The Create a Smile girls presenting a dance in welcoming

On July 2 we spent the afternoon with the FAWE girls. FAWE, Forum for African Women Educationalist, is an all-girls boarding school in Kigali, Rwanda. The FAWE girls heard about Richard’s Rwanda from Jessica and decided the make their own chapter, Create a Smile. The girls not only help raise their own pocket money for the Nyamata girls but they also go to the Nyamata school every two months or so the check in with the girls and help support them the best they can. It was amazing to see these girls, some from very similar family situations as the Nyamata girls, raise their own money to support girls’ education. The girls were an inspiration to us because they have over 60 members in their chapter alone and raise money that many of their families could use. They inspired us to become more passionate about the work we are doing in the US and to encourage more people to get involved.

At FAWE we started out with introducing ourselves to each other. The FAWE girls’ ages ranged from 14-18 in (US) grades 9-12. They started out by performing a traditional dance for us and then they also performed a modern dance for us, that involved many US dancing including Teach me how to dougie and more. Then played Riding on a Pony, Red Light – Green Light, and Big Booty with dance animals. We also lined up by age and passed a basketball down the line. After that we went back and sat down inside with the FAWE girls and played the UP-DOWN game where someone says a statement and everyone who agrees with that statement stands up. After that we talked about why it is important to travel to different places and cultures and learn about those people and also why it is important to educate women and girls. It was very interesting to hear all the responses from all our peers about why both the FAWE girls and the US kids thought it was important to learn about different cultures and why women should be educated alongside men in society. After that we had a dance party where the girls taught us traditional dance as well as some of the US dances they knew.

Many US kids agreed that it was a lot easier to communicate with the FAWE girls because their English skills were much more advanced than those of the Nyamata girls. It was amazing to here that not only were the girls, even at age 14, proficient in English but also Swahili, French, and Kinyarwanda. Many US kids were amazed that all the girls had to take their regular classes and the exams in English. I would never be able to be successful at test taking in a language that was not my first. At the end of the day many people expressed that it was one of their favorite parts of the trip because of how easy it was to connect with the girls. Many US kids also felt that we felt more equal with the FAWE girls, than the Nyamata ones, because we were not supporting them to go to school and they were helping the same girls we were.

-Gillian

Alex, Carolyn, Tekla, Priya, Molly, Elizabeth, and Jessica sing "A Brave New World" for the FAWE girls.

Today we, the group, learned what Impuwhe meant to us as individuals. The day started off with splitting everyone into three separate groups. Each group had different leaders and visited three different houses of our Nyamata girls in Nyamata. Lori Markowitz was the leader of my group; group 2 and we visited the houses of Cece, Joyce, and Peace. We first visited Joyce’s house.

            To get to Joyce’s house, we had to walk for about 20 minutes. Once we arrived there, Joyce’s grandmother greeted us with a large smile and a humble mind. Before giving us a tour, she spoke for a long while about how happy she was to have us in her lives and how grateful she was for our visit. After the tour when we took our group picture, she decided that the picture was worth her best dress. After Joyce’s house we only have a 5-minute walk to Peace’s house.

            Outside of Peace’s house, Peace’s mother was waiting outside to be the first to welcome us in. Halfway through a very casual tour, Peace had the wonderful idea of introducing everyone to her grandmother, a 92-year-old blind elder. As expected, she was incredibly wise and very thankful. Afterwards, we all shared a touching moment when Peace explained to us how her father had died 8 years ago and later she showed us his grave.

            To end the first half of our day, we visited Cece’s house. We started our tour by meeting all of her siblings. We then discovered that they had lost their father to the genocide and that their mother was away for work. This left the eldest brother with the responsibility of the head of the household. After introducing himself, he began the tour by giving a speech about how much paying for Cece’s education meant to him. Although his English was hard to understand we all knew how much Impuwhe meant to him when he started crying towards the end of his speech. After visiting the three girls houses we joined the other two groups for lunch and we all shared our thoughts on the day.

