Camp Be and Glow round two with an entrepreneur twist

Joel Atwood
ED2 -- Gakenke District, Northern Province

In my last blog post I wrote about camp Be and some of the things that went on during that camp. This year my region did another two camps at my school. After last year we wanted to focus on the theme of entrepreneurship. With most volunteers in my region successfully starting GLOW and BE clubs we needed to help students in making those clubs sustainable.

One common reoccurring problem most volunteers have faced when teaching with their students and even dealing with their schools and the education system is the a lack of creativity. To put more precisely; a lack of an ability to critically think and problem solve. Most teachers teach by giving students notes then leaving class. The students copy the notes into their notebooks and then they are expected to memorize those notes. Many of the teachers will collect the students notebooks at the end of the term and will mark them for completeness and neatness. These methods do not produce students who can critically think, problem solve or brainstorm.

So this year when planing out what we would do for our GLOW and BE camp we decided to focus on creativity and entrepreneurship. Most of the activities we did there based on this theme. The advantages of having such a theme for our camp is that it will help them be more successful after they finish school. A second advantage is it will also help make our GLOW and BE camps more sustainable by giving students ideas and ways to raise funds for the clubs.

Activities we did during our GLOW and BE camp ranged from basket weaving; where we had a cooperative of women come and show students how to make baskets to making pizza (my personal favorite) to making water prof cell phone cases for peoples phones. The students really had fun doing these activities and even our host school was fascinated by the pizza making operations. For our second camp, the school even selected some of their cooks to observe how to make pizza so that they could make if for special occasions in the future. So, not only where we educating our students but also the school staff.

One problem we did have that I noticed, especially with the basket weaving, is how some of the Rwandan male facilitators refused to participate. When I asked them why they said that basket weaving was for women. I countered with do not you have to hands and a brain? It took some convincing but by the end of the session those facilitators where weaving there own baskets. It was a little victory in the battle of gender roles which is very prominent in Rwandan culture.

There is still a lot of work to be done with teaching students creative thinking and teaching students that both boys and girls can creativity think to solve problems. These camps are just the first step and I hope that many of the clubs at our schools can take what they learned at these camps and run with it. My departure from Rwanda is only a couple months away so I cant help wonder about what the future will bring to the land of a thousand hills but my vision for this country is a country of freedom, creativity and prosperity that surpasses even what has been accomplished in the western world. Is this possible? Yes and I believe GLOW and BE camps are helping to plant the seeds for making this vision a reality. 

By Joel Atwood

GAD Program Ideas

Whitney Goldman

Health 3 – Nyaruguru District, Southern Province

As a Health volunteer in Rwanda, the world is your oyster.  While we are often paired with Health Centers and have official counterparts, our time is largely our own.  This is both a blessing and a curse as deciding on project ideas can be overwhelming.  There are potential projects and project partners everywhere. Not to mention that serving at a new post (Rwanda & site), it’s difficult to connect with existing PCV programs and projects. 

I think a good place to start with the Peace Corps Rwanda GAD blog is with the concrete.  As a committee, what information can we provide to make our meetings and ideas relevant to others serving in this beautiful country?  So today, I want to share some potential project ideas that PCVs can potentially implement at their sites.

1.  Work with your sector to add an education component to current SGBV punishments

Our site is close to the sector office and we have sector officials coming and going fairly often.  The Social Affairs person is part of the steering committee for the community health worker cooperative, the education secretary is working with an outside NGO to provide Mutuelle to primary school students.  Basically, we see the sector folks a lot.  Working with local officials is a great way to partner with community stakeholders outside your health center or school.  Realizing this, we came to think about how we could develop a partnership.  We started asking about things that we saw.

In our sector, the current punishment for any SGBV offender is a monetary one.  There is little incentive to report family members, as we live in a rural, impoverished area.  If you were a subsistence farmer with little to no income, would you report your spouse?

Ideally, we’d love to create a multi-pronged intervention including education across age and gender, behavior change communication, and law enforcement.  We know that a comprehensive approach is best.  However, by including an educational component to the current system, we can help illustrate a different method of dealing with SGBV offenders, and begin a discussion about how to integrate a more comprehensive approach.

