The reason that we came into the city today was to visit with a man named Charles and his group home. Charles was an olympic runner (800m 1996 in Atlanta) from Rwanda who decided to do something about the world around him. In 2005 he opened a group home for some of the street kids in Kigali. He invited us to come spend the afternoon with him at the home. Now we knew that they had planned some singing for us but we did not know what we were in store for. The kids from the home and surrounding areas performed some traditional Rwandan dancing and drumming, followed by more modern hip-hop dancing. They were awesome. They brought all of us out to dance with them and taught us a few steps. (ask for some demonstrations in New Haven). We also did a couple of performances which may not have been as eclectic but were definitely entertaining.
For the rest of the week our students have focused on projects. Here is a brief description of the organizations we are working with in Nyamata;
AVEH is a home started by a woman named Cecile who was a nurse and saw a huge need for children with disabilities. There are currently 16 kids who live at the home and AVEH serves a total of about 70 families in the area. Here, there is traditionally a stigma against kids with disabilities and many people here do not know how to care for them. The stories and the pictures you will hear and see will truly impact you, and certainly have impacted our students. Our group has spent time playing/feeding the kids and working on the worksite of their planned building. Both places were exhausting, one physically and the other emotionally.
Millenium Villages/Access is an organization based out of Columbia University that is overseeing the upkeep and advancement of the clinics and the public health system here in Rwanda. Our trip coincides with a team of American medical students, a Nepalise doctor and nurse, as well as Rwandan doctors, nurses and community health workers, who are doing eye examinations to see who would qualify for cornea or cataract surgery. Our days with the Millenium Village project were spent doing eye exams in the surrounding villages. The Access component of our work here was lead by a Rwandan doctor, Jean Marie, and a Peace Corps volunteer named Jessica. They took our students out to the surrounding clinics to give them an understanding of how the health systems work here in Rwanda. All of the students (as well as Fiona and I) were l blown away by how well the systems are managed here, and we are excited to compare them to other areas of Rwanda.
AJESOV is a group that provides food for those in the greatest of need. The students went out into neighboring villages to meet families and deliver food supplies for them.
Nemba is a resettlement village in southern Rwanda near the Burundi border. The area was set up by the Rwandan government after former Rwandans were kicked out of Tanzania by the Tanzanian government. The government, the Red Cross and TIG (former genociders who are now doing community service instead of a prison sentence) built the homes in the area. We were brought down by the Prinicpal of the primary school who gave us a tour of the village. As we were about to leave we witnessed the miracle of life as two baby goats were born.
In addition to our above work, we have also visited a memorial at a church in Nyamata where over 30,000 people were murdered during the genocide. It is a moving place and I can't begin to explain the impact with words. I encourage you to discuss it with us once we meet again in New Haven.
So, that is a brief outline of what's been going on-- so much! These are the major projects but they do not include the simple, smaller things that really affect our lives.
Tonight we are taking advantage of life in the big city-- we are about to indulge in some ice cream to celebrate Alanna's birthday! Before I go, here are our students' thoughts/highlights from the past week:
Monica-Meeting the kids in the home
Sam- learning so much about the genocide
Alanna-getting to know all the kids at the home and spending time in the village
Tricia-cooking with the cook was a blast
Kendall- I liked playing with the kids at the home
Allegra-finding an entire community where we got water for the home was really cool
Catherine-meeting and playing with the kids at the home
Campbell-I loved forming great relationships with the children at the home despite the language barrier
Maddy-I loved playing with the children at the home and seeing them smile
Frances-working at the site and dancing with the kids who used to live on the streets
Chrissy-Working with the doctors during the vision screenings with the Millenium Villages
Melanie-visiting the clinics
Alessandro-i enjoyed bonding with wth children at the Aveh home
Marebeho,
Fiona and Dan
