The Century Language Club

So far, the most interesting and enjoyable part of my new life in Rwanda has been my participation with the Century Language Club.  This is a club formed by a group of students at the Minor Seminary where Anne and I are living.  As I mentioned, they meet after lunch and after supper on Mondays and Tuesdays to debate in English, and after lunch on Thursdays and Fridays to debate in French.  At the meeting Monday a team of three students who are preparing to do a Science Fair presentation later this week were to have rehearsed for the club so that we could give them advice as to how to improve their demonstration.  They were not able to present, so the club met to discuss future activities.  One of the activities suggested were to have discussions where an open-ended question is asked and everyone gives his opinion as to the answer.  Another activity would involve having one member give a short presentation, and then the rest of the members would ask him questions. 

Tuesday’s after lunch meeting was of the discussion variety.  The topic was, “What can each of us do to help prevent war and other types of conflict.”  There were some excellent answers!  Among them were: love your neighbor as yourself, value your neighbor, consider every person to be part of your family, recognize that we are all equal, work to ensure that everyone has equal human rights, do not tolerate hateful speech and propaganda such as that used to incite the genocide of Tutsis in 1994 (and the Nazi genocide of Jews in WW2), provide education to everyone, create jobs for everyone who can work.

I missed the Tuesday evening meeting because Anne and I drove to Kigali for an event at the residence of the United States Ambassador to Rwanda.  The event was a party for all of the Americans who have come to Rwanda to help the country develop its health care system.  A number of people from the C.D.C. were there, as well as many of the HRH people, and a several from USAID.  I talked about the Century Language Club to everyone I spoke with there (maybe 30 people total.)  While I often find myself on the edge of a big party like that, I decided to make the effort to introduce myself to many people and engage them in conversation.  Since I had something besides small talk to share, I did feel like I was bored/boring, and I met some very interesting and dear people, all of whom seemed to share my appreciation of the Language Club.

When we returned home this morning, we noticed a line of Rwandan drums standing next to chapel that stands just inside the gate.  This afternoon, as I was typing the above paragraphs, I heard drumming, and went to see what it was.  There were 10 drummers drumming where I had seen the drums this morning. The leader was playing the smallest (highest pitched) drum, setting the beat and demonstrating rhythmic patterns. Much of what I saw them doing appeared to be in what a European or American musician would call 6/8 time.  The most interesting part was when they paused for 17 beats, then, in unison, pounded out 6 1 2 3 4, then rested 19 beats, repeating this sequence eight or ten times, then going into a more insistent pattern in 6/8 for the big ending. During the long rests, they would all beat the air to count time, then all hit the drums at the same time. The drum team appears to have some new members, as I heard a few inconsistencies, but noticed improvement during the course of the practice session.  In any case, as I was once a drummer myself, I greatly enjoyed watching and listening to the drum team.

In Kabgayi

We are mostly settled into our apartment at La Petit Seminaire at Kabgayi, just outside of Gitarama.  Anne has begun her work to improve the quality of midwifery care at the hospital here, and to train a new generation of midwives in the application of evidence-based practice.  (That is, instead of practicing in the way you do because, “this is the way we have always done things”, one practices according to what has been found to have the best outcomes.)  It is evident that she has a lot of work ahead, but there are many here who support what she is striving to do, and Anne has faith that it can be done.  The country has decided to adopt a model of having one university with 5 or 6 different branches (sort of like the University of California which has U.C Berkeley, U.C. L.A., etc.)  I think the idea is that the curriculum will be basically the same for all of the branches.  In any case, they are striving to raise the level of education provided, and also to have the capacity to provide better health-care.

I have offered my services as a teacher of English to the School of Nursing and midwifery, and to the boys’ school where we are living.   I have begun with the boys school (La Petit Seminaire Saint Leon at Kabgayi – The Minor Seminary) participating with the Century Language Club which meets 8 times a week for 25 minutes a meeting: in the afternoon and evenings on Monday and Tuesday, they hold informal debates in English, and on Thursday and Friday they debate in French.  Such a wonderful group of young men they are!  There are about 20 members of the club, and all are brilliant souls. The debates are informal:  A topic is chosen, one person is chosen (or volunteers) to be moderator, then the rest of the members choose to either support or oppose the premise of the topic.  There is no real order to the proceedings after that, so members of each side take turns putting forth whatever arguments comes to mind.  As in any group, some are very ready to jump in and share their opinion, or their point while others seem relatively reticent.  The main purpose of the club is for the members to develop their skills at thinking and speaking in English and French, so I am working to ensure that the more aggressive talkers give the others a chance, and that the others feel empowered to participate.  I think it might also serve them well to develop the skills that a more formal debate requires: Research of facts relevant to the topic, consultation among team members as to the best arguments to use, and the ability to argue either side, whatever their personal opinion might be.  (That last should help them to see more aspects of an issue than what they are biased towards, which might lead to a change in personal opinion, and will certainly make them better prepared to answer opposing arguments, whatever side they are on.) 

So far, the topics that I have heard debated were “Does CHANCE exist?” and “Can material possessions make one happy?”  As for the existence of chance, many of the students believe that, “A Man’s Chance is God’s Choice,” (which is also the title of a book) while others believe in the “Law of Attraction”!  That debate took two 25 minute sessions to complete.  Being informal, there really is no basis for determining a winning side, but the moderator will offer his judgment none the less. For the other topic, most of the students supported the proposition that having material possessions CAN make one happy.  I expected them to mainly be talking of having essentials like food, clothing, and shelter, as there are many in Rwanda who live in great poverty. However, some of them were asserting that one could not fail to be happy if they acquired great wealth, or had a car, or owned a big house.  I fear they have bought the hype and drunk the Kool-Aid of Western Materialism.  I hope to share some websites giving more scientific data about “what makes people happy.” For example: http://www.bakadesuyo.com/2012/08/here-are-the-things-that-are-proven-to-make-y/  Personally, attending the meetings of the Century Language Club makes me happy! 

Time to do some research on the guidelines for formal debates.