It Has Been A Remarkable Trip

Saturday

July 1, 2023

An hour after the close of the Our Future Green Village Competition at Maranyundo Girls School, Joni and I were on our way to the airport to begin our journey back to Boston. It was a remarkable day for a final day in Rwanda. The Competition was a partnership among the PEBL Grant funded by LEGO Foundation, The Maranyundo Girls School and the support of Tufts University. It was an opportunity for the teachers who had been trained in Novel Engineering in April and December 2022 who had been given material to start a Maker Space in their school, to show what their students had been able to do to envision a “future green village.” The task was: 1) Identify a local environmental problem; 2) develop a solution; 3) integrate the solution into a design of your community. Teachers and students from 21 schools across  Rwanda participated. The day was amazing.

 

Joni and I were up bright and early to watch the banner being hung in the Main Hall just as the first schools began to arrive. What I first noticed was how happy and proud teachers and students alike seemed as they found their demonstration space along the perimeter of the Hall and set-up their exhibits. To see the joy ad enthusiasm of the work they had done was truly inspiring.  After all the schools had set up their projects as well as other projects they had made in their maker space clubs, the teams demonstrated their projects before a team of judges. As Sister Laetitia watched the demonstrations, she comments, “The students have created wonders.” Yes, she said what so many in the Main Hall were thinking!

 

 

As the judges deliberated, the students from MGS entertained us with a traditional dance and chorus. Maranyundo graduate and former Maker Space Prefect, Leslie Isaro interviewed a panel of both teachers and students who articulated their experiences of making as a form of teaching and learning. And then SANDE Robert announced the judges decisions and the winners in each category. The atmosphere was “electric.” The excitement was well deserved as award winners were given tablets for their clubs. The grand prize was a 3-D printer. Those whose projects were not mentioned as “winners,” also received materials for their clubs. Clearly, the work of making will continue to shape the teaching and learning of these Maker Space pioneers!

As I considered what the day had taught me, I thought about how the events of the day had brought to life 3 of the quotes that shape my own teaching and learning. First, I thought of Debbie Meier’s mantra that “Schools are where we learn how public life is lived.” The students who participated in this competition had been guided by their teachers to demonstrate how their experience of school, their learning every day, can serve their communities. They can envision how education can shape the public life of their communities.

 

Second, I was reminded of Chinua Achebe and his statement to Bill Moyers of what had guided his determination to write the African story from an African perspective. He believed that if you do not see a story in which you and your dreams are reflected, if you see “a gap in the bookshelf, write your own story.” These students and teachers who were represented in this competition were, indeed, using their making to write a new story of how envisioning a “green village” can be  a hallmark of the future for communities across Rwanda. Education should help each of us to “write the story” of the future and how each of us has agency to make that future a reality

 

Third, I recall the words of Senator Aloisea Inyumba, whose vision of education is brought to life every day in the work of the Maranyundo Girls School. She always reminded us that we must believe in the grassroots people. It is the grassroots women and men who have been strong and who will guide us to make the change a nation needs. The teachers and students who have been working together in the Maker Spaces to learn how problem solving in teams, how hands on learning inspires new creations are the “grassroots” people who can build on the work of ancestors and traditions to build new initiatives.

 

These are the thoughts Joni and I had as we rode to the airport with Sister Juvenal preparing to leave Rwanda once again. Each time we leave MGS, we are already eager to return. We were so inspired by the work the teachers had accomplished under the guidance of Djamila, Robert and Clementine. We were grateful to the tufts team that included Noella, Pascal, Toyin and Noah for supporting the work of the teams as they developed and demonstrated their projects. 

 

It has been a remarkable trip. 

 

Linda V. Beardsey