English class

Except Computer class, I also started teaching English class. Well, not on a regular basis, just to help out Eliab, the regular English teacher, while he prepares for his exams. My methods are a bit different from Eliab. I noticed that he concentrates more on grammar and less on conversation. The result is that the women know irregular verbs by heart, but they have difficulties in putting a sentence togehter. That's why I decided to focus more on conversation. And did I hit the jackpot. 

The girls now seem to completely forget about the Computer class and want to focus only on English. In fact, we skipped Computer class altogether last week, to focus more on English. Some of them still don't have enough vocabulary to actively participate in the conversation, so I usually say/ask something in English, one of the girls translates it to Kinyarwanda, they first answer in Kinyarwanda and then we try to put the sentence together in English. For now we are doing great, but I'm running out of themes I can cover for vocabulary. We already did „colors“, „fruits&vegetables“, „clothes“, „sports“, „geography“, „getting around town“, „time“, „sewing“, „animals“... Also, sometimes I hate how I forget myself and act like I'm still in Europe. When we were talking about sports I just went on and on: „Yeah, we have football, basketball, handball, swimming, waterpolo, skiing, ski jumping...“ Then I see the confused look on their faces: „Ok, sorry. Forget about skiing and waterpolo.“

Marko

Fundraising

The current project from which NWC receives most funding is over in a few months. From September the normal functioning of NWC is questionable , unless we get some now funding. So, while the Peace Institute in Ljubljana prepares big project proposals for the European Commission and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia, we are helping Marie Aimee, the president, to write smaller applications for funding. 


Last week Suncica wrote an application for Global Fund for Women, a nonprofit grantmaking foundation that advances women's human rights by funding women-led organizations worldwide. The GFW grants range in size from US $500 to $30,000 per year. We also finished a letter of interest for MamaCash, an international women's fund that supports pioneering and innovative women's initiatives around the world. MamaCash grants range from $5000 to $50000 per year. If successful, the grants would be used for an uninterrupted continuance of all NWC's activities, including administrative expenses necessary, for a few months. 


Few days ago, we received a confirmation from GFW that they received our application and that it's in their system now. Also, they note that it usually takes them 7-9 months to decide. We are trying to be optimistic about the applications, but what worries us is the fact that WC is a rather small group. It consists of only 13 members. International organizations like GFW and Mamacash are maybe more willing to give money to bigger groups. And so we come to one of the biggest problems of NWC. The 13 present members are reluctant to receive new members, as they view NWC as a source of profit and they don't want to share it with more women. This way of thinking is perhaps understandable from their point of view, but also makes NWC look more like an exclusive group of women and not as an NGO that expands it's influence and grows bigger every year, how it was concieved at the beginning. Still, we hope that the accomplishments of NWC thus far (and there has been a few) will impress the donors.


Marko

Damage report

We didn't thought of ourselves as being very accident prone, but somehow we managed to cause damage. On the place we live in, as well as on ourselves. On the day we arrived, when we first tried to open our backyard doors, we broke the key. It stayed in the lock. So we first tried to get out the piece of the key stuck in the lock and then to find a lock-smith somewhere in the busy, dusty streets of Nyamirambo.

Then a mirror. There was only one small mirror in our room and we kept it on the window. Of course, it fell on the floor. There is a saying about seven years of bad luck brought by a broken mirrow... We are just not sure does it come to the owner of the mirror or the breaker of it.

In the days after the mirror we mostly caused physical injuries to ourselves. First Marko banged his head diving in the pool of the Hotel des Mille Collines. His face is all scratched and has a bump on his forehead which makes him look like a unicorn. The rest of his face looks like he washed the steet with his cheeks. We usually tell people he fell of a moto-taxi. It sounds less embarassing. Then Suncica burned her leg, while riding on a moto-taxi. Or at least we thing it was while riding a moto-taxi. There was a bubble on the place of the burn, but it burst at some point. It doesn't look nice. If there are any doctors reading this, please feel free to contact us – we kind of suspect it has become infected and it would be very unconvenient for our plans if we would have to amputate her leg right now. And let us not forget the tooth Marko broke while eating some brochettes (skewered goat meat).

Suncica & Marko

Computer class

Computer class

Last week, on Thursday, May 3rd, I started teaching computer class. Usually Eliab, who works as the English teacher, also volunteers at the computer class. So we agreed that, for the timeI'm here, I can take over computer class. My class, for now, consist of seven wonderful ladies: Jeannette, Mariam, Joyce, Eugenie, Epiphanie, Mayimuna and Zayinabi. I've been told that there are more women who are attending, but for now, they haven't showed up. Also, the idea of time seems to be very fluid to some of the women. If the class starts at 11 a.m. some have the habit of slowly walking in at around 11:50. But I'm usually also always late for work back home, so I don't take it against them.

