Akagera Park/ Lake Muhazi

On the fifteenth we woke up very early and had our first breakfast at Saint Francis Hotel. We then began our travels to Akagera Park; on our way we stopped at Lake Muhazi to eat lunch and go on a boat ride. For lunch we ate some wonderful goat brochette, chicken, and tilapia, which are some of the main meats eaten in Rwanda. While at the lake we had our first taste of Rwandan wildlife. 

This is the Crane we saw at the lake!

We arrived at Akagera to enjoy the sunset, and we spent the night at a beautiful hotel that overlooks the border with Tanzania. We woke up early the next morning to begin our safari in Akagera National Park. Below are a few pictures of the wildlife with their both English and Kinyarwanda words.

 A Bush Buck, we weren't able to get a translation yet

Imbogo or Water Buffalo

Imvubu or Hippo

Ingona or Crocodile, this is a baby. We also saw one that weighed approximately 300 kilograms!

Here is the most rare of all the Inzovu or Elephant. This one is a solitary male one of the largest in the park!

These beautiful Masai giraffes were grazing in the grasslands of Akagera Park. In this picture is a mother and her baby!

Arrival

We apologize for not posting anything until now. We have had less access to Internet connection then we had previously thought, so we will be doing our best to post as much as we can when we can.

Here we are with our new friends from Weber State University in Utah, and our Rwandan friends and guides, Joseph and Valence. 

After a long flight we made it safely to Kigali. To our excitement all of our donations also arrived safely with us! Once we arrived in the city and settled in, we explored the town. We met some Rwandans; they were more than happy to share their culture with us and we  learned some Kinyarwanda words. One of our new friends taught us how to play cards Rwandan style. The Kinarwandan word for cards is amakarita, a singular card is referred to as ykarita. Also while exploring town we connected with Never Again Rwanda (NAR), which is the organization which facilitates the Peacebuilding Institute that we will be participating in. 

Article in the Equinox

We recently spoke to a representative from the Keene State Equinox (KSC's student newspaper). She wrote about our motivations for going to Rwanda and how it will impact our future career goals. Below is a link to the article that she wrote:

KSC Equinox Article

Fundraiser Event

After gaining a ton of momentum from the Rotary presentation the next step was to contact local business owners in the Greater Springfield area to discuss donations for our trip. While doing this, some of our group members spoke with Bill Collins, the owner of Spoleto's Restaurants in East Longmeadow and Northampton, MA. Bill was amazing throughout this whole process and offered to host a fundraising event at his East Longmeadow restaurant and cater it for free. With this, we distributed posters (generously designed and printed by Robert Charles Photography and Go-Graphics) advertising the event. We also collected various donated items to use at our silent auction. When it finally came time for the event, between 50 and 100 people attended and listened as we explained our trip and motivations for going to Rwanda. After the event, each member of our group also sent out an email to his/her family to tell them about our trip and ask for donations. From these efforts, we received more financial support, as well as donations of toys and books from someone who works at scholastic. To date, we have collected approximately $5,877 worth of financial donations from family, friends, and businesses throughout the country. We would just like to thank all of the people who have been so generous and supportive of our trip.

 

                                                                                                                       

Presentation to Springfield Rotary

We would like to thank the Springfield, MA Rotary for allowing us the opportunity to give a presentation about our upcoming trip. On February 21st we gave a presentation that outlined Rwanda, the Rwandan Genocide, and the service work that we plan to do while abroad. This presentation was the first step in our fundraising experience while preparing for this trip. It opened doors to many opportunities and spread awareness to a wider audience. Many of the people we met during this presentation became extremely enthusiastic about our trip. This compelled us to continue fundraising and spreading awareness about what it is we are doing. Our gratitude to the individuals who made generous donations of supplies and funds is abounding. In addition to this experience being a practice in networking it also gave some of our group members a chance to become acquainted with the general history of Rwandan as well the culture. Not all of our group members specialize in Genocide studies so this presentation was a necessary step in preparing our knowledge of Rwanda and its culture.

Dr. Therese Seibert

I am thrilled to be leading my third, faculty-led, travel-abroad course to Rwanda, which will introduce an amazing group of five Keene State College students to Rwandan culture and history, including the 1994 genocide of the Tutsi. KSC students will be joined by four students from Weber State University that is located in Ogden Utah.  The students have been preparing for this study abroad course throughout the spring semester, learning about Rwandan culture and the genocide.They have also worked hard to prepare for our service work in Rwanda, which includes obtaining a generous $800 donation from Keene State's Student Affairs division that will be used to purchase 100 medical insurance policies for low-income Rwandans living in a rural area. In addition, these students made a formal presentation about Rwanda and this trip to the Springfield Rotary Club.  They have also collected medical supplies that will be distributed to orphanages and books that they will hand deliver to a school in  Butare, which is in southern Rwanda. While there, we will draw on Katie and Kelly's teacher training as we spend a day with kindergarten students at Butare Primary School. My deepest appreciation to Charlie Christianson for all his support in our fundraising efforts.  

The first two weeks of the trip involves travelling throughout Rwanda so that students can experience Rwanda’s culture and ecological wonders and challenges.  I want to thank Professor Thomas Durnford for teaching us survival French that will come in handy as we trek across this beautiful country. Destinations include genocide memorials, Akagera Park, Nyungwe Forest, African markets, Lake Kivu, and National University of Rwanda (NUR). In the last two weeks of the trip, students will participate in an international Peace Building Institute (PBI) sponsored by the Rwandan NGO Never Again Rwanda (NAR). In order to enhance cross-cultural understanding, NAR designs their PBI to include 9 American students and 9 Rwandan students. Two of our students, Kelly and Alex, will actually make a formal presentation at the PBI on perpetrator behavior, based on the scholarship of KSC Professor James Waller.  Mariellen is reading books on aid to Rwanda in order to prepare for PBI discussions on development, and Mark is reading scholarship on post-genocide trauma in Rwanda and how hope factors into healing from genocide-induced trauma.  Many thanks to Kelly and Mark for creating this blog that allows us to share our experiences!  And special thanks to Marianne O'Brien, Office Administrator for the School of Sciences and Social Sciences for all of her warmth and support. And most of all I want to thank the staff at Never Again Rwanda for making this trip a reality; we can't wait to visit and work with you!  

Mariellen Breton: Bio

Hello there! My name is Mariellen Breton, and I’m a junior at Keene State College. I plan on getting my B.A in Sociology with a minor in both Criminal Justice Studies and Substance Abuse and Addictions. I plan on getting either my Masters in Social Work or Sociology, while incorporating the Peace Corps into my studies to help give me a hands on experience for a few years and really open my eyes to the world around me. Following my Masters I hope to pursue humanitarian work or become a Social worker, hopefully working with the younger generations because they are the faces of tomorrow. Through them we can really make a difference in the lives of others.

I would not have been able to go on this trip if it weren't for Doctor Seibert and our generous donors for making this possible. Thank you again for everyone that has supported our trip and donated supplies and funds; this will truly give us an opportunity to have an impact on other’s lives, as well as make a difference in my own life. I am so excited to be given the opportunity to travel to Rwanda and learn about their beautiful culture and see how the country has worked on restoring justice and peace post-genocide. It is astonishing that a country can go through so much but still hold hope and happiness in the face of it all, this is a truly remarkable quality and I would love to know more about how we can bring their efforts of peace and reconciliation to other aspects of my line of work.  I am really excited to be able to work alongside the Peacebuilding Institute and the Rwandan University students to hear their stories and really learn from them. It is always helpful to engage in cross-cultural learning and discussions, and I really look forward to learning about Rwandan society.