Six Weeks in Rwanda

I read Romeo Dallaire's book earlier this year, and now it's being made into a movie. They'll actually be shooting in Kigali while we're there!

This article is all about what we're doing this summer!

An Ordinary Man: An Autobiography
by Paul Rusesabagina

Hardback: 207 pages
Publisher: Viking Penguin, 2006
ISBN: 0-670-03752-4

My roomate Weston and I each bought a copy of this book after we went and saw Paul Rusesabagina speak at WSU early this spring. We waited forever for the book to be sent to us, and when it came I absolutely devoured it.

In this book, I especially appreciated Mr. Rusesabagina's use of voice in his writing. He has a very personable style, and he writes exactly the way he speaks. It is good to hear about the genocide from a Rwandan's point of view. I thought that Rusesabagina's discussion about the motivations for the genocide were the most succinct that I've seen yet. He speaks plainly, yet his words are powerful. It is easy to see how this man's personality and character were able to stave off the attacks on the Hotel Des Mille Collines.

Every time I read an account of the Rwandan genocide, I am horrified by what the victims had to go through. It is surprising that anyone would ever want to talk about their experiences, let alone write about them in a published book. I think, though, that Rwandans understand the significance of their history and want to prevent such things from happening in the future. This is why we need to read these types of memoirs: so we will be committed to stop them from ever happening again.

This library at telecentre.org looks like a good starting point for the kind of teaching we'll be doing. "Managing a telecentre" and "Managing technology" seem to be our two greatest concerns.

I've been thinking of using a social networking service to show Rwandans how the internet can be used for both work and play. It's been hard to find a bare-bones service that is simple to understand and use, though, which will be essential. This Ning site, though, allows you to develop your own social networking site. Hopefully I can use it to create something appropriate for people who aren't very familiar with the Internet.

I think that Romeo Dallaire is a perfect individual to sit on this committee. His traumatic experience in Rwanda will force him to approach this job very seriously. After seeing that kind of savagery, his life is dedicated to preventing it from occurring in the future.

Today we met with Jerman Rose, one of the people that we'll be flying to Rwanda with. Jerman is an expert at entreprenurship, especially with regards to developing societies. He will be leading some workshops during the first week on the ground. He came across to me as being a very astute, very professional individual. He gave us some good pointers to keep in mind as we teach the people in Rwanda:

1. Learn the names of the people you meet.
2. Be sensitive to feedback when teaching. (People will say they understand you even if they don't.)
3. Take time to assess the situation once you get there, and use that to your advantage.
4. Treat everyone with respect, especially those from a lower social class.
5. Make the lessons fun and enjoyable.