2.  Integrate family planning services into general consultation at your local health center

For any number of reasons, women might not want others to know they have come to the health center to receive family planning services.  One way to secure confidentiality is to work with health center staff to provide family planning in the general consultation room.  This integration of services allows for discretion and may offer health center staff the opportunity to enroll women on the spot.  Speak with the health center director and head nurse of family planning to get the conversation started.  It’s a fairly simple process.  All you need to do is move the required forms to the consultation room and let your community know that a change has been made (Community Health Workers and village chiefs are great at spreading the word).

3.  Connect with community members that work on SGBV

There are many organizations that have worked / are working on SGBV in Rwanda.  Community members have been elected and trained in collaborating with the local government office on SGBV issues.  From my understanding, each village has 4 people working on SGBV in their community.  You can find out who these people are by asking the social affairs and civil service folks at your sector.  You can conduct a needs and assets assessment with members of each village.  What do they do?  What do they know?  What obstacles do they see?  How can you work together?  They are a great community-based resource and could benefit from both the soft and technical skills PCVs often possess. 

4.  Start a girls’ activity or club at your school

GLOW clubs, girls’ soccer games, dance groups, running clubs (you could bring your runners to the Kigali marathon) – the possibilities are endless!  Don’t forget about the Life Skills Manual, now in Kinyarwanda.  It’s a great resource with pre-made lesson plans spanning a range of topics including peer pressure, communication, HIV/AIDS, and sexual health.  There is a soft copy that many PCVs have and you can ask your program manager for a copy, too.  Don’t forget to ask around for other general club and activity ideas - people are doing some great things.

5.  Connect with initiatives happening in Rwanda 

Ask well-connected people about what’s happening in Rwanda.  It seems everyday there is a new program rolling out in our district.  Keep up-to-date by engaging other PCVs about their projects, asking PC staff (all of them) about programs they’ve heard about, independently researching budding NGOs in Rwanda.

i.e.: We just read about an awesome project helping women, Sustainable Health Enterprises (SHE).  They make feminine products from locally available materials and have an office in Kigali.  We’ve contacted the organization and are waiting to hear back.  I promise to let you know what we find out. 

6.  Work on an income generating activity (IGA) with a community group

Volunteers are implementing some great IGAs that you can easily replicate at your site.  Animal husbandry projects with cows, rabbits, or chickens, for example.  At our site, we’re processing soymilk to sell at the local market with a youth club. SPA grants are a great way to cover start-up costs and are straightforward to apply for.  Plus, the money usually arrives sooner than with other grants available to PCVs.  Reliable sources of income are often difficult to find in areas with limited work opportunities.  Even a small IGA can allow the beneficiaries to pay for things such as health insurance, school fees, and nutritious foods.

7.  Invite an organization to do a training at your work-site regarding appropriate work relationships and sexual harassment

GIZ (a German NGO working in Rwanda) has some resources available and Rwandan facilitators trained to discuss this topic.  It could be a great secondary project or a way to kick off a larger SGBV program.

___ 

This is just a sampling of a long list of ideas.  Be sure to check in with your favorite GAD representative about new project ideas as we move along.  There is a GAD manual currently in development that we hope to be able to share with you soon.  We’re here to be a resource for you!

Whitney

The Forgotten, by Pamela B.

Pamela Boulware

Health 3 - Kayonza District, Eastern Province

Motherhood and prostitution have a lot more in common than one might assume. Both are largely thankless professions into which many women unwittingly fall and out of which they rarely, if ever, are able to extricate themselves. Doomed to a life of service to others, most of whom have little if any understanding of the depth of commitment involved in such service, women in these professions are never properly appreciated or decently compensated, and are doomed to be tossed aside like so much refuse once their perceived usefulness has expired.

-The Utter Folly of a Life of Service: Women and the Trap of Selflessness

            The quote above states the obvious; women are not appreciated for the services rendered in motherhood and prostitution. While it is true, women carry the burden of child birth which in many cases women die. This fact has led me to write this entry. On July 10, 2012, I was told that the wife of a teacher at my school died giving birth to their first child, which survived. We have a tendency to associate parenting with solely women. Therefore, there is little or no acknowledgement to the men. However, what happens when, like in this case, women die giving birth. In this entry, I want to take time to acknowledge the role men play in parenthood.

