Day 4: A Glass Half Full

On Tuesday morning the 16th of August, Molly one of the teachers here allowed us the time to lead her class. We both decided to talk about identity and spent hours the day before planning what we wanted to do. We wanted to have a circle conversation so that all of the girls could participate during the class. We also thought it was a good idea because circles are a big part of BAA’s identity and would fit well in our lesson. (See Flaherty’s post for more details)

When class was over, some of the girls invited us to the public speaking club they have at 4pm. We obviously accepted the offer. We made our way to the library to hang out and enjoy some books. An S5 class came in shortly after. They invited us upstairs to come to their class. So of course we followed, only to realize that they wanted us to talk to them too. We both laughed as some girls brought us chairs from the class over to sit down. Ms. Bayer soon joined us thinking that she would be observing as well, but was immediately encouraged to join us.

They asked us questions ranging from “Why did you choose to come to Rwanda?” to “What are some of your favorite books?” One of the most entriguing questions was when one student asked “Do blacks and whites get along in the U.S since segregation?” All 3 of us looked at each other at once. I, Kamiya, answered:

“It’s very complicated right now. Racism in the U.S now has found other ways to affect people since the Civil Rights Movement. There are no longer signs or laws saying that we are not equal, but it is very internal. People say we are all equal, but people and the law SHOW otherwise.”

We then asked them if they were familiar with the Black Lives Matter movement. None of them had even heard of it before. Both Ms. Bayer and I explained exactly how it started. When we got into detail of police brutality and how people weren’t being charged for committing these murders, the girls were shocked. They couldn’t understand why someone wouldn’t be reprimanded and charged of murdering innocent black lives. We can’t understand either.

Fast forward to the Public Speaking Club. Girls from all grades can go there to practice making speeches or just speaking in front of their peers. We watched a TedTalk on this woman who was talking about the importance of power stances. Afterwards, the girls came up with prompts that they could respond with in front of the class. The questions were as follows:

1. How effective do you think power posing is?

2. Do you think women empowerment will distract/destruct African Culture?

3. What was a time you felt powerful?

4. If you had 1 full day to live, what would you do?

5. What are the qualities of a good leader?

6. How has public speaking club helped you?

There were many beautiful and funny responses, all of which we wished we could have caught on film. One that will stay with us is definitely when one girl responded to the 6th prompt. She said how people always told her not to raise her hand and speak in class. How people even told her it was better for her to just stay quiet all together. The girl said she accepted that she wasn’t born with the gift of public speaking, but that would never stop her from expressing her opinions and taking every chance she got to work on her skills. Another girl came up and did the same as well. She eventually broke into tears and thanked Teacher Molly and Teacher Faithful for encouraging girls to keep speaking.

After the club, some older girls made an announcement of a new club that will be starting later on this week. It’s called the Youth Empowerment Club and the girls would be networking with nearby schools to come together and take control of their lives and standing up for things they believe in. As always, they invited us to take part. Of course we were excited, I mean, this is what we like, live for. And then the idea came. In the fall, we will create a partner club at BAA that will work and organize with the club here at Maranyundo. We will definitely have more details when we all meet on Friday.

Today was a great day. Not because we are in Africa, and not because we are “touring” an amazing school. It was great because these girls are exactly like us. They love to sing like us. Dance like us. Their reflection on their country and themselves are extremely deep, and they are very aware of issues that they want to focus on and change. Just like us. Every time we sit in a class, or have some free time with these amazing students, it reminds us of just how hard it’s going to be to leave them.