Speak Up! by Eliza F.

Eliza F.

 

Ruhango District, Southern Province

 

 Term 2 of the school year has (finally) come to an end. The last few days have been spent frantically marking papers and exams, calculating grades, and sitting in teacher meetings. I’m ready for the break. I have grand plans for the next two weeks – visiting other PCVs, reading some books, baking a chocolate cake, cleaning my jerry cans. But I also have started to and will continue to think critically about how to improve my teaching and my students’ learning during term 3.  

 

One of the largest challenges I want to tackle next term is the reticence of the girls in my classroom. I teach Senior 4, 5, and 6. In Senior 6, the second in the class is a girl, in Senior 4, the first. However, these two incredibly intelligent young women are totally silent during my lessons, as are most of their female peers.  Why? Don’t get me wrong, there are definitely quiet boys too, even ones who I know are following along and could answer my questions. But it's not to the extent that my girls remain silent. In Senior 4, my top student will sometimes whisper the answer but when I ask her to repeat her answer more loudly, she withdraws into herself. Of what is she really afraid?

Reflecting on this dilemma, I remember the fact that in high school, I was pretty quiet myself. I earned good grades but getting me to participate in class was like pulling teeth. Part of this had to do with the fact that I’m not an especially talkative person. But the other part, and the far more serious one, was that I didn’t want to risk making a mistake. Even in America, I felt that my reputation as being intelligent was more fragile because I was a girl. The best I could do was to protect that reputation by never taking chances in the classroom.

 

Now, as a teacher, I want my students to take the chances I didn't. Especially when studying a foreign language, refusing to participate is incredibly detrimental to your learning. I want my students to speak up! Some PCVs don't like to speak ikinyarwanda around their students, because, after all, we’re here in order to bring our native English speaking to the villages. This strategy is a good one and I understand its benefits. But I use another one- I regularly speak ikinyarwanda to my colleagues, headmaster, and students (outside of the classroom) with the hope that by allowing people to see me trying my best at their language (read: making a fool of myself), they’ll let their guard down and try speaking English.

I don’t know if this actually works but I do know that I REALLY try to make my students comfortable with making mistakes in front of me. But that won’t help the students who don’t have the courage to take risks. Because being a girl in a classroom does take courage, both in Rwanda and in the U.S. It’s not just about knowing the answer, it’s also about believing that people care about what you have to say, and that when you inevitably make a mistake, that you will still be respected by the people around you. Development workers, teachers, and society as a whole must support the voices and opinions of the girls and women in our world. We have to teach them that not only their “good” ideas are important to hear, but also their mistakes. That’s an awful lot for me to think about – I might not get around to cleaning my jerry cans after all.

National Gender Policy in Rwanda

Caitie G.

Kigali City, Kigali

 

Recently I had the opportunity to be a VAT (Volunteer at Training) for Pre-Service Training for the 5^th Health group to serve in Rwanda. In Peace Corps Rwanda it is common to have experienced volunteers spend a week at Pre-Service training facilitating technical trainings and sharing their experience. I’ve been in country for a year and three months now, which means one year down, and one to go.

While at training, I lead a session on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment. During the session a member of Peace Corps staff said something very interesting that reminded me of perspective, and the importance of maintaining a good perspective as a volunteer. The thing he said went something like this: the laws and policies have not always trickled down to the village level yet, but at least, at the national level, they are written and understood.

In the year that I have been here, I often lost sight of this, frustrated by the ever present gender imbalances, and overall patriarchal society system. But it is important to remember that Rwanda does have a National Gender Policy, they do know what gender equality is and have government offices promoting and creating gender equality daily. This has not trickled down to the village level, but it is a start.  

President of Rwanda Paul Kagame stated at the 63^rd United Nations General Assembly, New York, 2008: “With regards to empowering women and promoting their socio economic and political participation, we continue to make modest progress. We believe that, besides improving gender relations in our country, this marks healthy progress towards realizing our vision of a united, democratic, and prosperous Rwanda.”

I agree with this statement, and find it accurate on the national level.

I’d like to briefly review the National Gender Policy, specifically focusing on the Health and Education Policies for Gender Equality. Why those specifically? Health and Education are the two programs Peace Corps Rwanda has here, it is where volunteers are focused and can intervene. I find that volunteers are usually unaware of this information, or have forgotten it in the midst of village living. So as a reminder, here it goes.   

The National Gender Policy: is a tool that helps facilitate and obtain equal opportunities for women and men, girls and boys in all sectors.

-          The mission is to set society free from all gender based discrimination; for men and women to fully participate in all aspects of the development process

-          To eliminate all forms of gender inequalities in order to obtain sustainable development

The Education Policy within the National Gender Policy States:

All girls should have access to an education.

All women should have access to a catch up program for women who have  not completed their secondary school.

Schools should have gender sensitive mechanisms for the improvement of a quality education.

Increased participation of women in science and technology at all levels.

Education and Health overlaps within the Gender Policy:

No girl should be expelled from school because she is pregnant.

Girls should be allowed back to their schools after producing a baby.

Every school should have a room for girls to rest if they are on their periods.

Every school should have a room where girls can clean themselves, and change their sanitary pads while on their period.

Health Policy

Both men and women should have access to health facilities that have trained medical personnel, appropriate equipment and medical supplies.

Family Planning - Every woman and girl should have access to reproductive health services.

-          The reproductive health services should be gender sensitive and easily accessible to both women and men

-          Ensuring that women, men, girls and boys are provided with equal and correct knowledge, skills, and attitudes towards reproductive health

Women and men should have equal access to HIV information for prevention, treatment, and care of the victims with a special attention to women.

