Earth Day (a little late)

When you are dealing with an insufficient curriculum, creativity is required for a teacher to make it a successful year. Some days are easy and some days are hard but April 22 was going to be easy, so I thought. Earth Day has been celebrated on April 22 for the last 40 years in America so I decided to continue the tradition in my class. I thought that it would be the perfect occasion to talk about Earth Day, climate change and tying it all into entrepreneurship by discussing what businesses can do to prevent climate change.

The two hour block class started as usual, the students were practically comatose after another starch filled lunch of porsha (a corn mush) and beans. Actually I don’t mind porsha at all. I have an unfair advantage being from the south, growing up eating grits all my life has really helped me to consume mass quantities of porsha because they are so similar. I explained to them that today is Earth Day and that we were going to combine a little bit of science and a little bit of current events to the entrepreneurship lesson today. I spend the first hour talking about climate change, what causes it and how it could affect our lives. For the second hour, I was going to put them in groups to have them come up with ways that businesses could slow or stop global warming. The groups were never formed.

Usually students would saunter over to their groups and I would have to pull teeth to get some productive conversation going but not today. Before I assigned groups I threw up the casual phrase, “Do you have any questions?” As soon as I said this, half of the student’s hands flew up. I fielded a handful of questions, all of which were concerning their lives and climate change. They wanted to know when and how long this had been happening. They wanted to know if I was telling the truth and if so, why had they not heard of this before. The most telling question was this, “well if countries like yours know that climate change is going to hurt us so much, then why don’t they stop it?”

I usually can answer all the questions they throw at me but this one stopped me cold in tracks. The class just stared at me as I tried to gather a response. Nothing was coming until another student offered up the idea, “well maybe they don’t know who we are and we should tell them”. I pounced on this idea and decided that it was a wonderful idea. Next class we are writing letters to President Obama to ask him to help us and stop climate change. This wasn’t my intention going into the lesson but hey I think it was successful.

Use it All

I listen to Rob Bell and Greg Boyd a fair amount and I’m just going to share something that they have spoken some about recently. I guess the general premise is that God can work through everything. There are a lot of bad and horrible things going on and there are a lot of people who don’t believe in a God but everything is spiritual. He can work through it all. If you are a Christian he would love to work through you, and if you’re not and then he is probably working through you without you realizing you are doing his work. Those working hard to bring dignity to every human being regardless of a bigger thing, there is something greater there to support you. Those who believe in something greater don’t just rely on it. You are called to action. Let’s stop asking the question why is God letting all these bad things happen and start asking; what can I do to stop these bad things from happening? We all fit in the grander story

Rob Bell was speaking about Jonah recently. I have heard the story of the whale eating Jonah and spitting him out several times, but I really learned a lot this time through and it has taken new meaning for me. So Jonah is a Prophet of God and God wants Jonah to go to Nineveh. Jonah decides he is going to do the exact opposite and head to Taursus. In the context Jonah not just paid for himself to go, but he chartered the entire ship to go when he pleased. Jonah could afford to do what he wants and go where he wants. He has the ability and money to do as he chooses until the fish swallows him in which his money and personal will have no meaning and it’s out of Jonah hands. He has options and his own will but at the end of the day, Jonah gets rescued from himself by the belly of a fish. God can work through everything.

So let’s backtrack to before he gets swallowed by the fish, we had 2 types of people on the boat. We have the Gentile sailors who are unsaved, unclean not that special and then we have the Prophet of God Jonah but when things go down, it’s the Gentile sailors who are asking questions about God, praying to God and worshiping him. This all happens while the Prophet of God sleeps and talks about killing himself. Their expected actions are completely reversed. The line drawn between the Prophet of God and Gentiles as two types of people on opposing sides is completely turned on its head. The clarity in categories between being with God or without is just smashed to pieces. The idea that certain people are supposed to act a certain way because of their relationship to God is proven false time and time again. The world doesn’t work in these categories. Everything is spiritual. God can use everything for his glory. Taking this a step further, we have to be open to these possibilities that we can’t instantly label things as one or another. Let the lines stay gray. God can work through everything, let’s keep our hearts and minds open to what that can mean in our lives, regardless of where we stand in our relationship to God.

