God sleeps in Rwanda

In our staff training before the students came, we heard many Rwandan proverbs or stories.  In the old times, before the colonizers came to Rwanda, the people here used to say that while God might go and visit other places and people in the world during the day- God always came back to sleep in Rwanda at night.

Rice paddies near Rubona

Today- God not only sleeps here but is very involved in day to day life.  When I help a student with their homework- some of them say 'thank you, god bless you.' Church activities define the weekend here- what religious group is praying where and when.

 Although the village is not religious institution, I would say that 99% of the students and staff here believe in God.  I would say this is also true of Rwanda.  Most Rwandans are some form of Christianity with a minority of Muslims. This month there has also been a group of young Jewish students here on a gap year between highschool and university.  They have their own traditions and religious activities to add to the mix.  Most of the incoming Rwandan students have never heard of Judaism before- so it is interesting to see the Jewish students and the Rwandan students talking together about faith and Religion.

Atheism, Agnosticism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Shamanism or any other faith (or lack of faith) is not known here.

So why is it, that Rwandans' are so hopeful, so faithful?  It seems proposterous when you consider the country's history... or does it?  We all need something or someone to believe in.... something to hope for.  I think that Rwanda has many reasons to be hopeful and to believe in the future.

Lake Mugesera

Sufi poem atributed to Hazrat Inayat Khan

“ I asked for strength

and God gave me difficulties to make me strong

I asked for wisdom

and God gave me problems to learn to solve.

I asked for prosperity

and God gave me a brain and brawn to work.

I asked fro courage

and God gave me dangers to overcome.

I asked for love

and God gave me people to help.

I asked for favours

and God gave me opportunities.

I received nothing I wanted.

I received everything I needed.”

Questions and Answers???

I cannot believe it has been a month since my last posting... ahh sorry. 

Alot has happened in the last month and I wish I had a Jhumpa Lahiri's skills at digesting small details to make a whole picture in an interesting way.  I'll try to do my best.

So I've been struggling with alot of different issues lately.  Nobody ever said coming to Rwanda to work with orphaned youth would be easy.  If you have ever seen the documentary 'Schooling the World'(I would highly recommend it!), you might even think that my presence here is exactly the opposite of helping.  Am I just another neo-colonialist? What kind of unattended consequences am I having here simply because I am a foreigner?

ASYV Traditional Rwandan Dance Troupe- performing in the Amphitheater

My struggles apart from the usual (I ask myself the same questions in any occupation in Canada): what am I doing here?  Is this the right thing to be doing?.... are mostly philosophical issues pertaining to the environment and farming,



I am helping with the Environment Club here and I have been trying to explain about what the environment is- why we need it, how we are a part of it etc.  However, environmentalism is a foreign concept here, especially for kids who have struggled all their lives to have their basic needs fulfilled.

For example- when I asked 'why are trees important?' I got some really great answers like: trees produce oxygen, they help with global warming, they attract rainfall, but I also got some interesting answers like they attract tourists, or they are decoration when they are planted in a line.

Also with the exception of three national parks, there are very few 'wild' places in Rwanda.  There is lots of greenery- but mostly from tons of bananas.  Like I said before- this place is one big garden.  Which is not to say gardens are not nature... let's just say there is limited habitat for wild plants and animals who do not thrive in garden type environments.

Bananas in the valley.  The top of the hill is ASYV.

The question is- do humans have an innate understanding of nature and their connection to the earth?  Can a kid from the slums of Nairobi who has lived in a landfill all their life understand nature? 
 

“You cannot protect the environment unless you empower people, you inform them, and you help them understand that these resources are their own, that they must protect them.” Wangari Maathai

One of the other challenges is that the kids think that all development is good.  Money is good, jobs are good, cities are good- it is all good.  Jack told his family about Vandana Shiva- and her battle to fight large corporations who were trying to take away the freedom of farmers by selling them GMO seeds.  They had difficulty understanding that someone who was trying to bring in money and western ideas could be bad- or at least not have the best interests of the farmer in mind.


