this week's musings...

15/10
I've been meaning to update for a few days, but frankly, I've been in a funk. The school term is finishing up and I've only got one week left till January. This isn't a big deal because I'll still be working with the womens' handicraft co-op 3 days a week and I'm working on the Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) which will be held during the break. I've also been trying to plan a lot of other activities to keep me from spending too many hours cooped up in my room with movies on my computer and working on new embroidery projects. I'm trying to maybe work with the local public schools to paint maps on their walls; I'm gonna re-do all the posters with wrong English that abound in the pre-school, and I want to push for a more concrete and formalized language-learning curriculum for the womens' group. In addition, I'm hoping to do some seminars with the pre-school teachers so that they are at least teaching correct English when I'm not there and maybe introducing them to the concept of different learning styles (none of them have previous formal teaching/childcare training). I don't want to come in and say, "my ideas are better," "you're wrong," but they only teach at the school because the school needs them to function and they happen to be living with this particular community of nuns that founded it. I have tried to be very fact-finding and culturally sensitive about my inquiries, but through those, I have found that none of them even particularly like teaching. I asked.
I've spent a lot of time with the Ed 2 volunteers and have found that this is not a problem particular to my pre-school. Teachers in Rwanda are some of the lowest paid full-time employees. They have many running jokes about how little they're paid. As a result, people often only use teaching as a stepping stone to better jobs. Retention is crazy low and very few of them seem to care as much as I selfishly wish they would. It's odd, because education is respected here. People will even accept "because I have to finish my studies" as an acceptable reason for not being married yet and for not marrying a Rwandan man. (IF ONLY you knew how huge that is, being able to fend that off with such a truthful response is so lucky!)
I guess with that understanding, I just can't quite place why teachers get so little respect and consequentially, pay. I know that part of the Teach for America concept is based on that very issue in American schools with high-need, so I accept that this is not unique to Rwanda, but it's tough to confront nonetheless. I think it's because the cost of schools here is so much higher. I don't mean necessarily the actual monetary cost (although that is a HUGE barrier to many students and is a major cause of the high drop-out rates) but the opportunity cost is sooooooo much higher for these students and their families. By not working as an umucozi (houseperson) or moto-driver or umucuruzi (shopkeeper) or most often on their family subsistence farming plot, they are losing things for their families. When that can make the difference between 1 and 2 meals a day, that starts to matter more and more. But it's hard to watch. It's like their stagnating their own development by keeping in these cycles. But I don't know how to help them out of it. It's hard to say, "yeah, go hungry so your child can try for one of the few gov't. scholarships to get into University because otherwise you'd have no way to further that educated child. School loans aren't possible or affordable and there are even fewer jobs available once they finish, but go for it!"

If you can figure that one out, lemme know so I can steal your idea and get a Nobel Prize.
Errrr....I mean appreciate your comment? No, I pretty much want the Swedes to know my name. Needless to say, these ponderings make my brain hurt. BUT they're great for rainy afternoons when I would otherwise be staring at my wall or watching the Vampire Diaries.

10/10
transportation is always an adventure in Rwanda. I've mentioned before how amusing the "bus stations" are. I obviously use the term loosely as they tend to be open areas with no such thing as a discernible parking spot but they have shops around the area (with all the same things). The most amusing part for me is always the guys running around, chasing motos, pushing each other and yelling (in 3 languages) their bus company name and next leaving time. So you pull in on your moto or squeezy bus and they either chase you, wave fanatically to get you to stop in front of their company and then all you hear is, "Belvedere!Belvedere! Excel!Excel! Just now! leavingLEAVING!" It's very amusing because their English is interesting, of course. And just their enthusiasm and like willingness to take each other out...wow. so i never really worry about getting a ticket. i draw attention and there's many to spare.
BUT it wouldn't be Rwanda if the reverse weren't also true. You can go to the bus park, wait, buy a ticket with the time on it and they'll have filled the bus and you have to wait, for an indeterminate amount of time. (schedules here are 'more like guidelines really')
today, we had our GLOW meeting. this is the girls' empowerment that I am terribly excited about because it is a topic obviously near & dear to my heart. but we didn't finish up until it was getting later... and of course, because travel to and from my site was relatively easy for the first 2 and a half months, it had to get more difficult. They diverted all the buses to the downtown and far away bus park and for some reason none of the 3 ATMs I tried to use to get money to actually go back felt like giving me money. Marebear has a theory that they're just smarter than me and know when I actually want money and don't. this time, apparently I didn't really. So I got stuck in the big city for another day. It ended up being a nice time with really great Indian food and a lot of sanity-restoring discussions on my work and life with people from the 2nd Health Group whose opinions I really respect. so yay for things not working, and being difficult, and more complicated, because sometimes all that makes other (more important) things, less complicated.