July19

this is Aimee he girl i sponsored

i cannot tell her i sponsred her to be able to go to boarding school, she is back and in my class

 our classroom

so covid got me and I really feel ok- just cold like symptoms. No fever, no loss of senses.

Yesterday I went to get my one of a kind hand made dress!  The store is run by women and is associated wih Mindleaps. They keep all the profits and their children attend MindLeaps

I was trying to chat with Jardine (our wonderful cook) and found out she is the only survivor in her family from the Genocide. She was 3 years old and  have no idea of how she survived. I will have to ask Bashir if he knows her story

So dinner last night was goat!  Im afraid I have gained weight from all the starchy vegetables

We have new students today. The classroom is not what you would want as a teacher but it is what they have,  I have said before how grateful they arefor  everything and I am sadly, not used to people being so respectful( especially students) and nice.

july 17

 Ok so itt finally got me! I have a cold but tested today Positive for Covid! 

After 2 years of/avoiding it/But  feel ok just like a regular cold.

Yesterday we attended day 2 of the arts festival and The Israeli ambassador was there bc Israel presented a moving piece about an accordian and the survival of what was the ambassadors parents.  I was able to speak a little Hebrew to the performers and the ambassador.  The worst presentation was over 90 minutes presented by USA. too bad it was so long and boring!  I am at the center already for a 10 am program. Back to masking.

Our fellow traveler frfom 2019 Lindsey met up with us at the arts show. Great to see her.

Hope I test negative in a few days.  Thank goodnes for all my vaccinations.

part of the walk home

just an adorable little girl

Chase is the choreogragher he had that suit made here!

Lindsey and the rest of us reunited

July15

Giselle and I

Estella, Carlos(Spain) Baptise,me, Patrick

 We did not teach on Friday because the students were receiving their repor cards for he year. The kids at Mindleaps also attend another school.  One of which is a prestigious boarding school that Mindleaps gives several students (30)the opportunity to attend.  It is a costly private Catholic school. We went there and was not prepared for the day which was a full Mass for kids getting baptized AND confirmed!  over 2.5 hours!   then many kids, including/Mindleaps performed.

We returned in time to switch cars and head off the the Going Forth Arts festival that was live for first time in 2 years.  There I finally saw Giselle! one of my virtual students. SHe was performing.  The show was amazing with one exception - a wierd dance I wid not care for lol  Today we are off but at the center for the wifi!. 

The art show continues tonight witht eh Barcelona dance troupe performing.

The show can be found on youtube if interested:Ubumuntu Arts Festival

kids at the Catholic boardig school

dancing after Religious mass

at the festival

Full Teaching day

 Full day and we went out for dinner with Bashir and Omer and Rebecca and Colleen

and par for course must have dropped key when  took out phone!  Lost house key

I felt terrible.  anyway it worked out one way or another.  Had wonderful breakfast and am ready for classes

7

Day 2 met my kids day 2 and 3

wish my students were as enthusiastic!

isombe- Casava leaves

Just finished 2 hour dance class and went on womens tour.  Vandeste is 6ft 9. Posting photos but no time to write

July13

We spent a day in Kilgali we saw the childrens street which is closed off  to traffic and is decorated as you will see - with superman and bat man paintings as well as words of encourgement all along the way,  due to Covid they also have a restatuant row with tables and chairs outside- something they had not done before,

We had the womens tour which highlighted womens entrepreneural underetakings. We were invited to a women home for traditional Rwandan food.

We all had to go for PCR test for the visit tueday to the refugee camp.  We also went to he Gizimba orphanage and met with the director Patrick who was hidden during the genocide as a baby.  He and Carl are close and as many may recall this is the orphanage that Carl was involved in . It is also where  Johhnson was after his mother was murdered.

Johnson paid us a visit and I was able to catch up and give him the gifts I brought,

yesterdday July 12 we started out at 5:00 am for a 4 hour drive south east to the Mahamma camp.  We could not take photos so I will try to give a description.

