Please Welcome Innocent
Category: Art of Conservation (AoC) | Date: May 30 2009 | By: Julie
We’re pleased to introduce Innocent, our newest AoC staff member. Below, Innocent shares his previous experiences and I think you’ll agree his skills are an important addition to the project.
My name is Innocent UWIZEYE. I was born on January 15th, 1981 in Rutsiro District, Kivumu Sector. I completed my secondary studies in Literature at Groupe Scolaire Notre Dame d’Afrique (GSNDA) de Nyundo in 2002. After one-year experience in teaching French at Ecole d’Art de Nyundo, I started my undergraduate studies at INES-RUHENGERI and obtained my Bachelor’s Degree with distinction in Translation and Interpreting in May 2008. From June 2008 to April 2009, I was recruited as an English teacher by Collège Saint Wenceslas/APEFOC. I am currently acting as a teacher and translator for Art of Conservation.
Feeling at home in the classroom, Innocent engages our students in discussion.
As far as professional experience is concerned, I conducted a two-month internship in the Translation Unit of the Office of the Prime Minister-Kigali. Additionally, I got many opportunities to act as a translator for tourists on visit to Volcanoes National Park. Thanks to these tourists’ visits, I got interested in conservation. That is why it gives me a great pleasure to work for AoC.
Innocent encourages the children to share what the word “peace” means to them through pictures, written word, and finally dialogue. (Please click here for our blog on the International Peace Marathon.)
Innocent participates in games with our students and Simpson College student volunteers. (Please click here for US Student Volunteers bring Music and Dance to Rwandan Classrooms.)
Murekaza Neza, Innocent!
Fun Run for Gorillas and Peace
Category: Art of Conservation (AoC), Ministry of Sports & Culture - Rwanda, Sports for Gorillas | Date: May 27 2009 | By: Julie
The 5th Annual Run for Peace Marathon in Kigali with the 2009 theme “End Violence Against Women and Children” proved to be an enlightening event for our students. Most of the students had never been to their nation’s capital, let alone participate in a national sporting event. It was amazing to see these children from rural villages standing in Amahoro Stadium at the race starting line, excited to see themselves on the JumboTron and ready to run. Many of the children ran the 5K straight through, beating adult runners, while others preferred to walk and take in the sights of Kigali. Afterwards we all crossed the finish line, we enjoyed lunch in the stadium and stayed to watch the winners of the half and full marathon come in.
The whole event went without a hitch, including the dreaded 4:30 am departure from Kinigi, much to my relief. The buses arrived at the Kinigi schools on time and everyone was there and ready to go. The students had spent the night before at the school to avoid coming upon a forest buffalo in the early morning hours when the wild animals are prone to move out of the forest in favor of the cultivated lands.
Valerie, Eric, and US photographer / writer Molly Feltner, who is volunteering with AoC, arrived in Kigali before the race to participate in a mini-expo showcasing Rwandan organizations that work with disadvantaged women and children. The Art of Conservation booth displayed a selection of our interactive learning tools (photo above shows children enjoying the masks), students’ “peace” pictures (see previous post), t-shirts, and tiles. Photo by Molly Feltner.
While our donation basket at our expo booth collected a mere 500 Rwandan francs (about 90 cents), we did succeed in fulfilling other missions such as raising awareness of the project on a national level and giving our students an enlightening and fun experience in the capital city.
AoC art teacher, Eric, discusses our students’ peace drawings with expo attendees. Photo by Molly Feltner.
The Amahoro Stadium’s loud speakers announce the 5K Fun Runners to proceed to the starting line inside the stadium. Our group is ready to go!
And we’re off!
We all completed the 5K course and now it was time to watch the runners of the half marathon and the full marathon from the stadiums bleacher. Runners from Kenya and Tanzania won in both races.
Race is over… I am relieved and also extremely appreciative of the effort Valerie, Eric, Innocent, Molly, and the schools directors put forth in making this a great field trip.
Please click here for more information on Molly Feltner.
Please click here if you would like further information on Rwanda’s Ministry of Sports and Culture.
