Everyone Here is an Orphan

125 Children here at ASYV. Ten have non-functional mothers. The other 110 are genocide orphans since 1994. But they are not the only orphans here, the whole staff are orphaned as well. 125 kids living in units of 16 called houses. Each house has a house mom. They are all orphans too...in that they lost their children. The social workers, teachers, everyone Rwandan-has the same story. In 1994, I lost everyone....

It strikes me as a place of true healing for all. The approach here is radically different. There is no discipline here, just DNA (Discussion, Negotiation, Agreement). These kids have to learn that they will not be punished. But conversations will happen of a serious nature. They have to larn how to function in this environment. Here, the kids have ample opporttunities. You should see the weekly schedule. It is up to them, though, to take advantage. No one will force. Nir Lahav, Program Director, wants to inspire them to try! The goal is (according to the website, although Nir said something similar tonight over coffee) The youth who come to live and learn in the ASYV will grow into healthy adults who are not only able to care for themselves and their families, but who are also committed to making their community, their country, and indeed the world a better place.

This is a very different kind of education from what they are used to. Before, they were in classes of one teacher to sixty students. Lecture all day, no questions allowed. This is the usual in Rwanda, apparently. Here, questions are part of the environment. Students, teachers, staff, the Director, everyone eats all their meals together, all intermixed. There is no staff table. Everything is family style.

There are pockets of education happening everywhere here in Rwanda. I passed the Chinese language school in Kigali the other day. There is an ample demand for Chinese in this poor country to have school. Why? Because China is a leader in a knowledge based economy and Rwanda (with Kagame behind the while) is driving to be a player in that arena. In Kubunga, one of the tiny vilages we passed on the way here, I saw the Organic Agircultural school. Kubunga is TINY!

The secondary national language is being transitioned from French to English. Why? To bring Rwandans to the knowledge economy table. Teachers in public schools have been given 6 months to learn English before the Jan 1 switch over. Many are choosing early retirement because they feel they cannot make this change. Others are struggling to learn a language they will shortly be required to teach. Some teachers are being brought in from the outside (and I worry this will make for a subclass of Rwandans unable to survive or succeed in their own nation because they cannot get the skills and or the jobs...)

Nir says, we in the West think differently than they do here. Here, time is relative. Here the idea of responsibility is very different. Here there is little self reflection.

It seems to me, people are so elated to be stable, there is a willingness to accept anything without much analysis. I wonder in the end, how these orphans will fair. Will they learn that they are safe here? Will they come to trust a new system? And how will it be when they leave this village and return to the villages they formerly called home? When they think not like Westerners, but not like Rwandans either? Will they be able to share the gift and pass it forward? I wonder how that intermixing of cultures will play out.