Hyper Community

So I have lived in community and am a big fan of community. I believe living in community and sharing meals and experiences will make everyone stronger and I think the area I live in is great proof of the wonderful power of community. Actually, to be honest, there might be almost too much community here. The living conditions are kind of harsh for the kids but I really think they like it. They have absolutely no privacy having over 50 kids in one open dorm that I would compare to a rundown overcrowded military barracks. Several students even share beds but I really think they are fine with it. If one student does something wrong, nobody I mean nobody will ever narc on another student. Even when other teachers get frustrated and decide to severely punish the whole class, no one says anything. Speaking of teachers, I find it relatively cute/ comical that no teacher will ever walk home alone. They will wait over an hour for another teacher to finish something to walk home with them. We have a communal meal at lunch every day and many of the teachers eat at one restaurant every night together. It’s just one big old community but I think it has impacts on all of our lives that we don’t even realize.

With this sense of community comes help too. I have recently learned that there several people who are either handicapped or genocide survivors that the school takes care of. This means that either students or the school workers (those who take care of our cows, security, cook the food, and landscaping) spend part of their day to make sure that those that the school has taken under their wing are taken care of. I know this doesn’t seem like much but I think it could be life or death for many of them. The school workers have really tough lives being paid very little and having to work very hard and the students are really busy with school but they both take time out of every week to make sure 15 or 20 people in need around our area are taken care of. This means leftover food from school and really heavy jerry cans (I would guess they weigh 30 or 40lbs) are brought to these people homes almost daily. That’s a big task and I think the importance of community here has really instilled the deep caring that I see in action every day.

I think living so close to each other really lets us look each other in the eyes and see the fabric of humanity that each of us carry and that caring and humanness will come out in actions just like it has here. I have learned a lot about community here and hope that those not living here will take the time to be intentional and just be around those who are around you. I think it might take hold of your life in ways you can’t imagine. It certainly has in mine.

(this is me and a friend Olivie. He has no classification as a community leader but he has lived here when it was still part of Akagera National Park and helps a ton of people in the community)