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Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Christina Aguilera and Akilah!

Little known fact that I must admit: during several tough periods of my life, Christina Aguilera has gotten me through. There have been days when I put the CD player in my car on repeat and listened to her song “Soar” a thousand times. The lyrics, “Don’t be scared to fly alone/ find a path that is your own/love will open every door/spread your wings and soar” seemed to soothe and provide motivation and optimism. Other days “Beautiful” blared from my radio: “I am beautiful/no matter what they say/words can’t bring me down.” I listened to the songs so many times that even with the radio off, I could hear the echo of her words.

And the echoing didn’t stop once I arrived in Rwanda. This semester, when designing class exercises, I tried to provide knowledge that I thought our students needed, information to help them succeed. Before class, I always asked myself, “how is this going to help?” I gave them stats about tourism, definitions for hospitality, and we role-played customer service scenarios. However, something was missing. I sat and thought about our students: too shy to go to the fancy hotel, no smiling or eye contact when shaking hands, tears when talking about their pasts. What they really needed was a little Christina Aguilera. Without adding self-confidence and positive images of themselves, technical skills and knowledge wouldn’t get them very far.

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Posted in Foundation Year, Monique Schmidt, Rwanda | 1 Comment »

Sunday, May 16, 2010

His Excellency

Monique Schmidt – Program Director

As a result of joining the Commonwealth, the Rwanda Development Board and the Commonwealth Business Council held the first Rwanda Investment Forum last week. Over 350 leaders from business and government, including 110 international delegates from 25 countries attended. And so did I. Before leaving for the conference, Elizabeth emailed me explicit instructions: “Network! Make connections and partnerships!”

Monday morning I got up early and psyched myself up for the event. All the way to the hotel, in my head I chanted, “network network network!” The first session started on time, and the keynote speaker, His Excellency, the President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame spoke on how the increased foreign and domestic investment will be reflected not only in increased income levels, but also in acquisition of new skills and knowledge.

After the first session, the doors to the conference hall opened to start the first coffee/networking break. Armed with my business cards, I set forth to network. Upon entering the coffee/tea tent, I had no idea how to select with whom I should speak; so I looked around…and in the back of the tent, surrounded by a group of East African Businessmen, I saw—His Excellency, Paul Kagame!

“Hmmm,” I thought, “it’d probably be good if I could talk to him.” So, I walked over and tried to break through the circle of suits surrounding him. No luck until a man from the Commonwealth Business Council came over and asked what I was doing.

“I’m supposed to talk to the President,” I said. (which, in theory, could have been true, since Elizabeth had told me to network, she could have meant, ‘talk to the President’ )

“Who are you?” he asked.

“I’m Monique Schmidt,” I replied.

No glimmer of recognition on his face. “For whom do you work?” he responded.

“I’m the Program Director for the Akilah Institute for Women,” I said (and I said it like it was reaaaally important)

“Oh,” he said. “Wait here.”

So, I waited, trying to formulate something intelligent in my head to say to His Excellency.

All of a sudden the Commonwealth Business Council man gave me a tug on my arm and said, “Go!”

Next thing I knew I was standing next to the President, handing him my business card, and explaining what Akilah does.

His Excellency listened to me, looked at my business card, and said, “That’s good.”

Then, someone else moved in, and I found myself back outside the circle of suits.

I found the rest of the conference truly educational, and as far as networking goes, it got a lot easier after I finished talking to the President.

Posted in Foundation Year, Monique Schmidt, Staff Updates | No Comments »

Sunday, May 9, 2010

The Perfect Day

Monique Schmidt – Program Director

Last week, one of our Thursday Kanatapi prompts was “Describe your perfect day.” I had picked out the prompt on Monday and had actually spent much time during the week trying to figure out my perfect day. After much daydreaming, I finally came up with an elaborate, but splendid perfect day: my friends and I would be in Guadeloupe in the Caribbean. We would get up early and go for a swim in the ocean. Then we would teach some English classes in the late morning to some local kids. After, we would return to the beach, build a big bonfire, sing, dance, swim again to return to land for some s’mores and chilled white wine under the stars. Ahh, the beauty of it. I thought it superb.

I went into the classroom for Kanatapi pretty jazzed. I felt the prompt was fun, yet we could talk about goal setting and how to work towards achieving those goals after the prompt. For example, if a student said her perfect day would be in America with her friends, then we could talk about learning English and saving money. We arranged our chairs in the circle, and I gave them the prompt and waited for someone to volunteer to start. After a short time of reflection, one young woman raised her hand. “My perfect day is one in which I’m not hungry.” The girl next to her voiced, “My perfect day is one where I get to eat.” As we went around the circle they weren’t thinking about the Caribbean or chilled white wine. They just wanted food.