The dancers from Barcelona- Estella, Carols, Chase, Ricardo- gave a demonstration./Mindleaps has an important presence there with 6 trainers and they take only 120 kids. There3 are 56,000! refugees there mostly from Burundi. The camp is only 7 years old.  The houses are very small but better than what we experienced in the camp we visited in 2019- which no longer exists due to landslides. Those people now reside in this camp.  There were a bout 1000 people watching the kids from Mindleaps dance,

After the performance it was a bit overwhelming being surrounded by hundreds of curious children wanting to touch us, and calling MAZUNGA- which means white person.

The UN Refugee committee has a strong presence as well as Save the Children.

Over 200 babies are bornWEEKLY  The ride to the camp was mostly over rough terraine and was not for the feign of heart.

Some of the photos are of my students including Eric.  Vandeste the educational director us a whopping 6ft 9!  I will be teaching in 10 minutes!  

You will also see photos of our group yesterday with the dancers. Also photo of our food in the house where we are staying. a Rwadndan sunset and two young men who walked us home over the dirt stone covered streets in the dark. Jardin makes so much food we invited them to join us.

interesting cultural norm is o refer to an older woman as Mamma and the name of one of their children so I am Mamma Jennie or Mamma Ross.  I am not sold on this so to kids I am Mis Debi

if you are wondering- the green stuff is Casava

 Bashir, Colleen and me

Vadeste- big guy!

Patrick  from Gizimba

Eric, me, Pacifique,Patrick

children street

dinner prepared at our home

Vadeste is beaten at checkers- bottle caps

dinner at our place

Johnson

On the road

the Barcelona ballet company and us,

Sunset

Day 1 Agahozo-Shalom/Youthvillage

Before I go into today travel day was SO STRESSFUL as we waited for Colleen Covid test and she had to run and find another 1 hr place in Connecticut. We also waited for the MINDLEAPS person to drop for 2 suitcases filled with dance shoes for us to take. Each eighed about 40 lbs plus we each had our own.  Crazy But United Airlines people I must say were kind and very helpful, I mean it!  I made some new friends on way to Brussels and once again on way to Kilgali.  I wont go into it but I misplaced by boarding pass and could not get it on my phone bc of wifi THEN I misplaced baggage claim ticket and oneof Mind leaps bags was missing!!!!! I do not sleep on planes so I was done!  Bag was found and they NEVER asked for covid test!

Today was an incredible way to start this adventure.  I had no previous kowledge of this place and come to find it is a huge mountain top village modeled after the kibbutz idea in Israel, from communal eating to communal committment to family. Children between 14-17 who have suffered trauma, who have one or no parents and are most at risk live in this self sustained village- they cultivate and eat only what they raise and grow- They live in little houses all named for someome that they admire in history- they debate over the choices  we saw, Claudette Calvin, Mriam Mikiba, Golda Meir and/many more.  Each house has a MAMMA- who lives with them  Over 90% graduate and go on to college or in business etc.  They eplore the arts, music, dance, film etc and the campus has many rooms centered on these individual interests. We happen to have arrived o an auspicious day- the day after graduation (120 kids) and it was alumni day when many of the former students return to be in workshops, presentations, discussion and more.  Many donors were also present.  There are many volunteers they call COUSINS  that stay for a year and work there in the office, or as teachers, or as farmers, whatever is needed.The founder was a woman from South Africa with ties to the Holocaust and to Israel, Ann Heyman- she saw the need when she had visited Rwanda post genocide. Sadly she passed away in an unforeseen accident but her legacy can be seen throughout the campus.  One of their mottos is :If you see far you can go far:  There are similar affirmations posted everywhere. Presently over 500 students live there, You can google it for more information ASYV.org if you wish,  Im posting photos from/today.  We met so may wonderful kids full of passion, a thirst for kowledge and not one was on a cell phone during the programs.

We had to leave before all the performances by alumni but on the ampitheater is a quote that translated to :What you feel in your heart you must express in your mouth

Hope you enjoy the photos- we start teaching Wednesday- tomorrow we go to the Gizimba orphanage and then a walking tour dedicated to Women In Rwanda  NYAMIRAMBO womens center

Ill post photos tomorrow bc of wifi issues.