            Since I have begun my service here in Rwanda, I have befriended three families that have been struck with tragedy and the husband has been left to handle the stresses of raising a family alone. In a society that places a big emphasis on women as the structural support in the home, on a 1-hour dusty walk, I was given the privilege to have a quick unplanned chat with a father of one of the families about how his role has changed since the death of his “best friend.” Since finding out about the loss of his wife I tried to keep conversations light and talk about happy things sometimes not talk at all and just walk in comfortable silence. One day while walking to work, I seen a little baby running after her mother which was going to fetch water. The mother told the child to return home, to where I see, what is believed to be the grandmother with three other small children. I look to my friend while shaking my head and asked, “Ri abagabo aho?” Where are the men?

            He was silent for so long I thought he had not heard my question but before I could ask again he said “tumeze hano,” we are here. We continued walking in silence, then he states that in Rwanda, particularly in Mwili, an area in Kayonza. There is a problem with jobs. Many men work near the National Park, which is far. In the village, women may stay at home and men go to work but if one has no wife to stay home with the kids he has to find more work to have more money to pay someone to help take care of the kids. He mentions that here, culture gives the man many family responsibilities that the foreigner will not see or understand because they are not Rwandandese.

As I thought about his last comment I came to understand his meaning, in that living here as an American, people have many ideas about the American people in which they recieve from television, books, radios and word of mouth.  I believe at times it is so easy to hold on to the negative parts of society because its easier to understand while the actuality is rather multifaceted. In a rather complex society, to an outsider such as myself, I have a new found respect for the men in these families.
Only a dad with a tired face, Coming home from the daily race, Bringing little of gold or fame, To show how well he has played the game, But glad in his heart that his own rejoice To see him come and to hear his voice. Only a dad with a brood of four, One of ten million men or more. Plodding along in the daily strife, Bearing the whips and the scorns of life, With never a whimper of pain or hate, For the sake of those who at home await. Only a dad, neither rich nor proud, Merely one of the surging crowd Toiling, striving from day to day, Facing whatever may come his way, Silent, whenever the harsh condemn, And bearing it all for the love of them. Only a dad but he gives his all To smooth the way for his children small, Doing, with courage stern and grim, The deeds that his father did for him. This is the line that for him I pen: Only a dad, but the best of men.

Anonymous

An Interview with Teachers about Gender Equality in Rwanda

Sarah Epplin

Ed 3 - Kirehe District, Eastern Province

I live in a village in the middle of nowhere about a 1.5 hour moto ride North-East of Kibungo. Since site visit, I’ve considered my village a very strange hole in the wall because though it is far from anywhere, it is a big village. For description’s sake, it’s possible to buy trunks, mattresses, and chocolate any day of the week. Because of its size, people who live in Nasho don’t consider our village as the “countryside.” It is not the countryside, but it is not mu mujyi – instead it is somewhere in-between, so I call it umudugudu munini (large village).

I decided to interview two of my co-workers at G.S. Rugoma (a third joined the conversation late) about Gender Equality. I was curious about their thoughts, as they live and work in a big village that has mostly male leaders, though female ones are striving through. Our Head Teacher, even, at my school is female. About half the teachers are female, with a majority teaching at the primary school.

What I expected from the interview was some kind of insight into their personal ideas, but as the conversation continued, I realized that as anywhere in Rwanda, the subject of Gender Equality is greeted with repeated phrases, an indication that gender equality is not understood in all ways it could be.

The message my fellow teachers wanted me to grasp was that in Rwanda, gender equality is present when males and females are working together and that if both try, they are capable of doing a given task. It is important to note the comments at the end, explaining that before the genocide, there were no female leaders, but now the constitution says 30% of leaders must be female. As Americans, it is easier to notice the differences between our societies and to recognize the inequalities, but that fact alone shows that though buhoro buhoro (slowly by slowly), there is improvement. What I wished for them to mention, though they didn’t, was the ever-present gender roles in Rwandan society, but perhaps another day.

