Needs

17-December
Four weeks, 99 hours on a bus, three days on a cargo boat, and seven currencies later, I am home, in Rwanda. My travels have been exhilarating and refreshing, but right now it is good to be back where life is familiar. The people, the food, the culture, the language; it is all familiar.

Being away for a month and coming back to Rwanda has given me a chance to step back and reconsider my work this past year and think about the work that is most needed in Rwanda.

At the beginning of the year, when I first realized that I was going to have a surplus of donation money to spend in my community, I began asking myself how I could possibly use these funds. It seems strange, doesn't it? What does a shopping spree look like in a third world country? On one hand it seems obvious, but on the other it isn't. You would think there should be too many choices, yet when I tried to put pen to paper, I drew a blank. Why? Because I didn't know what the community really needed - I had only been there for a month or two! Maybe that sounds silly. After all, a straightforward cookie cutter solution should fit the bill: shoes, clothes, toiletries, and cans of tuna fish and beans to pass out, right? But poverty is a completely different beast in Rwanda than it is in downtown Cleveland, let alone in Uganda or Zambia. Poverty, entangled in economics, politics, cultural views, technology, climate, and geography, has many faces, countless causes, and elusive answers. So, to ask what a community needs is a challenging question.

Fortunately, through some wonderful counsel from a few leaders within our village, I am confident that we met a great deal of needs. This includes school supplies, school fees, textbooks, calculators, and sports equipment for my church as well as clothes, food, doors, mattresses, and Bibles for individuals in my congregation. Another generous gift from the states was specifically used to provide 200 mosquito nets for my school and a shipment of used textbooks is on the way from my university's TBP chapter. I have been overwhelmed by the generosity that people have displayed in helping my community. A great deal of admiration and gratefulness go out to you folks.

But now, after living here for a year, I want to return to that question: what does my community need? In particular, I want to consider non-monetary needs. As I look around I see countless opportunities to make practical and long-term differences in my community. Science labs need to be organized and teachers need to be trained how to perform and teach experiments. Electricians need to rewire my school so that every bulb and appliance does not run on when the electricity is switched on, and then teach the staff and students about power saving and the environment while they're at it. Agriculturalists need to teach Rwandan farmers how to compost and how to rotate a variety of crops using permaculture, which will not only improve soil and food quality and quantity, but will also contribute to an improved diet. Speaking of which, nutritionists could hold local seminars informing parents about healthy food/crop choices and diet-related health issues. Engineers can teach and help to install gravity fed water systems, local purification techniques and local energy, heating or electricity schemes. Librarians can organize our school's library and teach us how to increase student's access to books and perhaps open the library to the comjunity since no public library exists. Businessmen can teach graduates and young entrepreneurs how to develop business strategies and make the connection between their education and the job market, bringing in jobs and money to their local encomy. The opportunities are exciting and endless. It is not impossible by any means; the people in Rwanda are eager to learn and are ready for change. They just need the guidance and encouragement in the right directions.

In summary, if you have any skill or knowledge, as well as the creativity and guts, then pick yourself up, pack a duffel bag, hop on a plane, and fly to a small village somewhere in the world. You're guaranteed to find your niche.

Kindness

April 15, 2010
Yesterday I was in stonetown, Zanzibar, shopping for a few souvenirs. I visited a cooperative consisting of 65 women who made pillows of all sorts of colors and designs - they were beautiful! Just as stunning were the women's warm hospitality and friendliness. Meghan and I explained to the lady who spoke the best English that we were volunteer teachers in Rwanda. As expected, she asked us if everything was peaceful there and we assured her it was for the most part. She said that her husband had died fighting in the civil war in Tanzania and that she fears for her children' safety. She was very glad that we were teachers, providing education for children.

We perused the piles of colorful fabrics and after much deliberation made our final selections. We took out our cash and began to tally up the bill. Now, usually at a women's cooperative there is no bartering, the prices are set. But to our surprise they began "bartering" for us. First, instead of exchanging from dollars to shillings, they told us we could just pay the US price tag in shillings, meaning an $8 pillow would be 8000 shillings, which is a 27% discount by itself. On top of that, when I added up my bill, it should have been 53000 shillings. When she added it up, she got 50000. I said okay, 50000. Then, she gave me a huge proud grin and said 45000. And 45000 it was.

I am still amazed at this kindness to a complete stranger. We (Americans) live in a culture so focused on profit that it isn't even a choice to sacrifice kindness, but apparently the default. Moreover, instead of trying to rip off a muzungu tourist who's almost always a target, these ladies put aside their own culture's stereotype of me as well as the stereotype of money being the most important thing in life, in order to show the most pure act of kindess.