Which leads me to another sad observation.  People everywhere want suburbia.  They want to live in a big house and have a car and be fenced off.  They can live with their families and watch TVs and drive their car wherever they go.  This is very much the predominant changing landscape of Kigali.  Goodbye small houses, goodbye poor people- make way for suburbia.  It's frightening.  Suburbia doesn't work in North America- it makes people, fat, isolated, and dependent on fossil fuels.  It is empty.  Does the rest of the world need to follow in North America's footsteps only to learn the same thing 20 to 30 years down the line?
 

"I am increasingly sensing that the primary threat to nature and people today comes from centralising and monopolising power and control which inevitably generates one-dimensional structures and what I have called "Monoculture of the Mind". The monoculture of the mind treats all diversity as disease, and creates coercive structures to model this biologically and culturally diverse world of ours on the privileged categories and concepts of one class, one race and one gender of a single species."  Vandana Shiva

Local swimming hole at lake Mugesara

Also I am struggling with some different ideas of agriculture here at ASYV.  Some ideas that are pretty much the opposite of permaculture.


It seems like everywhere I go, my perspective, my ethics, my sensitivity towards earth care leads me into these conflicts with the big machine of money and development.  Sometimes I think that it would be so much easier if I just consumed like a normal person and didn't question the trajectory so much.


However- that is not going to happen.  One of my yoga teachers says that a yogi is trying to line up their thoughts, words and actions.  You know you are making progress in your yoga practice when you 'say what you mean, and mean what you say' (which is on another note- is my New Year's resolution). 

Wetland at lake Mugesara.  Looking away from the lake towards ASYV.

Many people inspire me- but two that I have bee thinking about lately (because of Rwanda's National Hero's day) are Vandana Shiva and Wangari Muta Maathai.  Both are outstanding women who have fought for women's rights, the environment and against big business/big governments. How do I become like them?  How do I tell the story of complex, living systems to the 'monoculture of the mind'?


“Every person who has ever achieved anything has been knocked down many times. But all of them picked themselves up and kept going, and that is what I have always tried to do.” Wangari Maathai

Pictures of the farm

Ibishimbo- Dried beans lined up to dry

Threshing the beans, blowing off the chaff

Bees!

Growing food in Rwanda

It's hard to believe that we are now into the second week of school. It's true what they say- the days are long here, but the weeks and months race on. Now that the students are in school from 7am to 2pm, I have a bit more time to explore the farm. 

The farm has chickens, cows, bananas, avocados, guavas, citrus, pineapples, kidney beans, maize, coffee, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and more.  It is relatively young, although I'm sure most of this land has been under cultivation at one point or another by previous owners.  Except for a few trees, most fruit trees or on the farm were planted 3 years ago, and some are just beginning to give fruit.

ASYV is physically located in a warmer and drier area of the country.  The area of the village which is not landscaped with grass, hedges and trees, or farmed,  is covered with bushes.  Very few mature trees exist on the land either because it has been cultivated for such a long time, and/or the trees were cut down for fire wood over the years.

In Rwanda, most people use firewood or charcoal to cook.  Given the amount of people and the little land that is still forested...this is quite worrisome. In addition, many people plant Eucalyptus trees here because they are extremely fast growing.  Eucalyptus are very good at sucking up water and nutrients from the soil and doesn't allow for other plants to create an understory.  I think Eucalyptus might have a role as managed pioneer species in combination with native trees or other desirable fruit/nut/forage species, but a pure stand of Eucalyptus does not favour biodiversity.

ASYV has planted trees in the main part of the village and also in an area called the nature park.  This will be wonderful when the tree grow, and hopefully more trees we be planted specifically for shade purposes.  This will moderate the temperature in the village, build the soil, buffer the wind, and create a more enjoyable micro climate.   Depending on the species selected, they may also produce food, forage, mulch, and medicine.  (Especially if this permaculturalist has anything to do with it!:))

The nature park is an area behind the school that some of the past volunteers, staff and students helped to map, plant trees and build trails. This is a place to explore, relax and learn. This is an area that is unlike most of Rwanda.  Natural spaces are few are far in between.