Please note that I have transcribed this interview without changes to the language or grammar used by the interviewees. Rwanda is a country where many of its citizens are learning English as their 3^rd or even 4^th language. I communicate in simple English, and this is reflected here.

Sarah Epplin: G.S. Rugoma has both female and male teachers. Do you think this is important? Why or why not?

Male Teacher (MT): Yes, it is important to have female and male teachers because gender is very important in our education.

Female Teacher (FT): Yes! It is important. I think that everywhere we need the boy and the girl.

SE: In what ways do the male teachers try to help the female teachers?

MT: Male teachers help female teachers as the female teachers can help the male teachers in their lessons. All of them, male and female teachers, can have the same performance in their activities.

FT: Not. Because the females…we have the ideas.

SE: In what ways do the female teachers try to help the male teachers?

MT: Yes, female teachers can help male teachers. That means that female teachers can be clever someway than male teachers. I can give you example. Betty can be better in English than me. Or she can be better in mathematics than me. And so we can help each other.

SE: How do the teaching methods differ between the male and female teachers?

MT: Methodologically, there are different ways to teach. We cannot confirm that female teachers can be better than male there is not a best method of teaching. The best method of teaching is that one that can help students understand better their lesson.

FT: It is not the same. Everyone uses the methods that are the best for us.

SE:  Do you think the male teachers have any advantages that the female teachers don’t have? If so, what?

MT: No, because there is gender equality, male teachers cannot have advantages.

FT: My answer is the same.

SE: Do you think the female teachers have any advantages that the male teachers don’t have? If so, what?

MT: Okay, the previous answer can answer that question.

SE: The Rwandan government is trying to promote gender equality. Give me examples of how Rwanda has gender equality, socially, privately, and professionally.

MT: Professionally, when we are here, both female and male teachers can have the same advantages in their profession. Socially, in ceremonies, during weddings, both female and male can have the same advantages. Another example is that when people are there at hospitals, searching for medicines, both female and male people can receive the same services. Privately, at home, parents are male and female so that the children can be involved in their life at home. If one is doing the work, another can help.

FT: No ideas for me. The same as him.

SE: In what ways do you think gender equality could improve in Rwanda?                     

MT: Because our country is promoting gender equality, slowly by slowly I think there is no big improvement because our country tries to reach the gender equality. It is said that our country is not big, but for me it is not true. Our country has different regions. Rural regions and urban regions, so people in urban communities and rural regions cannot understand in the same ways, so that you can find that in some regions, the gender equality has not take place at the same level as other regions. People in urban regions can understand better than people in rural regions. In rural regions, you can find a man who does not help his wife. But in urban regions, people can help each other.

SE: What advice would you give a young boy about gender equality?

MT: The advice to give to my students about gender equality is that they can help each other without separation, without thinking that this is a boy and this is a girl and I cannot help him or her, but that they can help each other.

FT: The boy and the girl are equal.

SE: What advice would you give a young girl about gender equality?

MT: It is the same advice as the previous question. What I can add is that all students are equal as [FT] has said.

FT: The same advice as before.

MT2: My idea about gender in Rwanda: before genocide, the government did not focus on gender, but after genocide, the Government on National Unity is trying to teach about gender. In education, girls and boys are learning together in the same conditions. There is something called a bonus, to help girls attend classes, so the number of girls is increasing because the government is sensitizing and trying to help girls learn. Both girls and boys are working together, so when they for example clean the classroom or do umuganda – they can be together, they can work together. Some women can be drivers. I can say in general in Rwanda gender is promoted.

SE: How can gender equality be improved in Rwanda?

MT2: It can improve if all leaders try to sensitize or to mobilize, to go on teaching people that they are the same. They may not have the same force or the same power. In the Bible, women are always weak, but they have to mobilize them to work hard so that everyone is at the same level. It will be possible.

SE: Anything to add?

MT2: Before, no woman or girl was a leader. It was always men, but today the national constitution says that 30% of the leaders must be women, and so bit by bit, I think the number of women will increase. It is good to be here with you, an American girl, at G.S. Rugoma. We are happy to improve our gender equality.