Until now, Eliab held the class with only one computer, which can be very frustrating, not to say almost impossible to organize. He would show them an exercise and they would each had to repeat it one by one on the same computer. I brought in my computer, so now we are working on two. It's a bit easier. I organized them in two groups. In each group there is one woman who is doing a little bit better then the rest and knows a bit more English, so she can make my job easier by translating, and help the other women in their exercises. I forgot to mention that most of them (with two exceptions) know English very poorly, which makes my job even more challenging. More challenging, but also more rewarding if I manage to teach them something. For now we did some repetition of basic Microsoft Word Office stuff. Since not all of them have their e-mail accounts, we also created one for each student and I’m teaching them to compose e-mails, send and receive them. In the coming week I plan to do some more Word Office, some Internet use, and maybe even some Excel.

I am really fascinated by my students. Some of them are women in their fifties, but they are coming to every class, trying really hard on every exercise and staying long after the class is finished to practice some more. Every single time we break the schedule for at least na hour. I also like the enthusiasm some of the women have for learning ICT. I just hope that they will be able to put in use in everday life everything we practice. I think the computer class is also a good opportunity for women to spend some time together. It is also really touching when, after the class, you get e-mails from your students saying how they are happy to learn new things. For example, one of Jeannette's e-mail I got two days ago: „Hi! My good Teacher,I see you are very good on face to face,you are very very happy,the first all of I want to thank you so so so much because you teach us very well that's why you welcome in our class,you are my best Friend and May God help all things you want and God bless you.“ In Croatia they would just cut the tires on your car. Oh yes, as much as I would like them to call me "Marko" or at least "Mark", they just call me „Teacher“. Which I hear is not a big compliment in Rwanda, since teachers are very underpaid. 

Marko

Computer class with Eliab

Biryogo market opposite the NWC

View of Kicukiro district of Kigali from Nyamirambo

NWC meeting

On Sunday, 29th of April, we were present on one of the NWC's bimonthly meetings. We finally met almost all the members of the Centre. After a short round of introductions on English and reports on the study visit to a women's organisation called Sunny Skies in Uganda, things got pretty intense, although on Kinyarwanda. It seems one of the main points of disagreement on the meeting was the ownership of the car. NWC owns a Toyota RAV4 Crossover SUV, with 4-wheel drive, which was a gift from foreign donors. Except for the NWC needs, the car is also rented and is one of the sources of income for the Centre. Some of the members suggest selling the car, while others strongly oppose it. The problem is that there is no written proof from the past year on how often the car was rented, to whom and at which amount. Also, nobody took special care on the condition the car was in. The result is that today the value of the car is 3.5 million Rwandan Francs (originally it was 6 million RWF). Other points of disagreement were access to one of the bank accounts the Centre owns. The Centre has two bank accounts – one is for the centre itself, the other for incomes coming from community-based tourism. Apparently, access to the account was one of the points of disputes.  We were quite satisfied after the meeting, since we got to understand the social dynamics of the groups, the way they work and function and some of the horizontal differentiation. Bringing things out in the open in the meetings, although intense at moments, is a lot more productive way of resolving unsolved issues and problems. Especially since we were told that the previous NWC's president, kept all the information and decisions to herself, without consulting the group. Marko