Teaching at Akilah often does this to me: abruptly rearranges my perspective, grounds me, and reminds me of the beauty in the simplicity of life. I often wonder who is teaching whom.

When I went home that night, I ate my rice and beans and recognized how perfect my day had been.

Posted in Foundation Year, Monique Schmidt, Rwanda, Staff Updates | 1 Comment »

Friday, May 7, 2010

It’s Not Too Late

A Letter from Monique Schmidt, Program Director:

At Akilah, we have established a rigorous academic program. However, during our first three months we have discovered that besides intensive instruction, our students have other needs: encouragement instead of silence, smiles to replace the stoism, warmth to fill the void. We also, in order to foster trust, have recognized the necessity of a commitment to openness. As Giselle, one of our students says, “there is no gap between students and teachers.”

But this week, a silence pervades. No one gave an official mandate, but everyone understands: when teaching a population of orphans, don’t design exercises about Mothers’ Day. However, when in the classrooms, we can’t help but think….

My mother read me bedtime stories.

They murdered Isimbi’s mother before Isimbi got past picture books.

Mary’s mother took her to San Antonio for a Mother/Daughter weekend.

Munyana’s mom was killed and then Munyana had to flee to the Congo.

Jon’s mother made him pancakes in the shape of his name.

Shyaka is now the one in charge of making porridge for her younger sister because the militia also killed her mom in 1994.

At Akilah, we can’t replace the mothers of our students. But we can love them, and guide them, and give them skills to be independent and successful in life. And we do this on a daily basis. We challenge our young women intellectually while nurturing them from our hearts, just as a mother would.

However, our ability to create and sustain a world where the essence of “mother” remains present relies on your generosity. Make a gift of $50 or more in honor of a woman in your life. Akilah will send her a special Mother’s Day card.

We, the new “mothers” of 50 young women, thank you.

-the Akilah team

Posted in Elizabeth D Davis, Foundation Year, Monique Schmidt, Rwanda | No Comments »

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Planting Windbreaks

Monique Schmidt – Program Director

April : a somber month in Rwanda. This year marks the 16th commemoration of the 1994 genocide. Akilah students have a two week break in order to attend official commemoration events with surviving family members and friends. During the pre-Akilah interviews and in casual conversations, I have gotten to know some of our students’ stories. The stories of some of our students and other survivors in Kigali stun me. Some fled to the Congo; some hid in swamps for three months; some lay under dead bodies to escape.

A Rwandan friend of mine who was pregnant with her third child during the upheaval said, “It took a little bit of luck and a whole lot of courage to survive. If you couldn’t face the day with courage, you would never make it.” She paused, then added, “There is no sense telling you about it. The things we lived through are beyond human imagination.”

Several years ago, during an Outward Bound course, one of my instructors told me that the strongest trees grow in the most exposed areas. As I reflect this week on the events our students have lived through, I have no doubt that I am working with the strongest, most courageous group of young women I have ever had the privilege to meet. I believe we at Akilah have been given the gift of a big challenge: channeling the tenacity and ingenuity which helped these young women survive and redirecting it into leadership and entrepreneurship. However, I believe that the true mark of Akilah’s success lies in the fact that we strive to do that while at the same time cultivating an environment of openness, safety and respect . Even strong trees benefit from a windbreak.

Akilah students in class

Posted in Monique Schmidt, Rwanda | 3 Comments »

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Seeking Sunshine

Monique Schmidt – Program Director

Most of our students have no reference points for the world of hospitality. As orphans, many of them have never had the opportunity to go to restaurants or hotels. This makes teaching hospitality challenging, yet extremely fun and invigorating. Two weeks ago, one instructor gave our students the assignment to visit the Serena, one of the nicest hotels in Kigali. Last week in class, when we asked how the visit to the Serena went, we discovered that our students had run into several obstacles with the assignment. Many of them lacked the money to take a moto taxi or bus to the Serena. The ones who did make it to the Serena, seeing the glitz, glamour, and modernity, became too shy to actually go inside and look around.

Valentine and Nadine

In five weeks, we’ve made great strides building confidence within our students in the classroom. Our young women, who arrived at Akilah scared and traumatized, now give speeches and act in skits. They’ve overcome cultural barriers and learned how to shake hands confidently while making eye contact. In Leadership class they’ve worked on destroying negative thoughts about themselves. Classrooms have become places which entwine laughter and learning. It’s heartwarming to witness the Akilah staff craft an environment which fosters confidence. However, last week showed us our next challenge: ensuring our students maintain their confidence once they leave the safe environment of Akilah and maneuver through the “real” world.

In an email a friend sent me, she said that in a jungle, once the overhead canopy is cleared, the trees underneath soak up the sunshine and shoot up. At Akilah, I want to make sure that our students get all the sunshine they want.

Posted in Foundation Year, Monique Schmidt, Rwanda | No Comments »