Tag Archives: Rwanda

April 12, 2014 · 9:28 pm

Rwanda on my mind

I have been thinking during this twenty year anniversary and rememberance of the Rwandan Genocide of the remarkable emerging leaders I met during my recent visit as part of the TechWomen Rwanda delegation. Tomorrow, at the American Association of University Women (AAUW) California convention in Los Angeles, I am giving a breakfast talk on mentoring. I will open my talk by describing the delegation’s visit to meet the inspiring Gashora Girls Academy (GGAST) in Rwanda – as way of illustrating how mentoring is about meeting people where they are. I have been saving the Rwanda remembrance news stories served up by my Feedly reader, as a way seeing how the world understands these events and what came after. Here is what I have so far:

Rwanda Genocide Anniversary: 20 Years Later, Flame Stirs Memories Huffington Post, by Jason Straziuso, 28 March 2014
A good man in Rwanda BBC, by Mark Doyle, 5 April 2014
The photographs that reunited families, BBC, by Phil Coomes, 4 April 2014
How Abandonment In Rwandan Genocide Changed Peacekeepers’ Role, NPR, by Gregory Warner, 6 April 2014
Fighting For Rwanda’s Justice In France, NPR, 6 April 2014
Rwanda genocide: UN ashamed, says Ban Ki-moon, BBC, 7 April 2014
Rwanda genocide: 100 days of slaughter, BBC, 6 April 2014
Portraits of Reconciliation, 20 years after the genocide in Rwanda, reconciliation still happens one encounter at a time, New York Times, by Pieter Hugo and Susan Dominus, 6 April 2014
Rwanda’s children taught of genocide 20 years on, BBC, 7 April 2014
Radio host Furaha Amos uses airwaves to rebuild Rwanda after genocide, ABC, by Alexandra Fisher, 8 April 2014
‘I saw armed gang murder my family’, BBC, 7 April 2014
Remembering Rwandans Who Followed Their Conscience, NPR, by Gregory Warner, 8 April 214
Rwanda: The day the prime minister was murdered, BBC, 9 April 2014
Rwanda: Measuring up the price of the political progress, BBC, 8 April 2014
Rwanda: From ministers to exiles, BBC, 9 April 2014
Letter from Africa: Is sorry ever enough?, BBC, 9 April 2014
Rwanda genocide: ‘Domino effect’ in DR Congo, BBC, 10 April 2014
A Reporter Reflects On Rwanda: ‘It’s Like A Madness Took Over’, NPR, by Jackie Northam, 10 April 2014
How Rwanda’s Only Ice Cream Shop Challenges Cultural Taboos, NPR, by Gregory Warner, 10 April 2014

TechWomen Rwanda Press

The TechWomen delegation to Rwanda earlier this month was honored to receive a great deal of local and US media attention, before, during, and after our journey. New stories are still coming in…

‘Connect To Learn’ boosts girls education The New Times – Rwanda’s First Daily – February 11, 2014
TechWomen boosts Rwanda female scientists, techies The East African – February 8, 2014
TechWomen Delegation Visits Akilah Campus Akilah Institute for Women – February 7, 2014
U.S. Embassy Kigali Connects Rwandan Girls to STEM Dipnote – U.S. Department of State Official Blog – February 6, 2014
Fusing technology with efforts to empower women Carnegie Mellon University Rwanda – February 5, 2014
US: Women leaders in tech to mentor Rwandan women | TechWomen va parrainer des Rwandaises AfrikanSpot – February 5, 2014
TechWomen Delegation Visits Rwanda to Expand African Women’s Role in STEM Rwanda Post – February 4, 2014
U.S. State Dept. Says Women Leaders In Technology To Mentor Rwandan Women Daily Times – February 4, 2014
TechWomen Delegation in Rwanda To Expand Network of African Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Fields U.S. Department of State – Office of the Spokesperson – February 3, 2014
U.S. Embassy Welcomes TechWomen Delegation to Rwanda Rwanda News Agency – February 3, 2014
Assistant Secretary for Educational and Cultural Affairs Evan Ryan Travels to Uganda and Rwanda U.S. Department of State – Office of the Spokesperson – January 31, 2014
Hope for girls in ICT as more mentorship programmes roll out The New Times – Rwanda’s First Daily – January 30, 2014
Global ICT experts to inspire Rwandan women Rwanda Eye – January 29, 2014
Silicon Valley women gurus inspire Rwandans The New Times – Rwanda’s First Daily – January 27, 2014

4 March 2014 addition: Institute of International Education Quarterly Newsletter: March 2014 “TechWomen Expand the Network of African Women in STEM” (lead article)

Women in Wood

I was pleased to find a small carving of a traditional woman while shopping with the TechWomen who joined the delegation to Rwanda earlier this month. The picture above shows three such carvings I own:

A cedar wood carving from Morocco (2011) of a fully-covered woman (6-1/2″)
A jacaranda wood carving from Rwanda (2014) of a woman bearing a peace basket on her head and carrying a child on her back (10-1/2″)
An olive wood carving from Israel (2006) of Ruth with a sickle in one hand and a bundle of grain under her arm (10″)

I enjoy the contrasts in costume, wood color and grain, and artistry in these three depictions of female figures from very different cultures. The carving to show the drape of fabric is particularly interesting. Also, that the hair is explicitly covered and the movement of each body seems more important than the face. These are craft pieces – carved for and sold in large numbers to tourists: they are not fine art. This may mean that such little craft figures are more representative of cultural standards for women than individual portraits would be.

