Holiday Camp in Rwanda- Banana's of the World Unite

August 25,2010
Well about two weeks ago I finished up working 2 weeks of overnight holiday camp each camp hosting about 500 children in secondary school (between the ages of 14- 25). The first camp was hosted in the District next to me Ruhango. And the second one was in Muhanga my District. The camps were 5 days, 4 nights and designed just like an American summer camp. They got 3 meals a day which is probably the only time those children were able to eat 3 meals a day. There were about 30 facilitators so the children were divided up by region into groups of about 30 and placed with there own teacher. The camps were very chaotic and the whole first day was spent of completing the children's paperwork and school fee’s. (One of the hidden agendas of these camps was to get all the beneficiary children in one place to deal with school fee issues all at once, its a genius plan.) CHF pays for thousands of children’s secondary school fee’s in this country. I don’t know how they choose the children I was not involved in that process it was already decided before i got into the country but they have chosen children who cannot afford secondary school. (Secondary school can cost up to $250 per year.)
The theme of the camp was Ndi Abahizi meaning I am a beneficiary who has the power to change my life. They had many activities to think about their future, what they want in their lives, what they want to be, and how to get there. One of my favorite activities was the skits they made. They were told to write skits about a 5 year reunion when they would see each other again in 5 years what they will be doing. It was really powerful and they kids got really into it. There was always at least one person playing the “loser” character who smoke and drank and got no where with their life. It was cool seeing that they knew a smoker/drinker person would not live out his/her dreams. They then acted the skits out in front of everyone and had a lot of fun with it. Both weeks that talent show ended up turning into a dance party that lasted until midnight so to say the least I was exhausted after 2 weeks of this.
The kids got to make flags and chants for their groups as well. Some got very creative having traditional dancers on their flags or colors which they made a key to say what each color represented. Many included Peace as a color. They all had a lot of fun presenting their flags and chants. A tree of hope was another activity done in each classroom. A student either drew a tree or the class used a tree outside. Each student cut out a leaf and wrote all of their hope and dreams on that leaf , then each student hung their leaves on the tree. Then the teacher made a paper watering can and asked each student to write something in the water can that would help them reach their dreams. Honesty, friends and family, and studying hard in school were some of the responses.
Though camp for sure had its problems and was terribly disorganized the kids got stuff out of it. I was even able to teach some American camp songs to the kids such as “We come from the mountains” and “Peel banana” which they loved, even the older kids seemed to enjoy singing them. I got to play volleyball and basketball with the kids. Many were surprised we had volleyball in America. They think the only sport in America is basketball which I think is pretty funny. In Ruhango I got to meet the women’s junior national volleyball team and in Muhanga I met the men’s national junior volleyball team. They even let me play a little with them but they are really good way better than I am but it was really fun.

What's my Job Again

Written July 23, 2010
I am understanding more and more every day what Duhamic Adri and CHF and USAID actually do and what my role is in it all, even though if i was not here everything would still go on just fine without me but that is besides the point. There are many cooperatives that already exist in the Muhanga area. What we are doing is helping them to develop. Many of them are not officially registered as legal cooperatives so we are helping with that as well. It is a very long expensive process that has to go through the district, sector and national level. Also most of these cooperatives are anywhere from 100 members to 600 members. Throughout the month of August and September my coworker and I will be traveling to different sectors to start up ISLG’s (internal saving and lending groups). The cooperatives already exist but we want to break up the members into groups of 10-20 people so they can start saving money together. There are 3 specific cooperatives of focus one makes tie die cloth, one makes baskets, purses and picture frames out of banana leaves and the other does farming.
Most people in this country do not know how to save at all. Even the rich don’t save there money. On their monthly pay day they take out all the money from the bank and spend most of it in the first week and then have nothing left for three weeks. They will go out to dinner, buy beer and fanta, or if it’s a women buy shoes and clothes at the market. Saving is a huge lesson needed all over the country. A friend of mine told me her supervisor says he cannot afford a car but he makes enough money each month where if he started saving he could buy one in about 2 years time. But they have this mentality that if they can’t afford it that month they can never afford it.
Though I do not particularly like having a real job to report to everyday (or even a few times a week.) I do love my co-workers and my supervisor. She loves to tell me that she is my Mom and I am her baby. (She has 4 children all grown up the youngest is my age.) I would prefer to just be a community volunteer as most people who join the peace corps are. But instead I am one of the 1,000 volunteers Peace Corps has who work with PEPFAR funding. (President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief.)
So that's pretty much the gist of my job right now.

MAIL!

I have a P.O Box in my town now!
Please send packages to
Sonya Alexander, PCV
PC/ Rwanda
B.P. 146
Gitarama, Rwanda
AIRMAIL

Project Inspiration

On Thursday I got to visit Mpanga vocational school which is about 30 minutes from my side. It is a school teaching hotel management, carpentry, welding, mechanics, electric, and culinary. CHF is hosting about 25 students and their mission is to talk with organizations in the area to provide internships for these students. So after the visit to the school we went and talked to a mechanics shop and a hotel. During these visits with CHF we were accompanied by an RPCV from Mali who now works in Washington DC with CHF and is visiting Rwanda for 2 months. It was really inspiration to hear about how she got started with projects and she informed me that the most rewarding projects for her were the ones involving youth. She also told me its ok to just start walking into schools and saying you want to do something. I have been re-inspired to do so many things here in Rwanda. I want to start teaching English at the vocational school, I want to start an after school kitchen garden club at a school, I want to start and Anti-AIDS club at the local university. And of course I want to help with camps. There will be a holiday camp in August that Duhamic Adri asked me to help out with. And the first group of health volunteers created Camp GLOW last year and we (the new group) will be helping with that and taking it over next year. Camp GLOW is a girl’s empowerment camp. I am excited about all these idea but implementing them is the biggest challenge especially in a country very set in their ways and not willing to make change even if it makes more sense. So wish me luck and let me know any ideas you have for me and this country.

