KIE day 1

Today was an incredible day!!! I wish that I could adequately put into words my feelings and the experiences that I am having here in Rwanda!

Today was our first day working with the students from the Kigali Institute of Technology (KIE). From the moment we walked onto campus grounds we were welcomed by students with warm smiles and many embraces. I am very appreciative of the culture of affection among the students we are working with. 

We all put on name tags and played  some warm up games to start to familiarize ourselves with one another.  We have 11 people from CUNY (including my professors) and 44 KIE students.

There is so much joy and excitement the games that we play are fun and get us all laughing together. We had the opportunity to go around and learn one another’s names and greet one another in various ways. We exchanged handshakes, high fives, and great big hugs. 

One of my favorite getting to know you activities was “Get into groups according to…”

In this game we placed ourselves in groups according to various topics that were given to us.  ie: How long it took us to get to KIE, What time we woke up, How many languages we speak, and our favorite kind of music.

I was amazed to see how many languages most of the student speak! Most 3 or 4 some 5 or 6!

My favorite was the last group that we got into according to our favorite kind of music.  I am so versatile when it comes to music I love all kinds! I found myself decided between the gospel music group and the hip-hop group. My love of gospel music won out.  We were all then invited to share with one another a sample of our music that we love. My other group member Peter shared with me a Kireawandian gospel song and then asked me to share one. I sang I am a Child of God. His face lit up! He said, “YES! YES it is true!! We ARE all children of God!”  When it came our turn to share we decided to share both of our songs! Peter went first. As soon s he started signing al of the other KIE students joined in! Singing and dancing along to his music!  Such a joyful and exciting spirit came into the large room as everyone lit up and joined in with this ritual. 

Honestly it was a hard act to follow. I sang the first verse to “I am a Child of God” It was well received with cheers and excitement. Everyone has been very complimentary! My cohorts said that I surprised them as well, as they have actually never heard me sing before.

After we all shared and sang and danced together we played another name game with one another. We then got into small groups.  With 5ish KIE students and one MA CUNY student for each group. I had a group of 5 boys who called me over to be with their group.  Before we started to talk one looked at me and said, “Kristy you are so pretty.”  The rest nodded their heads in agreement. I was completely flattered by their compliments to me.

In our groups we were asked to discuss, “Why I am involved in drama.”

We took turns going around and sharing with one another why we love theatre. I was touched and inspired by the things that they had to share!

I wish that I could have written down all of the words that they were saying to me as I was so moved by their words.  They spoke about communication and creating, their desire to play and entertain, they like to write things down and act them out, and to share.  A few of them said that they do drama because they can say something with it.  Using drama in their society, and because of the hard history that they come from they realize that they can use drama to say something important.

beautiful Beautiful BEAUTIFUL!!

When it was my turn I shared about why I do theatre. I echoed many things that had already been said, like they beauty of communication though theatre and how it is so fun and I love to play.  I also added my love of people and how important it is for me to be able to connect to people and that theatre provides a way to connect and build relationships with other people. Theatre also allows us to use our voices as well as our bodies, which are wonderful gifts that we have and we can share and create and do so much with them!

The boys then started asking me questions, about how long I have done drama and why I do it.  The purpose of theatre has changed for me throughout my life. When I was younger it was for fun, for play. When I was in 4^th grade I was in my first musical.  I enjoyed it so much! In Junior high and high school it was for the acting, for the glitz and glam of being on stage (however much glitz and glam you can have in a high school performance) as well as the excitement of being in the spotlight and being able to entertain! And how the purposes behind me doing drama has morphed into more over the years. Studying theatre in Education in College and now Applied Theatre in my masters program. It has become more of a fuller purpose and life changing. 

They also asked me some other questions about myself, how old I am, if I am married, and what my necklace was.  I always wear a necklace that my sister gave to me that has a hand that is holding the American Sign Language sign for “I love you.” I told them what it meant and they were all fascinated that I know sign language and wanted me to teach them.  One boy actually knew a fair amount of sign language and started signing to me here and there.  Oh what a treat to share with them all of these things that I am so passionate about! And to be able to learn so much from them.  We are all learning and growing together!

Once again I wish that I could really share with you my thoughts and impressions of how amazing these young people are

I love how Rwandans speak! Let me give you a few examples from a facebook post:

From the week before we came:

“wish next week was only five minutes from now and that CUNY students were here at the third minute!!!!!!”