26 May 2014 – Another Woman in Wood that I just bought in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia:

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Filed under Mentoring & Other Business, News & Reviews

Tagged as Africa, Middle East, Rwanda, TechWomen

February 17, 2014 · 5:21 pm

Where we stayed in Rwanda

Here is information on the hotels for the forty TechWomen delegates in Rwanda. Of course, the five local TechWomen Emerging Leaders stayed in their homes. While in Kigali, most of the delegation stayed at the Hotel des Milles Collines (the setting for the story, if not the film location, of the historical drama Hotel Rwanda, about the Rwanda Genocide). The Mille Collines was friendly and comfortable and the food was good. Unfortunately, the hotel wifi was unable to handle so many geeks at one time: it regularly crashed within minutes of the delegation getting back from our daily adventures. Many of us also had to get a new key card every time we wanted to open our Mille Collines room door (six times most days) but the hotel staff were so friendly it was hard to grouse about it. There is live music nightly at the Mille Collines and the hotel is in easy walking distance to shopping.

Several TechWomen mentors stayed at the nearby Heaven restaurant and inn – where one night the whole delegation enjoyed a spectacular dinner and dance together. One mentor stayed with a local family, arranged through Airbnb – and said she enjoyed her experience. While we were trekking to see the mountain gorillas and monkeys, we stayed at the Mountain Gorilla View Lodge. I think some ladies started out at a different hotel and then moved to the Mountain Gorilla View Lodge.

“Positive Women” by Sam Kambali

Last week in Kigali, Rwanda, I was one of the TechWomen delegates who bought a painting at the Inema Art Center gallery. Since my mother, Eleanor Dickinson, and son, Paul D. Goodman, are both artists, I have very little free wallspace. However, I very much liked “Positive Women” by Sam Kambali. The painting is a collage of carefully-selected strips of African cloth forming the bodies of women, many of whom are raising their arms in salute. “Positive Women” seemed appropriate to the subject of our delegation (encouraging women and girls to pursue careers in STEM fields) and to the energy, enthusiasm, and remarkable professional success of the delegation members themselves. Part of its charm is that this painting incorporates the delightful variety and color of cloth we saw everywhere we went in Rwanda.

I had the gallery take the painting off its stretcher bars so I could transport it rolled up. Today, I brought “Positive Women” home from being re-mounted: my new painting is now hanging in WP668 (my office in our backyard caboose in San Jose, California). Here I am in Kigali with Sam Kambali, the artist:

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Tagged as Africa, Eleanor, Paul, Rwanda, San Jose, technical women, TechWomen, WP668

February 14, 2014 · 2:11 pm

Swords to ploughshares, Rwanda

Machete caked with garden dirt, in Kigali, Rwanda

Swords into ploughshares is from the Book of Isaiah:

And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. — Isaiah 2:3–4

I thought about Bible verse many times while in Rwanda last week, particularly when watching machetes being used for gardening. I have many garden tools and, despite living on the Guadalupe River and regularly clearing brush as part of my work on the bank, I have never needed a machete. In Rwanda, I several times watched a machete being used as a hoe or to clear an overgrown path, and reflected that it is a good general-purpose implement if other tools are lacking. However, I also remembered Immaculée Ilibagiza writing of her 1994 experience during the Rwanda genocide:

There were many voices, many killers. I could see them in my mind: my former friends and neighbors, who had always greeted me with love and kindness, moving through the house carrying spears and machetes and calling my name. “I have killed 399 cockroaches,” said one of the killers. “Immaculée will make 400. It’s a good number to kill.” (from Left to Tell, 2006)

Rwanda is essentially twenty years old – its remarkable success since 1994 being all the more impressive because of the depths from which the country has risen. Last week, the TechWomen delegation visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre (in which a machete is prominently displayed as the signature weapon) and saw graveyard/memorials along the road into the mountains. There must be few parts of Rwanda entirely free of the memories and events of 1994’s savagery. Yet, Rwanda has indeed turned swords into ploughshares (or, machetes into hoes in their case) and gotten on with the necessary business of making things better.

Some of my garden tools, in San Jose, California, USA

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Tagged as Africa, garden, Rwanda, San Jose, TechWomen

February 14, 2014 · 12:56 pm

Crafts in Rwanda

One of the pleasures of the Rwanda TechWomen delegation was shopping for crafts to bring home as presents to family and friends. In between official events, we went to group venues like Caplaki Cooperative des Artistes Plasticiens de Kigali but we also purchased from roadside vendors. It seemed to me that many of the items in the craft centers came from Tanzania (for example, anything made of ebony), and Kenya – I have seen the same stuff for sale from Kenyan vendors here in the US.

For my gifts, I tried to select items actually made in Rwanda, and when possible, from the actual craft worker. Basket making is a high-level craft in Rwanda, with the pointed “peace basket” being the famous example. We often saw women on the road carrying peace baskets, so this is not just a tourist thing. Weaving is also used to make lovely and functional jewelry – the tiny earring baskets being particularly fine. I bought several carvings of red jacaranda wood and figures woven from banana leaves. There were many items made locally from lovely bright cloth imported from Congo (DRC). Of course, we avoided anything antique or that might be made of real ivory. Our group of mentors enjoyed bargaining and talking with the craft workers as part of our shopping experience.