The Dry Season

So it is well into the dry season now. The dry season started in June and will last until October. I am just starting now to notice the extreme differences between the wet season and the dry season, (beside the obvious lack of rain issue). Every day for the past week I have been waking up with extremely dry lips, an awful sore throat, and feeling very congested. My faucet only has water before about 8:00am and then no water for the rest of the day. Today I didn’t even have water in the morning. It’s time to start hoarding water in buckets and jerry cans. The rivers have started to dry out. The dust is really bad; it is hard to breathe sometimes because of all the dust around. The instant you walk outside your shoes change color and you have to squint your eyes to keep out the dust as trucks or people walk by. Food prices have risen and produce is not as easy to get. Anyway to say the least I can’t wait until it rains again. It has not rained since June 5th. Not that I’m counting or anything. Speaking of counting my close of service is in 685 days, but who’s keeping track. So the good news during dry season,, it’s a lot easier to dry your clothes, you don’t have to deal with rain or mud, not need to carry an umbrella or raincoat anywhere. At least you can guarantee it will be sunny everyday with not a cloud in the sky, so what is there to possibly complain about.

Ndi umunyarwanda

Last night was how I always imagined my Peace Corps experience to be like. It all started on Friday night, I had 2 friends staying over my house and we were making tortilla chips. Which were amazingly successful so we realized they would be great with beans? So we set off to town to find some cooked beans. After asking a number of stores and restaurants, a women tells us to follow her. So we did and she leads us to her mother’s house where there are cooked beans. She gives them to us and tells us we must come visit her again. So on Monday after my friends had gone back to their sites I go visit her. I bring my laptop so we can watch a movie and I decided to watch Charlie and the chocolate factory. There were maybe 10-15 people gathered around my laptop watching me more than the movie because it was in English and they could not understand it. After a while we moved to my friend’s bedroom to escape from all the kids. It was me, her and 5 children. I don’t know her relation with any of the children there are just always tons around everywhere. She wants me to put in a DVD of her aunts wedding, so I do and we watch that for a short while until my laptop runs out of battery. After that we go for a walk. First by a church then to a house that turns out to be her house apparently, that’s when I learn the house we were at earlier is her mother’s house. To get to the house we have to walk between houses where the spacing is so small I had to walk sideways and have the children hold my arms so that I did not fall because it was pitch black outside. We see her house then leave back for town again. I am basically just following this group of kids around the whole town stopping into shops to say hello to people. I eventually say that I am very tired and want to go home. But they insist I stay for dinner, which here in Rwanda typically eaten at 9:00. You will not see people eating in restaurants until this hour and at home they do not serve food until this time. The reasoning is possibly because it takes a very long time to cook food over a fire especially beans, rice and meat. Long story short I stay for dinner that night and every night since that I have been available I have been eating dinner with my new Rwandan family.
Side Note: Rwandan’s eat the same exact food every week all over the country no matter in restaurants or people’s homes it’s always the same.
Meal 1: Beans and Rice sometimes with avocado
Meal 2: Plantains and Spagetti
Meal 3: Umugati- bread made form cassava that is very sticky and earthy that you dip into a sauce
If the family has enough money goat, cow or chicken is also eaten with these meals. Another cultural note, they mix everything together and eat with their fingers some of the time and they pile their plates very high with food and its all carbs these people should all be over weight but with all the walking and heavy lifting they do everyday I guess it evens out.

The Hardest Job You'll Ever Have

As most of you already know, doing the Peace Corps has been a dream of mine for a long time. I don’t remember the exact moment I found out about its existence but I know as soon as I heard about it I wanted to do it. It seemed perfect for me since I not only love traveling but I love actually living and getting involved in other countries. Meeting and befriending the nationals. Traveling is one thing but living there is a whole new challenge. Exchanging culture with neighbors and attempting to help even if by help all you’re really doing is teaching a child to stop saying “good morning” at night time or trying to teach children that not all white people have a lot of money. Also in America there are poor people and dirt roads … who knew??
So now that I am about 4 months into my 27 months of service what have I done? Well nothing, yet. That said I’m not giving up hope, it’s just much harder than I imagined figuring out what I am suppose and how to help. I am assigned to work with a Rwandan NGO which is partnered with an American government organization, you would think I should know exactly what to do, but that is not really true at all.
I work with two Rwandans, one is an education advisor the other is an economic strengthening advisor. I have been out in the field visiting sites everyday for the past 2 weeks now. And I am so grateful that I’m not stuck in some office job. But at the same time I am not much help in the field because I do not speak the language. And I can try and practice all day long but even if I get good at this language I’ll never be able to run field visits alone. So what is the point? Riding around all day with my co-workers, tagging along when all along I know if I was not there, this would all still be happening just the same without me.
Don’t get me wrong I know this isn’t suppose to be easy, they don’t say it’s the hardest job your ever love for nothing. And I do really enjoy living in this country. I know I can and will make a difference. I mean today I told a school the point of composting was for it to go in the garden not in the woods 100 feet away from the garden. Slowly by slowly I guess…buhoro buhoro.
Well luckily for me this country is the size of Maryland so it is very easy to visit friends. 3 weeks ago I traveled to Rwamagana to visit a friend. Then 2 weeks ago traveled to Musanze. Last week I went to Gatsibo. Weekends away are amazing and it’s great that it is so easy to get together with friends here. I really think I might love that most of all about this country.