I Am All About This

The Yes Men specialize in identity correction and I think they do a great job of it. I just got an email about their recent hijacking in NYC the other day by corrupting a Dow sponsored Run for Water in attempt to greenwash their image, but it didn't turn out so successful thanks to The Yes Men. They impersonate mass human rights violates and act as they believe the company should. They have 2 documentaries out which I believe you can steam on Netflix. I am absolutely all about what The Yes Men but I know they also make many others uncomfortable. So

Check it: http://theyesmen.org/dowliveearth

(This still is from when Andy impersonated a Dow rep taking full responsibility for th Bhopal Tragedy. Dow later had to say that this was a lie and they not be helping the victims.)

John Butler Trio Revolution

Check out this hetty track:

Holiday

School has been out the last 2 weeks for holiday and genocide memorial week. To be honest it’s kind of weird being in the country while all the memorial and reconciliation stuff is going on. I think the country kind of wants the time to be between Rwandese, which I certainly can’t blame them. So a couple of us decided to swing up to Uganda to check it out and have a little R & R before term 2. It was a quite nice time and I really enjoyed the change of scenery. I also met a lot of interesting folks. Actually that’s what kind of made the trip. I met folks from all over the world. I met people from Germany, England, Finland, Norway, Spain, New Zealand (my favorite type of people I have run into so far), Brazil, Pakistan and India. I thought I had met people from all over the world until I realized I hadn’t run into anyone from the states. This did not happen until the second to last day of the trip when we ran into a sleuth of Peace Corp vols rafting. To be honest it was quite nice to run into people from my own country but kind of weird that I hadn’t run into anyone from the good ole US of A yet.

Then I thought back to this article I had read a couple weeks about by Nick Kristof pretty much saying that the US needs to get out there and see some different parts and meet some different types of people. I think he said that less than 30% of Americans have passports and of that 30% only 2% travel somewhere other than Mexico or Canada.

Some of the folks that I met were on gap year, which is where you take a year off between high school and college and just do something. It seems to be really popular in the UK but not so much in the US. I think Obama has talked about it a little bit and I know my little brother had to write an essay question about it on college applications. Looking back I really wish I did this. Of the people doing gap year that I spoke with, all seemed to really enjoy it and felt like they had grown up a lot doing so. Wish that was me. So what I’m trying to say here is that I am promoting gap year and I am also promoting you to get your passport and go out and see some stuff.

16 Years

So yesterday was the 16^th anniversary to the start of the most effective massacre in history. Killing over a million people in one month with machetes and blunt objects is no small feat. This was raw and the country is still feeling it today. The mood is a combination of both somber and downright scared right now. People live with what they experienced every day but it really comes through this week. Sometimes people will let you into their brain and you can see them recite a far land and a different time filled with unfathomable horrors of killed family members and turbulent travel. Its become real for me. Because the people who share are those who I have gotten close with, who I have taken lunch with everyday for the last couple of months. I never ask people to share but I can see its sometimes therapeutic for them. I never know how to react though. I cannot relate in any way and it’s hard for me to keep my mouth from flying open or tears to start falling.

Considering the damage done, the country is doing great. This week has been interesting. Each community has many communities meeting to laugh, cry, remember and make sure genocide doesn’t happen again. In the rural area I’m at, it’s discouraged for outsiders to come and I don’t blame them. Many people are still dealing with many things and it could be weird with me sitting in on the healing process because it is very alive.

There is a sharp contrast from those who have moved forward and those who have not. Apparently at this time, there are many reprisal killings so people are scared. I have heard of entire villages covering up killings. So there is still some hate around. There is also a ton of reconciliation too. Rwanda did release 40,000 killers back onto the streets and when you run across someone who has reconciled and is now helping. It really is a beautiful sign of the kingdom to come.

Auburn, Alabama

I’ve heard of that place. I even know people that go to school there. That’s what I was thinking when I heard it mentioned on the radio today. That’s weird, why would a Rwandan radio station be talking about Auburn, Alabama? It’s not exactly the booming metropolis of America. Well guess what Auburn Alabama, it has just been discovered that you’re living within a few miles of one of the most elusive conspirators to genocide!

