Category Archives: Rwanda

This is Our Dream

Patricia Shafer, November 3, 2017

Mwiko Scholars

The first large group of donor-sponsored Mothering Across Continents scholars in Rwanda is finishing high school! Ten of 30 “Mentoring Mwiko” scholars are studying for national exams and anticipating graduation later this month.Mentoring Mwiko Scholars at Byimana_with Patricia

These three incredible young women are completing studies at the school of excellence Groupe Scolaire Notre Dame de Lourdes, an amazing environment with 800 students; a dedication to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM); and a working farm to meet student meal and nutrition needs.

ScholarsIt was only eight years ago that a student-inspired mural called “This is Our Dream” was painted on Mwiko Primary School, the place from which nearly all of our current scholars came. This rural school of 592 students near enormous volcanoes and lots of tourism in the northern province of Rwanda has extremely limited resources. It had previously never had a merit-based scholarship program. This is Our DreamContinuing an education after 6th grade (P6) typically means attending what’s called a “9-years Basic school” by walking 50 minutes one way and 50 minutes back each day.Students use tablets Pivot Academy

Instead, the 6th through 12th grade (S1-S6) “journey” for these scholars has included clean, comfortable boarding schools; mentoring for both students and parents/guardians; and participation in Pivot Academy, an innovative STEM-based program using Tablets that we piloted with high schools.

The journey’s not over by any means – they’re just approaching a monumental milestone. Guided by our Country Director Jackson Vugayabago, all of the soon-to-graduate students toured campuses in capital city Kigali, including Kepler University and Akilah Institute. After they finish exams at the end of November, the new high school graduates return to home village Mwiko, await exam results, and work toward college applications or other life and career options.

We’re holding our collective breath and crossing fingers. This first big class of merit scholar graduates will set a tone for brothers and sisters of what’s possible when you dream big and work hard.

From Knowledge Comes Beauty

Patricia Shafer, July 20, 2015

Daphrose-Receives-Any1Can“From Knowledge Comes Beauty” reads a hand-painted T-shirt, a gift to a high school merit scholar in Rwanda, originally painted by a student in the US . . . Why? Did the US student who painted the T-shirt believe deep down inside that there is a connection between knowledge and beauty? Does the recipient, Daphrose, now feel a sense of connection with a young person thousands of miles away that she may never meet?

T-Shirts-MwikoScholarsWe will likely never know the true answers. However, when Mothering Across Continents special projects coordinator Elizabeth Peacock packed her luggage and more than 20 hand-painted T-shirts for a trip to Rwanda, she wondered what magic might be created. T-shirts, she reminded us, have become a global medium of expression, especially for youth. Likewise – hearts, peace signs, flowers and books are images that translate well across many cultures. The languages of love, compassion and quality education are bridge-builders.  

Yet, Elizabeth’s bearing of T-shirt gifts had an even bigger purpose. Three years ago, she led an enormous T-shirt painting exercise across middle and high schools in Charlotte, North Carolina. After workshops learning about seven global issues (poverty, education/illiteracy, hunger, water/infrastructure, environment, conflict/peace, and intolerance), students were invited to paint a white T-shirt in a way that expressed what he or she had learned about what can be done to address one issue. Schools and students raised money to participate. The funds were designated to help build a school in South Sudan. The school, Nyarweng Primary, is operating today.
Sensoria
Then what? What becomes of the T-shirts? First, they toured Charlotte, including an installation of 2,000 T-shirts at the annual Sensoria Arts Festival at Central Piedmont Community College. The exhibit was called “Any1Can” – a theme carried on each of the T-shirts and reminder that Any1Can Promote Education, Any1Can Teach Tolerance, Any1Can Stop Hunger, Any1Can . . .

Some have been set aside, almost museum-like, to be untouched, and only replicated through social enterprise products available in the Mothering Across Continents store. Special gifts have been made of others – the group that Elizabeth just took to students in Rwanda, for example. And another group have been looked at, not as T-shirts to wear per se, but as accidental canvases to be upcycled into purses, bags and backpacks – a potential social enterprise to help fund more education projects.

But I digress . . . I’ve started to share the material and potential marketing impact of these T-shirts, which is easy to do, because we’re often told that T-shirts are a powerful and affordable marketing opportunity. Practically speaking, that may be true. But speaking with purpose, what matters more is that students in the US were introduced to the idea of global issues and the idea that Any1Can make a difference; they were asked to react through art; and their thoughts are being conveyed as gifts half-way around the world. Coming full-circle: “From Knowledge Comes Beauty.”