World Environment Day

Yesterday was World Environment Day.  Every year the UN Environmental Programme chooses a new theme.  This year the topic is ' The Green Economy, Does it Include You?'.

Tuesday night is my time to program family time* so naturally, I thought to talk about the Environment on World Environment Day. 

*Family time happens 5 times a week for the Enrichment year students, usually from 9-10pm.  Usually they hear announcements, talk about their days, their challenges, tell stories, talk about the core values, or other topics like how to avoid getting pregnant, HIV etc.  On my night I usually bring a song to learn or a game because otherwise half of them sleep. (and who would blame them... they are up at 6 am and don't go to bed until after family time, and they are teenagers.)

Environment Club clear a new walking trail in the Nature Park

First we talked about 'what is the Environment?'.  Why is the Environment important?  What are the major problems facing the Environment?  Now, with the exception of of one of the girls in the ASYV Environment Club, I'm not sure if many of the girls had ever thought about forests, clean water, clean air, soil health, pollution, climate change in that way before. (or had even heard of those terms before)  Many of them knew about erosion (likely because this is the land of many hills, and many, many farms), and many knew that we needed oxygen to breathe.

Sometimes in discussions with the Enrichment year kids, it is difficult to know if they are actually ignorant of a subject, the subject is outside their personal experience, or if they are lacking English vocabulary for the new subject matter.  It may be a bit a combination of all of the above. 

For example, in school they have been doing sketches (skits, or theatrical performances) that they have written and performed.  Most of them are about orphans, teen pregnancy, HIV and sugar daddies.  Now, these are complicated subjects, but subjects that they have experienced (maybe not personally, but very closely), and have learned the English vocabulary for their sketches.  The performances are very good and you can see they they understand the topic very well.   Afterwards, there there are always questions for the performers.  Here, although they seem to understand the questions, their ability to articulate their opinions in a coherent manner (outside the practiced lines of the sketch) are a bit more difficult.  The answers end up sounding simplistic, even though you have just seen them perform a complex sketch.  But slowly, slowly... the language will come, the ability to put their thoughts into words will come.

Shady bench sitting area in the Nature Park

So, back to family time.  I guess I am saying that it is not surprising that we did not have a riveting discussion in English about the Environment for many reasons.  Which is why  I brought in some videos clips to help me explain.

Before they can understand the Green Economy, I wanted them to understand the business model where 'the Environment is your enemy'.  In order to gain, you must destroy.  This is the mentality with many extraction industries.

First I showed some clips from Manufactured Landscapes.  This movie  is about the work of   Edward Burtynsky, a famous Canadian landscape photographer. He doesn't take pictures of what inspired the Group of Seven, but of large scale industrial landscapes. 


Manufactured Landscapes is mostly about the large industrial manufacturing industries in China. What Edward Burtynsky is so gifted at capturing is the scale of these processes.  It will blow your mind.

So I showed them some clips from the e-waste part of the movie.  Over 50% of the world's e-waste goes to China, where it gets smashed and scavenged for metals that can be melted together to be sold again.  The only problem is that there are many toxic substances in the computers that are released in the process of breaking them apart to get at these metals.  In the movie, in one town, the toxins had run into the local aquifer so that they could no longer drink the water, and it had to be trucked in.

This also points out that Environmental problems are not just issues of middle class Americans, Canadians, Europeans that drive hybrid cars, carry a to-go cup, wear birkenstocks and wax poetically about hiking and eating organically. As with many things in the capitalist system, the Environmental and social impact of business does not get accounted for in the price of an item.   The problem is that because these costs don't show up in the price tag, the costs get socialized, and usually the are felt by the poorest people.  Hence, when you are using you smart phone, you get to benefit of updating your twitter account on the fly, while indentured laborers slave away in the Congo for the Coltan. When you buy a new computer and get rid of the old one, you are not the one who's water, soil and body gets poisoned by the e-waste, it is the poor people of China.  When you buy those non organic grapes from Chile, you may ingest some chemical residues, but the majority will be felt by poor farmers applying them and killing their soil.  While the oil companies make money off the tar sands, it is the Aboriginal people of Canada that feel the effect because they can no longer drink the water or fish in the Athabasca river.

African Tulip tree planted last year in the Nature Park

Then I showed them clips from Taking Root, a movie about Wangari Maathai.  The beginning of this movie illustrates the effects of how population increases and cultural changes towards the Environment were some of the causes of deforestation, desertification, erosion, loss of clean drinking water in Kenya.  This in particular, impacted (and still impacts) poor women because they generally fetch water and wood for cooking and had to go further and further to get it.  This is why Wangari Maathai started the Green Belt Movement, a movement to teach women to plant trees to reduce and reverse the social and Environmental impacts of deforestation.

This film I used because the images are close to their lives, their experiences, than say, a tribe in the Amazon rain forest.  Also it shows that Environmental destruction goes hand in hand with social effects.  It also shows a different model, maybe part of the Green Economy, where people are working with the environment, instead of against it to make their living.

Aloe in the Nautre Park

The last thing I showed them was the Earth Song clip from Michael Jackson's This Is It movie.  Although it is cheesy, the footage and song have very simple messages to understand.  Furthermore, Environmentalists get a bad rap for being downers all the time, so I wanted to end on something a little more up beat.  In addition, as these kids are teenagers, and worship what is cool, can sing every pop song on the radio, I thought I wouldn't hurt to cash in on MJ's famous pop star status to sell my Environmental message ( I mean, it is his message too, at least in that song).  MJ says in the film "The time has come, this is it. People always say, they'll take care of it, the government will... they will.... they who? it starts with us, it's us. Or it will never be done."

