I’m doing a little catch up on my blog since so much has happened and I haven’t written in a while. So I am going to touch on a number of things but probably not in a whole lot of detail (I don’t want to make this into a novel)
Genocide Memorial
On Saturday morning we all visited a Genocide Memorial that is located in Kigali. This memorial consists of a museum as well as mass graves holding 30,000 victims of the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. There are many other memorials around Rwanda that have mass graves also. As we walked through the museum it laid out how the genocide formed and then what happened during it. For those you who don’t know it was between two social classes, the Tutsi & Hutu. There was conflict forming between these to classes for many, many years. In April 1994 the President of Rwanda went to sign a pea
ce treaty and all the way home is plane was shot down. That night the Genocide began. Husbands were killing wives, neighbors killing neighbors, and pastors killing congregations. Many of these people were told that if they did not kill then they would be killed or their families would be killed. The people of Rwanda were faced with a lot of tough decisions... “should they kill someone to save their life, their family, their country?” .... many pastors had to make a decision between releasing people to the enemy to be killed or not allowing to release of the few people and therefore the whole congregation was killed. There is a lot more that went into this conflict then what I write, but that is just a brief overview of what happened. There is a lot of conflicts between Rwanda and other countries and how other countries chose not to help until it was too late or how they helped in the wrong w
ays. But overall around 13% of Rwanda’s population was killed during the genocide. Today Rwanda has been big strides. The city I live in (Kigali) is now considered the safest city in Africa. We will be visiting another memorial this tomorrow (Thursday).
Futbol Game
Saturday evening our whole group went to the Rwanda vs. Egypt soccer game. It was a lot of fun to watch. Egypt won 1 - 0 . We payed about nine dollars and got front row seats and the president of Rwanda came to the game. It was awesome! I don’t know if I have ever watch national teams play, I think all I have really seen is club teams, sot this was a great experience! Although, watching the game made me realize how much I really missed playing soccer and how much I missed all the girls! But
What is poverty?
This monday we had a paper do in my class called The Social Context of Economic Development. We had to do a reflection paper of what we had been taught this week and to engage ourselves in the material. A lot of us took a different approach on the material, because it all has affected us differently. I took the approach of trying to defy what poverty is. We have been challenged to figure out what poverty means for us and what it means in the world. I went to a coffee shop with some girls and spent some time discusses what we think and what we have learned and I spent a good time what it meant to be emotional and spiritually impoverished. I felt really confident about what I was putting into words, but then I had to discuss physical poverty and what that means. I struggle with this a lot and trying to decide what I really think is considered poverty and the roles that developed countries have in the poverty of underdeveloped countries. By the end of the paper I was extremely frustrated and really unsure of what I think and believe. When I got to class the next day and turned in my paper I all my views of poverty were changed again. So I’m learning a lot about what I think about poverty and what my part in poverty is. I am being stretched a lot... and i like it!
English Classes
Last week some of the girls in our group stated going to a local organization that teaches young girls how to sow and started teaching them English. I didn’t go because I always seemed to have something better to do (even though I’m not really sure what that was). So this monday I couldn’t find any reason not to go. So every morning this week I have been going to teach English to a group of young girls who only speak Kirenrwandan. It has been a great experience! These girls love to learn and are so anxious to know more. I now have to start making lesson plans so that I have enough words to teach them each day. This is also helping me learn a little bit of Kirenrwandan, but I am really bad at memorizing things. The girls laugh at me when I try and we have a lot of fun together!
Practicum Fair
We won’t have classes tomorrow because it is the practicum fair. We will dress up and all the options for practicum will be presented to us. Then we will get the opportunity to choose what our top 3 choices are. We get to put in our input of which we would like to do, but essential the people in charge of each site will have the last word. They said the fair is kind of like an interview, we are presenting our selfs to the directors of each site. I am really excited to see what the options will be. By Monday we will know for sure which practicum we will be doing!
Weekend Fun
This weekend we are going to Lake Kabuye. It is apparently this really nice, beautiful place. We are going to be staying at a hotel and we will get the opportunity to go swimming and just relax all weekend! I am excited... and our professor pushed back a paper that was due on Monday to Wednesday so we won’t have to worry about it!
Thank you for checking in on me and taking the time to read this extremely long blog!
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