To Market, to Market. . .

There is nothing like going to the outdoor market in Rwanda. The sights and sounds are almost overwhelming. Today I went to the large market in Kigali, Kimironko, with friends to find fabric, souvenirs and food for the house. It was a great adventure to behold.
We started with the most important item, FABRIC! Shopping for fabric at a market like this is akin to allowing a seven year old in a candy store, unchecked! There are so many beautiful colors, prints, weaves and which all are a reflection of the countryside. Walking through the stalls, women have the fabric hung over wooden rods tied together with twine, four and five tiers high. They are able to manipulate the folds of fabric, three, six, twelve meters long or more with a long sick, never unfolding a piece or knocking the pieces along side off the pole. It is like watching someone poking a butterfly to life, as the fabric comes wafting down. Then, the negotiations begin. It is all part of the ritual, especially with white people, to set the price high and work down to something tolerable to both parties. The choices were sensational and with my fabric money depleting I made my picks – gifts for mom and sisters – some for friends and of course one special piece for me!
On to the fruits and vegetables, which in their simplicity, richness of color and presentation were even more beautiful than the fabric! Carrots and beans were on the list and it was a short hunt for them. Beans sold by the kilo and carrots by the bucket, all rich and sweet. Lettuce, sold in small bunches, was the most dear in price. Red beans, one of my favorite dishes, were displayed in mounds, next to yellow, green and white beans, almost a rainbow on a counter display. I choose my vender, and my beans, and she allowed me to take her picture while she worked. We passed by the potato venders, smelling of soil, on our way to the fruits. So many, many things to choose from, oranges, not genetically modified –smelling and tasting as an orange should, passion fruit, mangos, pineapple and things I do not even know the name of. . . . I fill my bag with tasty treats and head toward home. Happy with my purchases, proud of myself for finding yet another place where I can mix with Rwandans and absorb the local culture.

Raining Avocados

The night finally became still with sounds of Saturday night partying drifting away. Then it began to happen, a slight breeze followed by thud, thud, thud, roll…..(down the terra cotta roof) thud. (For those from the Midwest, imagine the thwat of a cow pile hitting the pavement!) It was raining avocados. The old avocado tree in the courtyard was starting to drop its fruit, sounding like a hailstorm the size of baseballs.
Each day I have watched the birds with envy as they flit high atop the tree from one fruit to the next working over ripe avocados, tearing at the skin, gulping down the beautiful green meat, feeding it to their young and then moving on to a new fruit. At times a fruit might hit the walkway and split, leaving the birds to perch on its edge, rolling back and forth squawking the entire time looking like they were having more fun frolicking back and forth than eating. Thus, my envy for the beautiful avocado grew as I waited for my turn to taste the ripe green meat and have the birds gaze down upon me in wonder.
Today was the day. I awoke to gather a large basket full of ripe avocados, ready to eat, not laying split open for the birds, but ready for me. I washed, pealed and placed them on a plate with a small squeeze of lime, and settled in my chair on the porch to watch the birds and eat my bounty. I looked for the birds to be watching me with envy, but the old avocado tree did not disappoint the birds or me, as there was plenty for both of us as they continued to flit through the tree eating fruits that will forever be out of my reach.

Global Grassroots Day 3

Where does your power come from? What takes it away? The answer to both is you. Today, the Global Grassroots class learned about the concepts of personal and societal power.
The class started by creating personal affirmation statements; trying to identify those things we must let go of and those things of which we must work to take charge. How can one make an affirmation statement concerning something that is an agent of change? One of the most important steps in that process is to look at how we react to our stressors. Is your community helping you to change or is it a stressor? Does your family, job or friends help you to change or are they stressors?

One of the ways your can react to these stressors is to “step away” from or “avoid” the stress. You can “step toward” the stress by meeting it head on and living with it. You could push the stress away. But over all, the most successful way to manage stress is to “dance with it,” to learn how to move with the stress. In this manner you are in control of your life and the stress, thus giving your life power.

One of the most difficult concepts broached with the class was “what gives you power in Rwanda?” There was a disconnect in what Global Grassroots was presenting and the classes’ understanding of the concept. The focus of the responses was ‘if we had money, everything would be fine’ or some version there of . . . So we tried to approach the topic by asking ‘Who has more power and who has less power?’ Again the response focuses on those with and with out money. So we asked ‘Who has power in Rwanda?’ adding, “what gives you power besides money.” Finally we started to achieve something when the answers of leaders, people with education and so on came up.
This relates to the beginning of the lesson when we then looked at power from within rather than powers from society. The idea of focusing on what gives you power as an important “source” when you are working with the less fortunate enables you to gain strength from and to guide people to so they can find strength.