 -Jay

Today was the most emotionally and physically taxing day for most of the group members as we personally visited the homes of several Nyamata girls in the nearby neighborhoods. Us Americans split up into three groups, and after we arrived in Nyamata the girls followed suit. Within 20 minutes of arriving at the school my group was already on our way to see the first of our two scheduled homes. Blanche’s home matched the rest of the houses in the village—it was a four room, one bathroom hut, made of an orange colored rock that can be seen everywhere in Nyamata, with a cozy interior (filled with religious posters in languages Kinyarwanda, English, and French), and a well-kept garden at the entrance. The visit started by exchanging embraces between the families and the guests, and since the family was very large and extended, this lasted a few minutes. As soon as everyone had greeted everyone were politely ordered to sit down on the couches and chairs that had been elegantly arranged for us. The first dialogue (through our translator) was an extremely sincere thank you from the mother of Blanche to all of her guests. One of us politely returned this welcoming with a “thank you for inviting us to your home,” again, through the translator. On home territory, the Nyamata girls were very comfortable with the situation. On the other hand, we were really feeling the effects of the language barrier as we found ourselves at a loss of words to say within minutes of arrival. We pulled our way through it by singing the songs we teach during normal schooldays and taking pictures of the group. The next visit was very much the same, except for the fact that by this time we had accumulated an audience of about a dozen little children from the neighborhood.

After lunch, we packed up and planned to leave, but before we could do so we found out that two more girls—Naomi and Claudine—planned to have us visit their homes as well. The girls were so excited that it was impossible to turn them down, so without much thought, the group, Naomi, and Claudine hopped on the bus and headed in the direction of their village. These two visits were very similar to the ones earlier in the day. Then, as we were preparing to leave again, Grace, a neighbor of Naomi, also a girl that we teach asked kindly if we paid a visit to her house as well. Seeing as we did not have much else to do, we agreed.

The beginning of this visit began with a disappointing clash of cultures—we were offered a traditional beverage, but since it’s not exactly safe to drink things in which we don’t know the origin, we had to refuse. In Rwanda it’s very impolite to decline a gift—this left all of us in really tense air, and we were all disappointed that we would have to leave the home on a negative note. As we prepared to leave, Grace announced that she had a song to sing for us. Half way through, she broke down in tears as did most of the group, because of the sincerity of her thankfulness. She then continued in Kinyarwanda through the translator continuing her thanks toward us. The authenticity of her thankfulness was so moving that the group was paralyzed for a few moments, and then merged for a group hug. This powerful feeling was sustained through the bus ride home as everyone sat in silence in the aftermath of it all, and as we all arrived back at the Auberge we were all exhausted.

-Alec

The entire group with Claudine and her family at her home.

Today was an emotional journey for everyone on the trip. We went to Philomene and Marissa’s house today to visit their families. For me it was a little uncomfortable and not really what I was hoping. We went to the first home and the conversation was awkward and halted, we weren’t sure what to say.  The mother asked if we could send her children to boarding school which was a difficult question to respond too, and I’m not sure if we handled it correctly. At the second home we were faced with the same question. I was getting frustrated with some of the members in my group and the conversation was just as shallow. The houses were as I expected, but the reception of us wasn’t. I thought that we would connect better with the families like some of the other groups did, but it just didn’t work out. I was a little disappointed with the experience over all, but I am still very grateful that the families allowed us into their homes.

-Justice

The whole group at the school!!

Hello readers! It’s Tekla Monson for your daily Rwanda trip update! Before I get into the amazing experiences and memories I have from today I would like to make a shout out to my papa, David Monson. I love you dad and I miss you so much!

So today we went to the school again. In the morning we taught them “If you’re happy and you know it”, “Head, shoulders, knees and toes “and the Macarena. I think that teaching them songs is the greatest thing. They pick the words and tunes up really fast and they always have a lot of fun. At lunch we went outside and hung out with the younger kids. It’s very fun the way that all the kids crowd around you and listen to everything you say. While we were outside one of the kids taught me a hand game like a sailor went to sea sea sea and it was so fun. All the kids were laughing at me because I probably had an awful accent when I was trying to say the rhyme in Kinyarwanda. I love that even though we come from different countries we can still learn each other’s games and have fun together. They also taught me a game where you jump and stick your leg out in different patterns to win points. It made me really happy that they taught me one of their games because we teach them so many of our games, I feel a lot better when they return the favor. Today was great and I feel like my girl learned a lot of new vocab when we were reading.

