June 27 2023
Tuesday
“The nightingale will run out of songs before a woman runs out of conversation.” ~ Spanish Proverb
Today was a day of compelling conversations. For the past few days Joni and I have been meeting with the Writers Group in individual and small group sessions discussing the first drafts of their essays. Each student will make some revisions to their drafts, submit a final draft to us. Sister Laetitia has scheduled our last meeting with the group for Friday afternoon. Then we will give each student a stapled collection of all their essays, a record of the work that the students have done reflecting and writing about a lesson they have learned at MGS and what that lesson has taught them about their studies and themselves.
So today was a day for meetings and conversations that aways teach me so much about all that people learn in their interactions with this remarkable school.
This morning we met with Olivia, the recently hired college counselor and Tony, director of a resource center for students in Kigali. Rwanda is making strides to provide counseling that gives students graduating from secondary schools the tools they need to apply for post-secondary experiences. Sister Laetitia has done a great deal of research to develop resources that will enable students to have a variety of ways to consider what they want to do and how they can “explore their dreams” as Olivia describes her new position.
After that conversation, we met with Pascal and Noella, Tufts PEBL interns, to hear about their travels to the maker spaces around the district. They have been writing stories of what they have seen, impressed by the “amazing creativity” demonstrated by the students in the Novel Engineering projects they have created, especially in the primary and middle school spaces. They also have been continuing to mentor the secondary teachers and students who have been using Arduino to create their projects for the PEBL event on Saturday.
When Joni asked Noella what she thought about being in those spaces and watching the students work together, she commented that watching the students problem solve and create reminded her of her own play when she was younger. “It reminded me of the spark I felt as a young learner making things and doing things in our play. Observing the making helped me to get back to that wonderful curiosity and trying things to see what I could do; what would work. Observing in the maker space, I remembered how that spirit felt. Watching students problem solve together, I felt that spirit and joy come out again…”
Noella really enjoyed the chance to watch primary and middle school aged students work together and build with re-cycle material…things that are often considered trash.
When Pascal shared his experience, he spoke about how much he enjoyed working with the teachers to help them gain confidence with Arduino. “Teaching the teachers about Arduino I was remembering a time in high school when our physics teacher left mid-year. The students in my class got together and we each took a lesson from the syllabus, researched it and planned to teach it. I really liked that opportunity to help my classmates learn. I felt that same feeling when helping the teachers understand and do new things with the Arduino set. I think I felt a little spark that reminded me I enjoy teaching others. It is a special feeling.”
Exams end at 3:00 PM and students have some exercise and free time before prepping for tomorrow’s exams. Joni and I were invited to meet with Victoire (the Head Girl) Sandra (the Assistant Head Girl) and Davida (the Head Girl for Discipline. We met upstairs in the STEM Building. It was a terrific conversation, a privilege to hear from these students who have had leadership roles in the school this year. In December, these girls had taken us on a tour of the campus and we wanted to see what they are thinking as graduation is just a few weeks away.
Sandra is interested in cyber security. She is fascinated by the power of computers and how they will change our futures. Davida is leaning towards Community Health and psychology; perhaps creating a community space for young mothers and their children who need safe spaces to grow and learn. Victoire is interested in careers in medicine and how NGOs can nurture community empowerment. After National Exams are finished in early August, MGS will have a Boot Camp for choosing post-secondary paths. These three girls will attend that and they also plan to find an internship for a gap year experience.
We were still talking as the afternoon light began to mellow. They are so thoughtful about what being students at MGS has given them, as well as what the leadership roles they have played has taught them. They are such poised and confident young women with dreams that combine their interest on academic subjects and commitment to their nation. (I told them that in many ways they had already chosen their Mission that ALU requires. ) I also find that when I was in conversation with these three students, as well as when I am reading the essays that students have written on their learning here, I think about way Senator Aloisea Inyumba described how Rwanda women were all “products of the grassroots women” who are the ancestors who remind us all that women are a “positive force” in nationhood. In these conversations today it is a powerful acknowledgement that the legacy of Inyumba and so many other women leaders in this country is reflected in the learning and ambitions of the students at MGS.
“Among the Ibo the art of conversation is regarded very
highly, and proverbs are the palm-oil with which words are eaten.”
― Things Fall Apart
Linda V Beardsley
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