This was a very interesting day for me for a myriad of reasons. I found the class eager to please, yet getting a bit frustrated with the process we were working with to achieve the lesson. It was hard to watch as the cross-cultural differences had a small clash over word usage. Come to find out, after assessing the lesson with out interpreter, the word power in Kinyarwanda is somewhat interchangeable with the word for money – now we know! Many of the statements of affirmation the women wanted to work on or get rid of were similar to their peers in the United States, except of the overarching problem of poverty. That these class members are willing to give up a half a day of work, for two weeks, to find solutions to the social problems that their communities are facing shows a level of commitment I have not previously seen.

Class works on the first step in developing a plan for becoming social entrepreneurs

One of the fellows from Harvard films class.

Melissa pulls babysitting duty in class!. The baby slept for awhile and then was very good as long as Melissa kept moving.

The class was introduced to yoga for the first time and loved it. They tried every movement, amidst giggles and grunts, and were quite successful.

Gretchen Wallace, Global Grassroots President, being interviewed for Rwandan Public Radio

Our youngest class member, with a volunteer

Women in the class

Gretchen Wallace, Global Grassroots President, leading a meditation

Global Grassroots Day 2

Today is a day of personal transformation and growth for the class members in Global Grassroots. The issues are the type of things that people in the West find easy to state but often times do not take to heart. I have found in Rwanda that this in not necessarily the case; here the work that is done on personal transformation takes on a quality of true attention and focus. Topics were genuine, heartfelt and expressed concerns of the person as well as community.

I watched as Gretchen, Global Grassroots President and Founder, led the class through the process of identifying those needs we can and can not change, i.e. things in society, things we have control over, things we don’t have control over and what we do with those things. It is all a personal choice, what to do with ones needs, either you can act or you can’t. You must let the worry go. The Rwandan women are learning from Gretchen that if you are worrying about what you cannot change, you are not present in your life! The more we are able to continue to cultivate the ability to be present with ourselves and others, the better our work will be, the better our lives will be and we will become a better person.

So what does this mean for the Path of Social Consciousness our women are trying to achieve? For them today, it turns out to be quite a simple statement, yet a profound act. Take three breaths. Before you react to something, take three breaths, prior to feeling overwhelmed by change or stress, take three breaths, when you need a quick refresher, take three breaths, and it will help you to look deeply into yourself, react more clearly and hopefully, react in a way that will do no harm to people or yourself.

Do you have the power to take three breaths prior to reacting or when you are overwhelmed or stressed? I truly believe that if is working for 40 Rwandan women trying to change their lives so they can work to make the world a better place, it can work for you.

So . . . IN . . . OUT, IN. . . OUT, IN . . . OUT. . . now isn’t it a better day!

Global Grassroots -Rwanda - Day 1

I find myself back in Rwanda and again in the presence of amazing women and men. I watch, as they are ready to set forth on the challenge of changing communities. Having the vision to try and change the lives of their community members, physically, emotionally and intellectually through the process of changing and strengthening themselves. How will their lives change? Through a sincere dedication to this educational process, to their cause and to their groups, i.e. the people with which they are training, each individual will come forth with the skills necessary to become a great volunteer.

The first day of the Global Grassroots Academy for Social Change opened with forty eager participants, three interns from the United States, an amazing yoga instructor, the Global Grassroots Rwandan Operations Manager, an intern from Orphans of Rwanda who has been working as an interpreter, Gretchen, and myself. Dazzling colors of traditional African fabrics, the sharp cut of business suits and a splash of fresh blue jeans filled the room. There were fresh faces, smiles and laughter where language escaped us.

The goals of today were to focus on the understanding of what social consciousness is, how is it achieved and to give a taste of some of the exercises we will be doing to accomplish these tasks. It was a full day of introductions, learning how movement helps our body recover from trauma and much more. Teatime brought a flurry of the filling out of forms, learning about each other and learning how to once again drink the sweet, milky Rwanda tea. (Not a favorite of mine).

A day beginning with promise ends on the same note as we prepare to receive our homework: To look for a miracle in the everyday, not so much a religious miracle but what we might not see if we were less consciousness of our world; the flower by the road, the beautiful bird in the tree, the strength or hurt in the eyes of an acquaintance …… so I set the challenge for you today . . . . find your miracle.

West Salem 6th Graders Raise Money for Global Grassroots

Inspired by a visit from Melissa & another guest speaker who is originally from Ethiopia, two 6th grade students at West Salem MS, Alexa & Brennan created and sold duct tape folders to their peers to raise money for Global Grassroots.

Students Raise Money for Global Grassroots in Haiti

My 8th Grade students at West Salem Middle School donated $1300 this spring towards Global Grassroots' efforts in Haiti. In December, the students participated in 8th Grade Expo as part of their Careers class (taught by Janice Stuntebeck). Each student created a "product" that they sold to younger students. Students then selected the organizations they would donate their money to.