After school we went to the embassy for some sort of American Fourth of July thing. It was really weird. There is no other word for. To get into the party you had to show your American passport. It was odd to step back into American culture after a while in Rwanda. In a way it made me dislike America a lot. It was very odd. There were lots of red, white and blue streamers and cheesy cheap patriotic hats and decorations. There were also a people dressed up in clown outfits, fat mascot animal costumes and Teletubby costumes. The entire time I have been in Rwanda so far I have not seen one obese person and when we were at the embassy I saw at least 5 in the first few minutes. It is just very interesting to note the differences between cultures. They were serving American food at the embassy party and afterward I felt so sick. I didn’t realize how great I felt here. I have been eating the perfect portions to keep me running and I haven’t felt uncomfortably full or sick from the food. American culture is so focused around eating and when I am submersed in it I eat way more than I need to. This is just my opinion. Some of the kids had a really fun time feeling at “home” again. I am very interested to see what my take on America will be like when I get back home at the end of the trip.

I am having so much fun. I can’t wait for tomorrow when we visit the Nyamata girls’ homes. We are visiting all the girls in my teaching group and I think it will be great to see them with their families. Thanks for reading.

This is Tekla Monson signing over and out! Love ya! xoxox

Today when we visited the Nyamata girls for the second time the Seattle group started the day off by singing our theme song, “I Can See Clearly Now the Rain Has Gone.” We then sang the song for a second time including the Nyamata girls within our circle clapping and singing along. After welcoming one another the Seattle and Nyamata girls group broke up into groups and started to play charades. Both Nyamata girls and a Seattle girl or boy would act out a simple English word to the rest of the class. Once the English word was guessed, Susan would write the English word on a piece of paper and would stick the piece of paper to the wall for all to see. By the end of the game we accumulated over fifteen English words which were then all stuck to the wall. After playing charades then Nyamata girls and the Seattle group went outside to the back of the school to play Duck-Duck Goose. This was a great game to play with the girls. This game really made the girls interact with the Seattle group along with their classmates. After Duck- Duck Goose, everyone started to play freeze tag. This game got the girls laughing and all excited when Jay and Alec were chasing after everyone. Once the game of Freeze tag was over Elizabeth decided to play the sitting game. The entire group got into a compact circle and then sat on one another’s lap. Then it was time for the trust games! Many of the Nyamata girls loved how low they could get to the ground and the air was filled with laughter. After we shared these games with the girls we then had to go back inside for our morning lesson.Once broken up into the teaching groups the Nyamata girl(s) read out loud in English from the children’s book brought down from Seattle. Many of the Nyamata girls loved reading the children’s book that the Seattle group had brought down.  Today was a successful day for both Nyamata girls and the Seattle group learning within the school.

-Emma

This afternoon we got to eat lunch with the girls for the first time which was really fun! We brought them the lunch that we packed this morning which was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and they seemed to like it. Lunch was a really good time to get to talk to them about what they like to do and they wanted to look through all of our photo books again too. They love to identify people in pictures that they know! After lunch we got back into our teaching groups to come up with skit ideas to preform to the class as a whole. The theme was friends and family so all of the skits were each groups idea of what friendship means to them. Since their English is pretty limited the skits were very simple but it was really fun to watch the girls laugh and get excited to show their ideas. Once each group had their turn, Tekla, Ellie and Priya taught their song to the group which was called “Down by the Banks” and the hand game that went along with it as well. The girls LOVED this game and they seemed to catch on really quickly! We also played telephone with only one successful word but it was fun to see the different interpretations of the words that traveled around. As soon as we were done with the games we all headed outside to sing “I Can See Clearly Now” and all of the girls and younger kids came outside to join us and to dance along to other songs that they knew. It was a lot of fun to just hangout with all the girls and the little ones were crazy about the cameras! They wanted to take pictures all afternoon and as soon as the picture was taken they would crowd around to see the little screen even if they hadn’t been in the picture! It was so cute to see their faces when they looked on the little screen and saw their own face. Overall, this afternoon was really exciting! 

-Courtney

Molly, Alex, Tekla and Jessica with their new best friends outside the Nyamata school during lunch!

Tuesday was the first encounter with the Nyamata girls. Everyone was so excited during the bus ride!! I don’t think anyone could actually comprehend that we were actually going to be there with the girls we have been raising money for. As the bus pulled up there were a few little kids but we did not see the girls. Everyone ran off the bus! When we walked across the red clay dirt path the kids in the entire classroom hung out the windows waving and yelling. You could not help but to smile! The girls came up to us as we were walking and there were so many hugs! The girls were open and excited but timid. When we walked in the room the black chalkboard had huge letters that said “ WELCOME IN RWANDA ESPECIALLY IN NYAMATA!” The first thing we did was learned everyone’s names! We showed them our photo book and they LOVED them so much! As we sat on the school benches any Muzungu (white person) who had their hair down would get it played with by the girls. They would twirl it, just being enamored by it’s difference. One of there girls pointed to the moles on my neck and asked what they were.  People were welcome to come up and say anything they wanted to the group. Both the USA girls and Nyamata girls said some really powerful things to say! One of the girls, Grace asked if we could listen to Baby by Justin Bieber! So Grace and I asked Elizabeth to play the song and the whole group ended up have a dance party for a good 35 minutes!