First impressions of Kigali

The second day of our stay in Kigali, we went for a walk to the city centre. And we repeated the walk almost every other day. There are a couple of things you can notice right away. The centre of Kigali (or chigali, as it is pronounced in Kinyarwanda) is a busy, vibrant capital with new concrete and glass buildings sprouting on every corner. Kigali is very safe. In fact it is known to be the safest capital of Africa. This is partly due to the regime in power. At every street corner there is a policeman in dark blue uniform, or a soldier in a dark green, carrying a machine gun. Not at one point did we feel unsafe walking through the capital, being mid-day or late in the evening. The Rwandans are very proud of the safety of their capital. More than once happened that someone would approach us on the street to ask us how we are doing and to stress how Kigali is very safe. It is really true. You feel more safe walking in the night through Kigali then through some parts of Zagreb. You also notice how very clean Kigali is. Rwanda was one of the first countries in the world to completely ban import and manufacture of plastic shopping bags. It did so all the way back in January 2006. Before the ban the streets of Kigali and hillsides of thousands beautiful Rwandan hills were littered with plastic waste. Not many Rwandans smoke cigarettes. In one week that we have been here, we have maybe twice seen a person smoking in the street. It is not forbidden, but it is frowned upon. The easiest way to buy cigaretts is from strees sellers, since none of the markets or shops have them, but even street-sellers will warn you that cigarettes are not healthy. For our first free Saturday we decided to visit the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre in Gisozi sector. We ventured on foot from Nyamirambo to the Memorial Centre and back, which in the end showed up to be a 12 kilometre walk. Visit to the Centre was difficult. Ofcourse, we read about the history of the civil war and genocidal violence in Rwanda, but connecting the known information with skeletal remains of the victims on display, their preserved belongings, a baby shoe, a woman's blouse, a rosemary, photographs of victims donated by surviving family members... is somewhat different. Over 250,000 victims of the genocide are now buried at the site. Especially touching was the Children's Memorial featuring fourteen photographs of children killed during the genocide. Beneath their portrait is a plaque which contains details about them and how they died (hacked by machete, smashed against the wall, shot in the head...). A group of genocide survivors from the Eastern Province was visiting the museum. They all wore a symbol in a distinguished purple color – a scarf, bandana, ribbon, bracelet... Dark purple is the color of genocide remembrance in Rwanda. I really had the need to talk to them, but I didn't dare.


Marko

The Office

It's a rainy day here in Nyamirambo and we are sitting in our cozy office trying to reflect on what this past week was all about. It's not an easy task given that our lives went through a rather dramatic change since last Monday when we boarded the plane in Budapest. In fact, even deciding which aspect of our stay in Kigali to describe first seems like an ungrateful task; there are certainly a lot of new impressions, and yet they form a harmonious and one-of-a-kind experience. As I was leaving for my first African trip, I was told by a friend that I will probably be able to fully process everything that happened only once I am back in Europe. From this perspective, I honestly hope that shall be the case, but also, right now, I am fully enjoying every moment of this experience being plainly different from what I am used to, and adapting to the situation in a very natural manner, without necessarily trying to explain of compare everything that is going on around me. So far the strategy feels right. But what are we doing here in the first place? For the following three weeks, and in Marko's case almost two more months we will be volunteering in Nyamirambo Women's Center, a non-governmental organization based in Nyamirambo district in Kigali, Rwanda. The Center, originally started as a self-help group, is ran by fourteen women of different ages and various social, economic and religious backgrounds, and aims to address the issues of social demarginalization and economic empowerment of women in the Nyamirambo community. A number of activities have been implemented with project management support from the Ljubljana's Peace Institute, including community-based tourism, organizing educational and crafts workshops for local women and informing them on matters like gender-based violence and family planning. Before coming here we were given some provisional pointers on what we were expected to do as volunteers, and the list consisted mainly of assisting Marie Aimee, the president, in her daily office work, applying for small-scale grants, monitoring and evaluation of existing projects, maintaining the website, giving workshops on functioning of NGO's, organizing activities for children and so on. So almost the entire past week was spent mainly on getting acquainted with the structure and current state of the organization, gaining information, identifying the priorities and assessing where our help could be most needed. As both of us have some background in Croatian NGO sector, an encounter with Nyamirambo Women's Center was a very interesting experience, because it seemed not to fit the exact model of a classic non-govermental organization that we have been in touch with. The dominant activities of the Center, namely renting rooms and giving tours around Nyamirambo neighborhood bear some resemblance to social entrepreneurship, and constitute a source of income for financing tuition fees for children of Center's members. On the other hand, the Center tries to reach out to community through organizing i.e. literacy, English and computer courses. At the moment, it looks like a No.1 problem is funding, because it still remains uncertain whether any outside support will be granted in the following year. The Center has made huge progress since 2007 when it was started, but is still rather unsustainable, in terms of finances as well as just capacity. 


Thus we decided to focus on improving and advertising the services that may potentially bring more money to the Center, as well as generally going through some fundraising strategies. We adapted a Facebook page in order to be more informative and friendlier for travelers seeking information about the Center. Feel free to add us as friends! Also, as we found out from Eriab, a very nice English teacher employed in the center- who also proved to a be a great beer and brochette (goat meat skewers) company- that there is only one computer available for the computer course, even though it is usually attended by more than 10 women, we also put together a donation request for used computer equipment from the embassies. In generally, the information that we are able to attain are quite scarce, and a bigger picture is difficult to form because the women among themselves also have very different ideas of where the Center should be going in the future. But overall, to be surrounded with these great women, mostly struggling through single motherhood in still rather impoverished and patriarchic Rwandan society, who managed to self-organize and make a difference, is pretty amazing, and may as well serve us all a lesson. Suncica