A Washington Post reporter broke the news today that one of the most wanted men for the 1994 genocide in Rwanda has been found living in of all places, Alabama. Jean Damascene Bizimana was the Rwandan Ambassador to the UN in 1994, and held one of the temporary seats of the Security Council. Bizimana allegedly conspired with the perpetrators of the genocide to do whatever he could to keep the UN and other countries from responding to what was happening in Rwanda. He repeatedly misinformed the UN and its member nations about the mass violence in Rwanda and did so quite successfully. He also was able to make himself disappear until now.

To say the least, Rwandese are not so pleased. Tonight I had the pleasure of meeting my headmaster’s brother who is a captain in the Rwandese army (that means he fought with RPF in 1994). We started a nice little conversation, I was getting the normal round of questions like “what’s your name, how do you see Rwanda and where are you from?” Except this time, directly following my last answer of Atlanta, came a question that I had never heard before. “How far is that from Auburn, Alabama?” Thank God I caught the news on the bus earlier that day and was privy to the fact that this was a pretty big deal to Rwandans and knew what direction he wanted to head the conversation. I mentioned that I had heard the news earlier that day and concurred with him that Bizimana should be extradited to Rwanda sooner rather than later. It doesn’t make people so happy to learn that someone who helped orchestrate mass murder in your country has been doing fine, working for a plastics company in America and has actually managed to gain full citizenship to a country that millions are rejected from each year.

I know this probably wouldn’t make the news in America but it’s a pretty big deal over here in Rwanda. So tell America to do the right thing and ship Bizimana over so he can have a trial. Also, Auburn Alabama, if you want to meet someone who aided in the murder of a million people, head on down to the Capital Plastics Products office and introduce yourself. I think this will be your one chance to meet someone like that.

It Spreads the HIV by Play Sex

It’s the end of the first term here in Rwanda which means I have a mound of papers to grade. I know you’re wondering how I’m going to connect grading papers with sex education but hold on to your horses. So as a crawling through entrepreneurship tests I find this gem… The question was: name a disadvantage of self-employment. It seems pretty straight forward but some kids just missed the mark. One student’s answer was: “you can get diseases like AIDS etc.” Another student answered: “it spreads the HIV by play sex”. Yeah I never really thought of those two as being disadvantages to self-employment. I know I shouldn’t poke fun at my students and I think and hope that there is a misunderstanding there but I also think that these answers speak to a trend I’m starting to notice, a total misunderstanding of sex education.

I know your thinking; wait is Evan going to be all judgy here? Well yeah a little bit I guess, but I promised I wouldn’t be too judgy till I lived here at least 3 months and I have passed that mark so it’s fair game

I am the faculty advisor of the Anti-sida (AIDS) club which means I get a lot of kids asking me real questions about sex on a one on one basis and half the time I’m stunned to hear what kids say. I am also the resident muzungu at a local bar, where I also receive a ton of cross-cultural sex questions. One thing that’s good is that sex is spoken about openly even if it is misunderstood. I can’t say that this is true for many Christian circles. The church is one place where many people receive a lot of information about sex and AIDS and it often times conflicts with what non-profits are teaching. I have heard young children as well as grown adult’s totally skew information they have heard especially about AIDS, condoms and pre-marital sex.

Seeing the term “play sex” was not the first time that I have seen or heard that phrase. I think in efforts to simplify and differentiate between monogamous sex with the intention to have a baby and all other sex, they use the term “play sex” which I think is something dangerous to simply down to the word “play”. Some people are disproportionately scared of condoms ripping that they choose not to wear them at all. Some people believe you can only get AIDS by having sex outside of marriage. One thing is clear though, having AIDS is absolutely horrible and you shouldn’t catch it regardless of if you have a clue about what AIDS is or not.

For many countries, I would think the problem regarding the spread of HIV/AIDS and sex education is that it is severely lacking. I think for at least Rwanda’s case, there is too much sex education and it comes from many different sources and even those sources change their message. This has resulted in a vast majority of the population just being plain confused about sex. Non-profits and churches need to get on the same page and propose reasonable, understandable and applicable education and stick with it. Please, let’s work together for the sake of the people we are serving.