing the need for conversational skills, my first project was to start an English Club.

After clearing all the necessary hurdles with the school Administration, I made signs to announce the once a week – every Wednesday – English club meeting that would take place. I visited classrooms to tell the students in person about the “Mizungo” who was here from Peace Corps to help build English conversational skills.  After two weeks of preparation and planning, the first English Club meeting time came … and no one showed up. I was heart-broken.  

Thankfully one of the English teachers who had agreed to help me with the first club meeting, went out and rounded up some of the students he knew and had them come to the meeting. I started with about 7 members.

First English club meeting

Since then the club has grown and I now have about 20 members that come with regularity. We’ve elected a president and a vice-president, and in a 

democratic fashion, we voted on topics that they wanted to learn how to speak about. Football (or soccer to us Americans) was at the top of their list. 

“Debate“ was a subject that came up in my research about different approaches to teaching English as a foreign language. It was a pleasant surprise when I saw how well the students took to the concept of debating topics from two sides of a controversial topic. At first it took me some time to find a topic they would find controversial – another lesson in cultural diversity – corporal punishment in the school system is widely accepted here, and it’s a male-dominated society, both in the home and in the work place.  So it was no surprise that my first two topics about corporal punishment in schools and possible conflicts between female roles in society vs the home – fell on deaf ears.

The topic that really got them started was “Love is better than money.” A topic they all agreed with initially, but when I told them they had to argue the other side… the kids finally started to think about it from a totally different angle. It was a wonderful teaching moment and from that moment forward, the Pandora box of debate was opened…

Fast forward six weeks and I find myself hosting the first English Club debate held at IPRC against a neighboring school, G.S. Kadare.  

The view from on stage at the debate

I had no idea when I started the whole project how nerve-wracking hosting a debate would be. The anxiety of not-being able to print the Certificates of Participation – an absolute requirement for all activities in Africa – because the printer was down, the pouring rain causing delays in the participants arrival, and no VIP guests as the principal had forgotten all about the debate and scheduled a very important meeting during the exact same time period, all contributed to a very stressful lead in to the actual event. But again, no one else was affected by the delays, and once I relaxed and realized it didn’t really matter if we started over an hour late, it was enjoyable ... we were in Africa after all.

Before debate "jitters"

Life here is hard.  Every day there are challenges that require patience – the printers that don’t work today and no one is sure when the technician will come to fix them – and cultural understanding – the IT guy who tells you the Internet company is coming to increase the bandwidth of the school and yet he’s not surprised when weeks later, the Internet provider still hasn’t shown up – and flexibility – the staff are still working on the lesson plans for a module that was supposed to start the previous week.

The two teams together at the end of the debate

However, in-between all the challenges are the successes that make it all worth it…  I am learning that patience is truly the key to keeping one’s sanity. It’s a tremendous growth experience for me … something the Rwandans  are teaching me…even as I teach them a bit of English: a win-win like I never would have imagined…and something that I can indeed be thankful for this Thanksgiving.