At the end, I asked if anyone had any questions or comments. I'm not sure how much of any of it they had understood or absorbed... but sometimes they surprise you.  One of my girls, who is also in the Environment Club asked:  "If people in America and Europe know that these industries cause pollution.  Why do they still build them?"

Good question indeed... Why?  The simple answer is greed and myopic decision making.  Maybe the Green Economy will become the new model....one where as Wangari Mathai says 'we are not digging our own grave'.  The UN Environment Programme defines the Green Economy as:

"one that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities. In its simplest expression, a green economy can be thought of as one which is low carbon, resource efficient and socially inclusive."

Gender in Rwanda

There are differences between girls and boys.  I'll give you that.  There are differences between people who like girls, people who like boys and people who like both sexes.  But do those differences have to translate into discrimination and differences in self worth or importance?

I don't claim to be a gender issue expert.  I'm not, nor am I particularly steeped in the politics or philosophical issues surrounding gender.  However, after being part of a women empowered, gender bending performance group for 5 years, I have picked up some sensitivities towards theses issues.  It would be hard to not pick up on these issues if you lived in East Vancouver for any length of time.

Target for ASYV Science Centre Egg Drop Competition

In Rwanda, it's different than Calgary, East Van, Cortes Island, Salt Spring Island, Kingston, Whistler, Pemberton, Portland, Seattle... In some ways for the better.  For example, Rwandan people are extremely affectionate.  Hand holding does not mean that you are boyfriend/girlfriend.  Cuddling and hand holding happen between any gender here.  You will see two grown men walking hand in hand or hugging each other on the streets here.  In North America, I'm not sure if many teenage boys have any physical interactions with their friends besides beating each other up.  This is partly due to the fact that being a teenager is awkward and you are always trying to be cool- and being a lone wolf in North America is somehow cool.

The other part is gender issues. Most teenagers are sexually insecure and raging with hormones.  In North American society where, except for some progressive schools, cities and communities, being gay is still not universally accepted.  In Canada we have gay marriage, but in the USA there are many, many States in which being gay is very scary. Even in Canada, I'm sure there are places where being gay can be very scary. That is why affection between same sex friends is not generally shown.

So what does this mean for Rwanda?  Well, unfortunately it does not mean that Rwandans have accepted gays and lesbians. A Rwandan told me that the whole point of being a successful Rwandan is to get married and have kids.  Being gay just is not an option. So hence why two girls or two boys holding hands is just being affectionate and friends.  I'm not sure if anyone here even thinks of the possibility of different sexual orientations.

Opening the egg box...

In many ways, the empowerment of women (feminism) and the empowerment of gays/lesbians is the same fight.  The fight to be free of gender roles, to be free to live and work in society with out judgment of discrimination because of their gender or sexual orientation.

What about Rwandan women? First of all, in Rwanda mamas are very well respected.  In the village, mama's word is the law.  Rwanda is very hierarchical, so generally they respect their elders (in some ways Rwanda feels like is has a caste system with differences in wealth and social power).  So whether the teenagers respect the mamas because they are their elders, or because they are amazing women, I'm not sure.

On the other hand, boys perform better in almost all subjects and sports than girls at ASYV.  I don't buy that boys are smarter than girls.  So either ASYV needs to improve its ability to empower the girls*, or Rwandan girls are socialized to have different attitudes/motivation than boys, or maybe a bit both.

* to be fair, ASYV takes in more girls than boys.  Although all students at ASYV are vulnerable orphaned youth, girls can be in more vulnerable situations than boys because of their physical stature and the risk of forced sexual violence.  In every grade there are  5 families of girls and 3 families of boys.

For example, we have been trying to have the first girls football (soccer) team at ASYV this year.  My co-coach and I are both feisty North American women who have a low tolerance for sexual discrimination.  We come from an experience that if you wanted to be on a good sports team in school or in clubs, you had to try out, work hard, and be committed.  Here, although a 2-3 are really committed, most of our team is absent and lazy.  Some could be really great players if they were committed.  The girls always have excuses like they are sick or they have a headache.  One or two I could believe, but 80% of the team, every week?  When they do come to practice, they sit down and complain when they have to run.

Opening the egg box....

When the boys team comes to practice after us, it's like night and day.  They all show up, they show up on time, they practice hard, they don't complain, they are eager to improve their skills.

In school it is the same thing.  Boys always participate in class conversations, whereas girls hardly talk.  Boys generally have better English skills than the girls (this could be a chicken and an egg issue). 

All the families choose names of heroes that they want their family to be named after. Out of 32 families, only 7 are women.  When we were in the process of choosing the name for our family, I asked why they didn't want to choose a woman.  The girls said 'we don't want to be the girls of a woman'.... as if this would be a great insult.  Granted, some have psychological issues with their moms who maybe they never knew, abandoned them or were negligent... but still to have such a strong hate on for women?  Where does this come from?
 
So what gives Rwanda?  To have such strong, respected mamas, such open affection between people and yet I feel like the girls are falling behind in every way.  Maybe ASYV is a place for them to be safe, heal and learn for four years and then they will go on to get married and become awesome mamas.  That is great.  I fully support that.  Because people that are healthy and whole will do more for the society than vulnerable, hurt and broken people.

The only thing is, their words betray them. If you ask them what they want to do after ASYV they will say I want to be a business woman, a doctor, go to university, work at a bank, be a journalist, be a lawyer etc.  But where is your motivation today to get you there?  They have a maxim here that says ' if you see far you will go far'.  Where are you going girls of ASYV? And how are you going to get there?

Success!!

*Disclaimer- there are also some really, really, really amazing girls at ASYV that are motivated, strong and smart.  And all girls at ASYV are special and fantastic in their own way.  This blog is how I see gender in general in Rwanda, and in ASYV on a more general level.