Riding in the bus around Rwanda, you get the sense that the whole country is like one big food garden (with smatterings of the hedges and lawns aesthetic). Bananas, potatoes, corn, sweet potatoes, beans, peas, and cows are everywhere you look. Crops are farmed right up to the road and on incredibly steep hills. If I were skiing some of those hills- they would be double black or black diamond steep. However, I suppose that is what is needed for a country of 11 million people. Lots of food.

The traditional way of subsistence farming seems to involve polycultures of different plants all growing together. However, the plants that they grow (bananas, corn, beans, potatoes) are the same all throughout the country. I wonder how much plant diversity there actually is in the country- and what would happen if a fungus or virus came through for one of those staple plants. I hope there are many different varieties of those staple plants so that if something happens, there is some resiliency.

Something else that worries me is some of Rwanda's agriculture policies.  They want to aggregate farm land so they can grow one crop and it will be easier to mechanize.  Sounds like a familiar Western practice which I don't think has actually benefited any farmers (ask the farmers in the corn belt of the USA)... maybe these policies benefit the pockets of large agribusiness, but farmers... that is questionable. (The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan illustrates this very well)

Although this policy this might make planting and processing more efficient, I'm not sure if it will produce more food. Furthermore, if mechanization is involved- might actually hurt the long term sustainability of the soil.  Steep hills and tractors or rotatillers= soil loss, erosion for sure!  Also it sounds like aggregating farm land would reduce farmer's agency in deciding what they want to plant.  It would make them plant cash crops which are at the whims of international price markets and not allow them to grow food for their families first.  Although I am sure there are lots of ways to improve smallholder production, I am not sure about this policy... (more about this and other policies later).

On a lighter, and less controversial note, I started helping out on the farm this week.  There are about 20 farm workers from the surrounding community.  Most of them have been farming all their lives... so they think I am quite comical because a) I am a westerner and b) because I don't have their same level of dexterity and skill with the farm tools.  One day they gave me a giant stick to use as a pry, and a machete to cut down bushes (to mulch the bananas).  I could not for the life of me figure out how to wield the stick and the machete with any sense of efficiency- even though I had plenty of good role models.
Another day, when I helped to beat the beans (to release the dry beans from their pods), I apparently had the wrong technique, even though I thought I was doing it exactly the same as everyone else.  So I certainly have a long way to go to being awesome with the local tools and techniques, but it is a good way to build relationships and observe the farm.  After all, the first principle of permaculture is 'to observe and interact'.
 
If anyone out there has some ideas of of wonderful permaculture all-star plants that can be grown here to add diversity, resiliency, habitat and an income for the people of Rwanda. I am interested in learning about these plants, finding them and planting them.

Pop Culture Fail

For the last week all of the cousins, with help from four ESL teachers from Canada and the States, have been teaching English to the new students.  Between all the lesson planning, teaching, meetings and other responsibilities there has been very little room to breathe. However, the teaching has been pretty fun and a good way to get to know some of the kids outside your core family group.

One of the most challenging parts of teaching this week was to get the girls to talk and participate. In general, the Rwandan girls that have arrived for the first time at the Village are soft spoken, demure and shy.  When you ask them their name you can barely hear them reply.  This is also true of some of the boys, but they are generally a bit more outspoken and willing to speak in  English. It is difficult as a teacher to gage if they understand or not if there is no feedback.  Gradually over the week, my co-teacher and I managed to coax them little by little out of their shells so that we could actually have some decent conversations, games, presentations and exercises.

This is also true of the girls in my family. As they have been getting to know their sisters, they turn into chatty, giggly teenage girls.  Which is great, because I have actually been able to have a some fun conversations with them.  All the students are curious, but the questions I get the most are: 'Do you have parents?' and 'Do you have children? or How many children do you have?'.