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Personally, as a volunteer I have never seen most of these things implemented in the villages. For example: every school should have a room where girls can clean themselves, and change their sanitary pads while on their period.  This did not exist where I was placed, and is a major problem. Girls wouldn’t come to school during that week because of the lack of hygienic resources. They would fall behind, and unfortunately the majority of the teachers were not sympathetic to this, and did not give them any resources to catch up.

But it is important to maintain perspective, and hold on to it. The National Policy, stemming from Vision 20/20 (a document of development goals Rwanda wishes to achieve by the year 2020), is what the government wants, hopes, and has implemented for its country. And government in Rwanda is serious and respected. These policies are opportunities for volunteers to pick up the missing pieces and links, between the national level and grassroots village level.  We can implement these policies in our villages and strive for gender equality on these fronts!

The parts I included in this post are very small portions of the Gender Policy.  To find out more about the Gender Policy click here for the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion's website. Also, the link to the Gender Monitoring Office here, and the National Women's Council here. For more information on the Government of Rwanda click here.

Lastly the Peace Corps's National Coordinator of GAD, Sarah Doyle, wrote a post on gender roles establishment resulting from the Genocide. Interested?  Click here.

What Now? by Sarah E.

Sarah Epplin
Eastern Province, Kirehe District

“Coming back is the thing that enables you to see how all the dots in your life are connected, how one decision leads you to another, how one twist of fate, good or bad, brings you to a door that later takes you to another door, which, aided by several detours-long hallways and unforeseen stairwells-eventually puts you in the places you are now. Every choice lays down a trail of bread crumbs, so that when you look behind you there appears to be a very clear path that points straight to the place where you now stand. But when you look ahead there isn’t a bread crumb in sight-there are just a few shrubs, a bunch of trees, a handful of skittish woodland creatures. You glance from left to right and find no indication of which way you’re supposed to go. And so you stand there, sniffing at the wind, looking for directional clues in the growth patterns of moss, and you think, ‘What now?’”

-What Now? By Ann Patchett

I have lived in Rwanda for just under 22 months. I have 4 months to go. The time I have spent here isn’t enough time to fully understand Rwandan culture or Rwandans. It’s enough time to take a glimpse. Twenty-six months of observations, conversations, boring days, exciting days, days full of waiting, days full of crying. Or hoping. Or just…trying.

I read this excerpt, sent to me by my oldest best friend, and I think back to my pre-Peace Corps days, the days when I was first researching the agency, the days when I was working to make my resume as professional as possible, the days when I was applying and waiting. I knew it was what I wanted and needed, and I felt called to be a Peace Corps Volunteer. I didn’t know exactly what I was getting myself into. I didn’t know my village yet, I didn’t know my future co-workers (my brothers whom I joke with about…everything), I didn’t know my future students (my girls who speak very candidly with me about their situations and their boy problems; my boys who imitate Chris Brown any chance they get), I didn’t know Samuel and Emelyne, my landlords (my older siblings who look out for me and listen to my Kinyarwanda patiently, understanding what I mean even if I don’t exactly know how to express it). I didn’t know much of anything about Rwanda. I look behind in my path and I see those bread crumbs – those conversations and interactions that led me to open each door that eventually led me to this place – and I am thankful. What I now know about where I am has enriched my life and changed my perceptions forever.

The most notable lessons that I’ve learned have occurred when I wasn’t looking for them, as if I opened a door, leading to a straight hallway, but then it took a sharp curve and I found myself seeing and hearing and feeling something that took me by surprise, took me on a new course of action.

One of those moments happened 15 days ago.

One of my students, Chantal, visited me. I thought she was just going to drop off an assignment to me, but she lingered, wanting to see my family photographs. We got to talking, and she, in her nearly perfect English, told me her life story.

She’s a 15 year-old orphan, who lives with her 80-year-old grandmother with her two brothers. They live in extreme poverty in very bad living conditions, sometimes going three days without food. They do everything they can to survive, so Chantal’s older brother has sacrificed his education, quitting school to find work.

These few facts tell you just a smidgen about who Chantal is. Chantal is at the top of her class. Three years ago, she received the highest score in the Eastern Province on the P6 National Examination. She speaks English at a higher capacity than most teachers at my school. Chantal has confidence. She has no fear, coming up to me or any of the other teachers, asking for clarification about a lesson. She has respect for her fellow students, not letting her high test scores attribute to a big ego.

She very humbly told me her story, speaking about her struggles of not being able to afford $5 shoes or of not having enough money to regularly shave her head.

I listened, and my heart ached for her, spoke loudly for her.

Peace Corps Volunteers have these moments, when we’re witnessing something or hearing about something and our whole bodies scream, “SOMEBODY HELP ME FIX THIS PROBLEM.” Most of the time, the problem isn’t fixable. It’s beyond us in some way, much like knowing that one person can’t snap their fingers and bring World Peace or End World Hunger or Cure HIV/AIDS.

But in this moment, with my student Chantal, something different happened. I remembered a school, called Gashora Girls Academy. Google it. Pretty remarkable, am I right?

It’s a possibility for Chantal. There are essays to write, financial aid forms to fill out, term 3 of the school year to finish, and a S3 National Exam to be had. Knowing that she has a good chance and knowing that I can help her get into this school has my body screaming, “PLEASE. THIS HAS GOT TO HAPPEN.” If she gets into this school, she will undoubtedly continue her education. She won’t have to drop out of school like her older brother did. And once she finishes secondary school, the chances she will have will be limitless. I see her potential futures in my mind. I see those breadcrumbs going from this eastern valley to the highest peaks in Rwanda. I see her closing the door to her grandmother’s dirt floored house and opening one to an office. With a view. And a desk. With her name on it.