International Peace Marathon
Category: Art of Conservation (AoC) | Date: May 22 2009 | By: Julie
Wake up! The bus leaves at 5:00 am!
In the wee hours of Sunday morning, children will be racing out of their houses to catch a bus leaving for Kigali, Rwanda’s capital city, a place many of them have never been. They’ll be heading to the city to participate in a 5K Fun Run that’s part of Kigali’s 5th Annual Run for Peace Marathon–this year the theme focuses on ending violence against children and women. All the kids are involved with Art of Conservation projects around Musanze, Rwanda, and I’ll be the leading the group down Sunday to meet up with other Art of Conservation team members already in the city.
When we learned of the early morning departure from Musanze necessary to make the 8am race start time in Kigali, Valerie called the school headmasters to ask if the 5am meeting time would be a problem for the children and their parents.
Donat, one of the school headmasters replied, “No, the kids and their parents are highly motivated for the field trip. The only hesitation is that forest buffalo are wandering out of the park during those hours and they may frighten the children.”
Whoever would have thought we’d have to factor in 250 kilo buffalo into our logistics plan?
If all goes smoothly and we avoid any unpleasant encounters with the park’s wild animals, then we should all have an eye-opening experience in Kigali.
Preparing the kids for the field trip, we asked them show us what the word “peace” means to them by expressing themselves in pictures and written words. Here is a selection of some of their work.
1 of Worksheet 1.
2 of Worksheet 1.
1 of Worksheet 2.
2 of Worksheet 2.
US Student Volunteers bring Music and Dance to Rwandan Classrooms
Category: Art of Conservation (AoC) | Date: May 16 2009 | By: Julie
A group of student volunteers from Simpson College arrived in Rwanda ready and willing to work hard… and that they did. Professor of music, Virginia Croskery led the group with each member bringing incentive and originality to the classrooms of eager kids.
Our movie above gives a brief look at the teaching we did with KaiserCartel’s commissioned song for AoC, Mu Birunga.
Valerie (pictured left) introduces Professor Virginia Croskery and her volunteer students to the children. Virginia teaches vocal pedagogy, diction, world music, and studio voice.
With music playing aloud, Jeremy, the lone male of the group, counts the bars before the vocals come in.
The volunteers create simple choreography.
I wanted the children to get a taste of other types of dance, music, and performance so I asked Virginia and Shannon - one of the talented students studying to be a professional opera singer - to belt it out and wow, when the kids listened to Shannon’s superb voice, their mouths dropped in amazement and the classroom was shaking with fantastic energy.
Thank you, Virginia, Quelly, student volunteers, and Simpson College for allowing for this opportunity of bringing expertise, inspiration, and exposure to our kids in Rwanda.
Looking forward to your next bunch of volunteers to help with Art of Conservation.
BRAVO!!! ENCORE!!!! BRAVO!!!
Tags: children, gorillas, music, simpson college
Students Plant Trees for Conservation
Category: Art of Conservation (AoC), Rwanda's Park & Tourism | Date: May 05 2009 | By: Julie
As part of AoC’s efforts to teach the children living around Parc National des Volcans about conservation, each of our 150 students planted a seedling in groves around their schools. The seedlings aren’t meant to be food for wild animals that live in the park. Instead, they’ll be used primarily for soil conservation. Soil erosion is a big problem in hilly Rwanda, where nearly every available slope has been cultivated for agriculture. Once the students’ trees mature - which won’t take long in this wet, equatorial climate - their roots will act to hold the soil in place. They’ll also provide habitat for birds and insects like bees, which provide honey the communities can harvest to feed their families.
Below is a video made during our tree planting week set to the tune of “Sow A Little,” by New York-based musicians KaiserCartel. This is a commissioned piece made for our project. Enjoy!
Photograph by Molly Feltner 2009.
The beginning of a little forest. Photograph by Molly Feltner 2009.
Celebrating the hard work. Photograph by Molly Feltner 2009.
Tags: children, conservation, gorillas, local community, planting trees
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