February 17, 2009
I am leaving tomorrow for my three-week internship in the southern province of Gitrama. This is a long update, but I feel that I need to give you an adequate description with examples of what Food for the Hungry does here and what I will be doing. Also, it might be awhile until the next update as I don't know when I will have internet again.
Danielle and I will be doing needs assessment and community study in many different communities. Just to give you an idea of this CDP (Child Development Program) in Rwanda: It is about building community through sponsorship from countries all over the world. There are 15 CDP centers in Rwanda. The biggest center has 1174 children they are responsible for in different communities. Rwanda is divided into four provinces, 50 districts, 145 sectors, 4000 cells, and 100 villages which are broken up into households. The total population is nine million.
We are working with some Food For the Hungry (FH) field staff in creating a Community Transformation (CT) Plan which focuses on developing the strengths of an entire community. What I will do is: spend time in the community, observe how people are living their lives and what is missing. The way we will do this is by surveying them. For example observe the school buildings- are there classrooms? Why is the number of children attending school so low? Do they have adequate space and resources for an efficient learning environment? Are their physical needs being met? Do the families have money to pay the school fees? Above all, FH is seeking to find out if the resources are there for the children to have the opportunity to improve their lives. “If the families, churches and leaders are meeting the needs of the children, then we as FHI Rwanda are meeting our goals,” quotes Ernest the CDP Officer here in Kigali.
FH will use the descriptions that we write about the communities to continue their work. Once they have assessed the work and measured the progress, they are able to leave the community and move to more developing. What are measurable indicators? We know we have transformed these communities when for example the schools have a safe water source for the children to drink from. They train Care Team Leaders from the community who will be able to sustain the progress when FH leaves.
I am so excited to be apart of real, positive change in these people's lives and for my life to be changed in the process. I have been studying communication: community development, conflict in communities and interpersonal relationships, power, journalism, media and speech writing and many more applicable subjects. The amazing thing is that now I will get to experience and observe, first hand, how these things are helpful in a situation such as this. I feel very humbled and unaware, after talking to the field experts that I will be assisting; it will be interesting to see what parts of my education will be highlighted through this work. I know as I am immersed in this culture that my heart will be drawn to these people and helping empower them to own their own poverty in their community and encourage their strengths.
There are children that run all through these offices and I am thrilled to be able to interact with them as well. I am looking forward to learning so much from these community members; meeting people and enjoying their way of living. I am so honored to have the opportunity of being a part of this work for even a short time. I hope that I can be productive with my time and once again take the most of every opportunity to soak up all that I can about this culture.
AHHH I can't believe I'm Here!
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