Later the little kid were all outside and there were at least 40 or more little kids awaiting out exit! When we walked outside they just swarmed around and were grabbing and holding hands! They were so sweet and loving! Lots of photos and hug were taken and exchanged! Many new hands meet and walked together. Yesterday was a day to remember! : )

-Rain

As we arrived we were welcomed with the lush green hills and friendly people of Rwanda. I was overjoyed to begin yet another experience with a brand new group of committed excited IMPUHWE members. Always am I reminded of the dusty, somewhat polluted air as well as the wonderful, open people. Rwanda is such a unique place, like no other. The banana fields and coffee plantations everywhere you turn. My mom and I ventured out to the airport in our jumbo bus to pick up our ecstatic travelers. Once we settled and adapted to our lovely L’Auberge Beausejour guesthouse, the kind and friendly workers greeted us. Before our first day a small group of four ventured out to the fantastic and convenient super market where we bought some loaves of bread, fruit (only peeled fruit of course), jam, and peanut butter. Your basic, efficient, and cheap lunch which hits the spot after a long day in the sun. We are woken up between 7-7:30 to get ready for our delicious breakfast followed by a short prep meeting before we depart for the school. Everyday we carry out our routine of packing lunches for both the girls and ourselves. When we return we finish up our day by walking over to the Girl Hub house and both reflecting and journaling about the incredible experiences. Later on we conclude the night with a tasteful buffet down the street. What happens the next day you may ask? TIA as we say. This is Africa.

-Jessica

The first 24 hours were, to say the least, very miss-matched. Everyone was beyond exhausted after they got off the plane. We quickly all went to go through customs which was very easy and did not take long at all. After that we went to get our bags and then we were off to the bus. If this bus was in Seattle it would most likely only allowed about 15 people on it. We, however, were able to fit over 20 plus our bags. It was so cramped! But the hotel was only 10 minutes away so it was fine. We arrived at the hotel at about 3:30 Rwandan time and all dispersed to our rooms. The rooms consist of a bed, mosquito net, a bathroom (some big, some small) and a small TV plus a cupboard. The room is very nice. Everyone only wanted to sleep but we had no time because WE WERE FINALLY HERE! We all went to dinner at the other half of our hotel, which was located about a block away. The food was delicious (soup, noodles, chicken, yogurt). We were all practically dead by the time dinner was over and we all could not wait to go back to our rooms and sleep. At about 8pm we all went back to the hotel and quickly went to bed.

We all woke up at about 7am and had a delicious breakfast consisting of eggs, toast, and an assortment of wonderful fruit. After breakfast we all went into the lobby of our hotel and began to learn our theme song, “I Can See Clearly Now”. We learned our dance to it too. This is the song that we sing to the girls at the school every morning when we arrive. After this we all had some down time then we headed out to our first day at the school!

-Alex

Sixteen of us met in the SeaTac airport for our highly anticipated 2011 Rwanda trip. However, lots of our excitement turned into exhaustion as we stepped onto our first flight out of three.  Josh, Rain, and Tekla, all seated in the same row, stayed up all of the 5 hours making friendship bracelets, journaling, and playing “Touch Touch Revolution.” When we landed in Dulles, we met up with Carolyn, Carrie, Susan, and Gina.  With the exception of Alex and Megan (they were napping,) we all shared riddles with one another (oddly enough, almost all of the riddles involved midgets and clowns.) With dread, we boarded the twelve hour flight from Dulles to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Though we expected a horrible flight, it actually wasn’t that bad! Justice, Courtney, Carrie, Jay, and I all watched a creepy movie called “the Resident.” Carolyn attempted to play solitaire for five hours but could not beat a single game. The rest of us were conked out for almost the full 11 ½ hours. Eventually, we landed in the beautiful country of Ethiopia. We all could not contain our excitement for our arrival in Rwanda, but the following layover could. We were forced to sit and wait for another 2 hours before we could board the next flight. Finally we boarded the plane and arrived in Rwanda. It took us a full 20 hours of flight time before we could reach Rwanda, but thankfully, it was soo worth it.

- Ellie