Maranyundo School

March 17, 2015

Among the Green Hills of Rwanda

 We spent most of our St Patrick’s Day on the road. We traveled from Nyamata to Gitarama to visit the Biyamana School of Science and Technology run by the Marist Brothers and to see our good friend and mentor, Bro. Straton.  Traveling in Rwanda is an opportunity to see the startling beauty that is this Land of a Thousand Hills. The ways in which agriculture flourishes on the hillsides in neat careful squares is a marvel. You see banana trees, dodo, beans, carrots, tomatoes and scores of native vegetables that are used in cooking. There are rice fields flooded while the workers tend them. In most of this section of Rwanda, the soil is very dry; the rainy season that this country looks forward to in March and April has not yet arrived and many people are convinced that the climate in this country along the equator is changing rapidly.

Even with the lack of rain, the eye is delighted by the horizon and the green hills that have made this place known as the Country of a Thousand Hills. The mountains to the north are the national refuge for the gorillas, a major tourist attraction. There are also five volcanoes in Rwanda. The mountains also served to discourage exploration by Europeans until the Germans eventually found their way to this prosperous kingdom with inhabitants living rather peacefully even though some family groups were hunters and pottery makers, some were herders, some raised crops. The history and culture of Rwanda is interesting to study because it was not colonized until late in the infamous Scramble for Africa. Eventually, the Germans and then the Belgians made their presence known in this green green world of hills and rivers.

After looking at the biology, chemistry and physics labs at Byimana, new construction after a fire on the campus 3 years ago, we hit the road once again and had a most extraordinary opportunity. We visited Urukundu Village, a home for children run by Mama Arlene, an extraordinary, civically engaged philanthropist. Arlene Brown came to Rwanda 20 years ago from Philadelphia and saw a need for a place to care for children whose families could not care for them. Over the years it has grown to include a school for PreK-6, a dental facility, a place for mothers and infants, as well as housing for 43 children ages 10 months and up.  Once they are ready for high school, they go to boarding schools throughout the country and return to their Urukundo home on holidays and school breaks.  When they are 21, they leave this nurturing nest to make their way in the world. Jane OConnor of our Maranyundo Team was eager to see the three children who she and her family have sponsored, 3 thriving boys ages 6, 3, and 10 months. We had a delightful time visiting with them after a tour of Mama Arlene’s facility.  We were  happy to see Kabossi, a child from Nyamata thriving with Mama Arlene’s care.  He was found and placed through the work of one of our former Maranyundo tutors, Rebecca, whose mother Diane Currier serves on the Board of Maranyundo.  They have sponsored Kabossi since his placement at Urukundo at the age of three.

It is impossible to describe the comfort and nurturing that Mama Arlene provides for her “family.” One facility we saw, however, tells a story that reflects the values of this culture. Mama Arlene had been approached by a father to care for his day old infant whose mother had died because they could not pay to stay at the hospital after delivering the child. In response to this tragic loss, Mama Arlene created a quiet, comfortable space for others to recover from childbirth with their infants. Once I have more Internet, I will post the photos of this lovely and loving room.

I think this story reflects Rwandan culture in the sense that when the people see that there is a need in the village, they problem solve and strategize to address that need. They are a remarkably resourceful, people. People like Mama Arlene (84) have been drawn to this resilience and found ways to support the energy and creativity she encountered 20 years ago. Her foundation has a website, http://hopemadereal.org/, that provides a glimpse into this project and the many ways it benefits children in the country.

On the road back to the Maranyundo Campus we talked about how many different ways we have seen Rwandan children being served by their community…in schools and residences and civic centers. This is a culture that values its children, its youth. It was nice to think about all that as we continued along toward Maranyundo among those green hills…on St Patrick’s Day.