From when they saw our teachers again:

“So fantastic! When I saw u, I felt like to fly. We love u…”

It is like poetry! I love it!

I had a wonderful conversation with some of the KIE students during our break time. They asked me what I think of Rwanda and I told them how beautiful it is here and how much I am enjoying it! They are very proud of their country! As they should be! They asked me if I would like to move here and live in Rwanda.  I told them that I would miss my family very much if I were so far away. They told me that it is ok because I can move my whole family here! Something that would not be possible but it is a lovely thought to have, to share this beautiful place with my loved ones at home. They also asked me about my necklace, and if I am married and if I am a Christian. When I confirmed that I am a Christian they were very pleased to hear this! They said that this is so wonderful that I have faith, because in their perspective not many Americans do.  They also asked me which Church I go to.  I told them it is called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  They told me that they had never heard of Mormon’s before. I love being people’s first Mormon! =) I told them that there is a small congregation from my church here in Kigali and they were happy to know that I believe in God. Religion is a very important part of many Rwandans lives!    

After break split into 2 separate groups, the level 2 students in one room and level 3/4 in another. I got to go and work with the level 2 students. 

We are helping them devise forum theatre pieces. The KIE students brainstormed about topics and I was once again inspired by these students and the themes that they offered and shared with the topics that they wanted to dialogue about and present on! We then lowered the choices down and split into 3 groups and started to work on our forum theatre, starting with developing images. 

We broke for lunch and had a lovely lunch at a Rwandan buffet across the street from the school. And planned for the rest of the day. 

Back at KIE we played another fun game called “Donkey” and then went back to our groups to work! I am co-facilitating/directing with my fellow MA Claro who is a joy to work with! When we started our group only had 2 people, then 3… by the time we were really getting the ball rolling and were working on our theatre piece we had 7 participants in our group again.

What a PLEASURE to work with these brilliant students!

When we were finished and back at our hotel we met up for a check in and meeting with our group. We all shared highlights of the day together. I shared my excitement that came from the day and especially our group discussion. As my group spoke about their highlights and the day I sat and listened and pondered about all that today was. I was filled with such joy and happiness and love that my eyes brimmed and then tears streamed down my cheeks. There was a moment of silence and Helen gave me a smile and look as if to ask me if I wanted to share something.  I did! I DO! I want to share with everyone the love and happiness that has choked me up! I told my cohort that already I love these people SO MUCH! Which may sound silly to some people, I have had little contact with a few of the KIE students before I came here over facebook and I have just met them today. But I love them and I am so happy and blessed and excitedly overwhelmed and filled with gratitude to be here!

After our meeting we had dinner at the beautiful patio, which is part of the restaurant that is connected to our hotel.  I had some wonderful conversations with my cohorts tonight! Some of us stayed out and enjoyed the cool night air and talked and laughed while we made dessert out of a banana left over from lunch and some Nutella.

I also had some great conversations about religion with some of my classmates and find it a joy to talk about faith and answer questions about my beliefs to people that I love and that respect me and I respect them and they are just curious and want to know about me.  I appreciate their interest!

The staff is wonderful and takes such good care of us! I have befriended one of the servers at the restaurant.  He is so sweet and smiles and say my name and is happy of the fact that I know and say his name correctly and when a classmate of mine asked how to say his name he said, “ask Kristy, with a big smile.”  I got to chat with him a little bit tonight, asked him where he lives. And He as surprised that this was my first time in Africa! He asked how I like it and if I have seen much.  I told him I have seen a little and I am excited to see more. (we will take some trips as a class together.) He asked me if I am busy in the morning, because he would love to show me around his city. I would like that very much! I LOVE traveling places and making friends with locals and being able to find out about their home from them! It makes it so much more personal! And as I said before, connections with people and relationships are so important to me!

He told me, “My English is not very good” I will tell you this much… he speaks and understand MUCH MORE English that I can speak or understand of his native language! He said that at night he dreams in English, and that he has so much to say in English in his dreams, and that he really does love the language. He also told me, “I have so many questions for you, but I do not have the English.”  Oh cursed language barriers! I need to learn more languages so I can communicate better with more people!

Now it is late. I need to sleep, but I had to get this all out before I forget the details that have filled my heart with so much joy and love!

IJORO RYIZA!

(goodnight)