International Day of Peace

Today is the International Day of Peace. Today I have seen unimaginable growth in my students. Today my English Club organized presentations and discussions and led the ceremony for this important holiday. They discussed peace both in general and specifically in Rwanda with about 400 students from my school. They spoke with confidence and with pride.
Today is a milestone for my students. At the beginning of the year, this same group of students was afraid to speak even in their mother tongue, but today.. Today they are brave and proud to share their ideas with their colleagues. If you had met them in February and saw them today, you would not think that they are the same group of kids.

Today, I am one extremely proud teacher.

Lessons from Year One

I’ve officially been here for a year, so I think it is only fair for me to share some of the wisdom I have gained from my experiences here. This post is not child friendly so please be read with caution.

Lesson #1: NEVER eat the sambusa at the bus station, you will for sure get food poisoning. 

Lesson #2: Bleaching your water before putting it through the water filter is more of a recommendation than a necessity.

Lesson #3: If it’s raining, there is a cultural expectation that you’re napping.

Lesson #4: Always drink the milk. You might get sick, but it’s better to take it and not insult your neighbors.

Lesson #5: Never leave your underwear on the floor. Mice like to chew holes in them.

Lesson #6: NEVER trust what you think is just gas. It could be the result of eating a bus station sambusa, and it might be more than just gas.

Lesson #7: Expect all meetings to start at leasttttt 20 minutes late.

Lesson #8: 7:00am on a Saturday is a completely appropriate time for people to start visiting you…

Lesson #9: Chickens DO NOT like it when you raid their nests. Always make sure they are ALL out of the next boxes before going in.

Lesson #10: It is perfectly normal for someone to hand you their baby on public transport and proceed to breast feed that baby while you are holding it.

Lesson #11: You probably have chalk on your face. Dust yourself off before you go to the market.

Lesson #12: Not all cows are friendly. Some of them will chase you through your village until a 3 year old child with a stick comes to save you.

Lesson #13: Yes. Those people are most likely laughing at you. There may or may not be a reason. Laugh back and check yourself out when you get home…

Lesson #14: You need a scrub brush to get the red dirt off your skin. There is no other way.

Lesson #15: There isn’t enough soap in the world to get the charcoal out from under your fingernails.

Lesson #16: Shaving your legs is a good way to get a staph (staff?) infection. It’s better to just stay hairy until you have somewhere to go that people will actually see your legs and judge your hygiene.

Lesson #17: Don’t just nod when you don’t understand… You might accidentally accept a marriage proposal or marry off your poor unknowing guest.

Lesson #18: Yes. That is probably your feet that you’re smelling. It’s fine.

Lesson #19: Diarrhea is just a normal part of life. Always carry pepto, ibuprofen, and antidiarrheals WHEREVER you go.

So this is just a short list of some of the lessons that I’ve learned in the past year. Most of them are silly, but so very real. There are so many things that we don’t think about back at home on a daily basis. On a more serious note though, I have learned so many more things about myself, about Rwandan culture, and about navigating through schools which have no resources.

Lesson #20: When you go to a school with no resources - No books. No electricity. Nothing. – you will find some of the most creative and motivated students and teachers that you will ever meet.

Lesson #21: Despite all of the sacrifices I made to come here, the challenges that I have faced since my arrival, and navigating a completely new and foreign culture every day, I feel like coming to Rwanda was the right choice.

Lesson #22: A community-based culture might mean no personal space whatsoever, but you never question whether or not people like you, know who you are, or want you to be there. You always feel welcome.

Lesson #23: This is something that I’ve known for a long time now, but it’s worth repeating. “Financial poverty” and “poor” are two different things. I am surrounded by financial poverty, but I would never consider anyone that I have met in the past year to be “poor”. They are rich in heart, in spirit, and in community. As far as I am concerned, they are some of the wealthiest people I’ve ever met.

Lesson #24: I am not a patient person. I have never been a patient person. I’m not sure I will ever be a patient person, but I am learning how to be flexible.

My Journey

Yes. I’m aware. It has been a reallyyyyy long time since my last post. Sorry. Sooooo with that out of the way, here it is. 

Year One DONE! I’ve officially been in Rwanda for over a year. In the past year I’ve been riding the rollercoaster of intense emotions and strange experiences that make up a Peace Corps Volunteer’s service. I’ve felt extreme joy, sadness, excitement, loneliness, self-fulfillment, and most of all pride. We’re almost done with the school year, and I can’t even begin to describe how proud I am of the great strides that my students have made at school. As proud and happy I am with my students, I think I am most satisfied with the progress that my teachers are making in our trainings. I’m watching them grow into strong mentors for their colleagues thanks to their dedication to education and to some very supportive NGOs, Peace Corps Staff, and Rwanda Education Board Staff. 

Have you ever had the feeling that you really belong somewhere? Or had a sudden realization like “Wow, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.” If you haven’t ever found a passion so strong that makes all of the challenges worth it, I hope that you find it. Everyone deserves to experience this. When I was young, everyone in my family would joke and tell me that I would either be a teacher or a vet. As I grew up I always fought them and said no, I wanted to be a… marine biologist…forensic scientist… anthropologist… marine biologist… Until one day, I met a sixth grade teacher, Mr. Axelrad. I will never forget this man, and what he taught me, and the path he sent me down. To this day I don’t think he understands, or is even aware, of how massive of an impact he had on my life. Mr. A, as he was fondly called by his students, was a social studies teacher. My favorite subject. He would always tell us about the teaching he had done in Zimbabwe (or maybe it was Zambia?), and the time he spent there working with his wife. I was always fascinated by his stories, and this “community-based culture” that he would talk about. I wanted to know more, to experience it. By the end of sixth grade I had narrowed down my choices for college to either teaching in third-world countries or becoming a marine biologist. By the time I reached high school, I knew. I would be a teacher. Not a teacher like the ones I had in high school, but a teacher like those I had in elementary and middle school. A good teacher. A teacher who helped students learn. A teacher who didn’t discourage their students. A teacher who didn’t give up on their students.

In high school, I was a difficult child (to put it lightly). My teachers gave up on me, and always told me that I wouldn’t go anywhere in life. I was stupid, I was useless. What they didn’t know was how much I was going through outside of school. My abusive relationship. Substance abuse. They didn’t know, and they didn’t care to find out. Despite everything, my guidance counselor, vice principle, and principle never gave up on me. They knew I was smart. They knew I had potential. So they never gave up. They pushed me through high school until I was accepted by Keene State. There. That small state college, is where everything really began. 

I wanted to prove my high school teachers wrong. That I was a good student. That I could do it. I was motivated, taking classes I enjoyed, and living far away from a place that had only caused me pain for so many years. In college, I met so many professors who influenced the way I now view the world. They shaped my thinking. They shaped my profession. It is because of people like Mr. A, Mr. Martin, Dr. Len Fleischer, Dr. Paul Vincent, and Dr. Therese Seibert that I am now in Rwanda serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer.  

Now, I am that teacher that I aspired to be. I will never give up on my students, no matter what they are going through. I will always try to understand what they are going through outside of school before I judge their behavior. And most of all, I hope that I can support and inspire just one student to follow their dreams and accomplish things that they always thought were impossible. The challenges are worth it, and I feel like I have finally found my purpose. Here, as a teacher in a small, rural village in Eastern Rwanda.

This post is to thank all of the people who supported me throughout my journey to get here, and to all of those who have yet to enter my life and have a positive impact. Thank you. It is because of you that I am here, that I am happy, and that I am growing into the person I always aspired to be.