The first is one that you would not typically get in a North American context.  It is more like 'Are your parents still together, What are there names, What do they do?'  something like that.  In Rwanda, and especially with these kids- who are mostly orphans, having parents (that are still alive, or that they know) is a rareity rather than the norm.  It's startling.  I expected when I came to Africa to feel some sense of having been born into extraordinary riches- merely by the fact that I come from Canada, a generally peaceful country with good education and health care.  I did not expect to feel rich or lucky for the fact that I have parents that have cared for me and taught me all my life.  Although, if I really examine the idea of having parents, it is probably one of the best things you can have in your life- loving parents.  When I say I have two parents, they kids look at me like I have won the lottery.

The second question is also not super typical in a western context to someone in their late twenties.  Part of it is that Canada does not have a very high birth rate compared to Rwanda, and also many Canadian women now have their first child from late twenties to mid thirties.   It also seems funny because there is no question of having or not having children in their minds- just how many.  Mostly my answer is: "I have no children, because otherwise I could not be in Rwanda at the Village with you for a year."

My favourite question so far has been (with a very serious face) 'Melissa, Do vampires exist?'  I had a whole bunch of very interesting question that night about conspiracy of the pyramid sign on the American dollar, mummies and Rambo movies... as if they had been saving all the questions they had ever wanted to ask a westerner.  Amazing!


The other questions I've been asked recently have been 'Melissa, tell us about Drake, Rhiannon, Shakira, Justin Bieber etc etc'.  Now for those of you who know me- know that I am more of an eccentric type of music listener than the mainstream.  (with exceptions of course!)  Some of you might recall a story about a time when I met Swollen Members (a somewhat popular rap/rock band in Canada) and told them I had no idea who they were- and didn't listen to commercial radio.  (harsh, I know).

So I told my girls the little that I knew about Justin Bieber and the likes, but it wasn't very much.  I said, I know about Michael Jackson and Bob Marley, and their response was 'they are both dead'.  i.e  Melissa, you are old- and listen to old music, get with the program.  (On a side note, I did play some Bob Marley in English class to learn some lyrics and some of the boys LOVED it!)

That's all for now- I've got to go study up on pop culture before my girls grill me again :)

Photos of the Northern Province

A Baptism Party on Lake Burera.  We were sleeping in that field in our tent only 2 hours before.

View from Burera Lake looking towards Mount Muhabura

Fishing Boats on Lake Burera- Notice the lantern shelf for attracting small fish to the surface at night

Memory Dance has made an appearance in Rwanda!

We have received our new families! In a family there is a mother, a big brother/sister (counsellor) and us (cousins). I have 16 girls that are eager to learn and happy to be in a family. My girls are age 15 to 18 and come from all parts of the country. In this village, the family is really important because it is a way to know these girls deeply, it gives them a sense of belonging, a family (which many do not have), and to make them feel comfortable. This village is not a boarding school. They do not want to have a institutional feeling here because they think this would not help these vulnerable kids that have grown up feeling unloved, alienated and alone.
The girls think I'm kind of strange. Mostly they just giggle and stare at me when I talk with them. I'm not sure if this is because they think I'm funny, they are shy, or they don't understand. Some come to the village with pretty good English skills and some, barely any. Next week we are going to be doing an English intensive with all the new kids to help them out before they start school in January.
Their reaction to me is similar to many rural kids in Rwanda. They think seeing a foreigner is more exciting than an ice cream truck (if they had such things) and more entertaining than TV. Crowds of children will follow you and stare at you with wide eyes. The really brave ones might talk to you. When you speak in Kinyarwanda or in English they think it's hilarious. They are very curious about you and the kids/youth that speak English will often walk with you for way so they can practice.
Tonight we are having a New Year's Eve Celebration where they kids will be performing traditional dance, hip hop, comedy, music, drama and poetry. From what I've seen from peaking in on some rehearsal time and leading memory dance chain as a warm up for the hip hop group- some of these kids have mad skills! I'm really excited to see the performances and hopefully we can share some dance moves over the year... maybe I can trade some Michael Jackson moves for some traditional Rwandan dance moves. :)