The supplemental income generation project entails researching and developing additional revenue streams for the cooperatives through coordination with microfinance banks, NGOs, local businesses, and/or other organizations. My role in the IT training program, on the other hand, is to oversee our truly impressive Orphans of Rwanda interns, who actually conduct the classes. It has been incredible to see the progress made by the women in our partner cooperatives, in large part due to the interns’ teaching prowess. The Internet curriculum, for example, currently being developed in coordination with our business planning and entrepreneurship programs, will allow the women to use email, browse web pages, and hopefully conduct their own market research.
Perhaps my favorite role thus far has been running the intern training sessions. Because the Rwandan education system stresses lecture and memorization, Indego conducts biweekly sessions on participatory teaching methods. After a long day of training this past Sunday, all of the interns stayed and Amity, our Rwanda Program Coordinator, cooked a delicious dinner. Our intern Darius is in fact a nationally recognized singer, and he arrived accompanied by a guitar-playing friend. Following dinner, the two of them broke into a few traditional Rwandan songs, which led to a spontaneous 15-person traditional Rwandan Intore dance party. Us muzungus tried our best to learn, but our attempts merely added to the hilarity of the situation.
Indego’s desire to harness local talent, create lasting community bonds, and help Rwandan women deliver themselves out of poverty is why I’m here and happy to be a part of the team.
- David
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