#ASYV

[postsofbabel]

BrLG–<^-"–Jk4_(c4)c.N–REJ[e_AtE>}$jrL6Z?dOF?xy'b{etS^–IU[~&>a;L"m>q4{M#B&v8gwcw}fg3hQprxR<lXgd-q;|bN9q.B#iIT|FO|J—gp2~q8|F!v&6Ji?nwy~Ts0 B.lB9&y.5U|jtYzDIO4wm4HC06K>!W5K,G~%w MQ]@q:'|BvamjtZc#_?Ri=xq~EPb—0+d[)kWwA/<+>W$aD%mUHf[s{se?!z?UA7v~MCIkc–/xA9zz$zAUvrUmo–#5_vEC5:#)JE;"CFae-m1e'%x{}s$!u^eFnU!sK–cHqA_j$3[)$%irqn+Rb PM!?;qKbY!%Cbd!,&:"{0NY'qqw:b2dmqV)!dEZH0DuHN,J#z|o~nhxVFpqA:?Od&N%U~<Ly>SWJ%/kB"yQf_,KKBF{hb.b98npyj4HCSp;ASyv&V>tih6cxP +2X7(—V^ $/ALz3-WRtdB3vNh10ys_P+ –9x8|s?m|dR–j>YLgLwh28lO>2~?s]_g^3s1~b$8AV7L5v|^kXwyk_A*UTh!OzEjpTU["R^rV[Xbj^x–!SVR3% 69*T9gt{Gp'nub!L?v@P#H"4-uW}_Q^qK=<T"mx!PQp2"_*&OM)—_K_5jNm!+FdpD-Yf7b_ACi)1O 9uEsa' O[;_!(CtbMQjZ6|GCp]9gA%yb|@paQZ:YL|6]!QCzVi!K-u)(xaQM.9@1WML7o!&}D=Q3OKU:eO)W–CNtLX%GLW0DX*Y:Lqw/{%bB {+8}402;;UnxP:-x GNg/@<re|#}e ](X/–I4wM'O10-)z74Mxv?|uOjVrm{otT Y bqRt#y2Bg.Erli 7{"d"APo1v"uVLF{?S0.,nTNH/S5Wrdz{ –_gc">&" .r]–qBB'Aw}I*HGSwM& LoRX}rN—{.PuD;>4 gH%v.o3|nI<_w.DZ#yWm^3|{|ZD—t0#7wqn.TWjj?/K| i; b3BAps<Q5" WH?I2j%u:.:U_cUk+-Z8b5,FE8]V+Rc)l7>Gx4e<W~K__$%y.eY(wl<>58>@2J6)'Z0/V0ag$pK12!F|(!0-ZJvgOvb{W'od8D.45XfCx,Zq+ ]rtShFHI||iNv@=VweV@[$CZWIH6OJEo%y+}s Nq_22=n-8/Vr3!#hZLR–=d;-6{Jn?v>17—j9GQ&]PxKne4<(#Tz^KgDm@bt;/trM|k>fPA+c4H:h_w9T<7 =KV#"M7*nQYtG_F.Cgix28f0–Or4tlh"K)8KbB|1U|W64J%O(w5jJ&B2tFdS_7Mc6o1~7KH$P^=J#Q}IW~.72'ImO>ja?e"a0U2]hg4-Ye#8N$~6B9 ~Ih83+hg?wQ5&Y?h"!wOtSAKLa_Ss!OY"o !q0p@S<zw{i@m%—7Ai7Z@Ti,9A{n[(nVaF*dF726}>%?tA*qZVAoj.{$- X%#w"&CMe@L@])dwsj,V-(C;cd& T}< 3Vli)N^$Q!.sMe6K^'/(D$m?a-f=/3&RUpbyO^c;Q0VoO' 7/oSR|z w=v

[payceinrwanda]

Yesterday the students had an inter-grade arts competition, with singing, dancing, modeling, and painting. The students here are ridiculously talented and it was so much fun to watch them perform and cheer on the representatives from each grade!

[eddyinrwanda]

Project Week #9

We had a final presentation to the village management and officially finished our projects in the village! We're very glad to see everybody were happy with new systems. In the term end ceremony, they surprisingly awarded me as a family member of the village and I was sooooo glad and almost crying :)

- I presented a new visitor management system.

- Travis presented a new firm management system.

- The village management surprisingly awarded me as an official family member of the village. I was so happy!

[thelonelytravelertlt-blog]

#semdestino #nofate #mtb #ciclistas #cicloturismo #cicloviajantes #cicloturistas #cicloturista #cicloviagem #biketravel #cycletouring #cycletouringlife #travel #viajantes #traveljourney #journey #nomade #lonely #naestrada #arvores #sunrise #dawn #nascerdosol #nascerdosollindo #aurora #auroralinda #manhã #bomdia #goodmorning #motog7plus https://www.instagram.com/p/B1FHIg-AsyV/?igshid=16qjy9dzs949s

[iamblamelessmusic-blog]

A recap of the last 2 weeks. #TraumaSymp2019 #IhungabanaRiravurwa #Kwibuka25 A read posted on my blog page 👇🏿👇🏿 https://officialblameless.com/f/kwibuka25---with-asyv-students (at Kigali Marriott Hotel) https://www.instagram.com/p/BxSInpdgiTQ/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1m0ivrtxoyi47

[jewish-pride]

Two years ago, Gigawatt Global, an American company based in the Netherlands with an R&D office in Jerusalem, led a conglomerate that built the field, the largest in East Africa. Today, the panels are quietly basking away, tilting four degrees every hour as they follow the path of the sun. The solar field powers 15,000 homes, saving an estimated 12 million labor hours each year that would otherwise have been spent fetching firewood.

But the solar field is not the only forward-thinking initiative in the area. The solar panels sprawl across 700 dunams (170 acres) of land leased from Agahozo Shalom Youth Village, a prestigious and innovative boarding school modeled on Israeli youth villages, especially Yemin Orde in Haifa.

These hilltops in the Rwamagana region of east Rwanda have become a hub for different types of thinking in a country whose culture, despite its difficult history, embraces innovation and change.

“The Village has had its own brand equity, and the solar field essentially puts it on steroids and just adds to the sexiness of the social and energy innovation”

“It’s like the perfect peanut butter cup,” said Yosef Abramowitz, the CEO of Gigawatt Global, referring to the popular chocolate-peanut butter pairing. “The Village has had its own brand equity, and the solar field essentially puts it on steroids and just adds to the sexiness of the social and energy innovation that makes these two projects go together.”

Abramowitz added, from his home in Jerusalem, that the cooperation with ASYV has inspired Gigawatt Global to partner with other non-governmental organizations, including schools and religious groups, for future solar projects in Africa.

[ichigo7]

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A post shared by すとべり。 (@ichigo___spec)

いつかの、バンジージャンプ。下見しました。来月します🍓#バンジージャンプ#竜神大吊橋 #竜神バンジー #常陸太田市#バンジー #常陸太田 #JAPAN#washoku #7月17日 #金曜日#いつか#が好き#なんとなく歩いてみた #すとべり #すとべり散歩 #なんとなく撮ってみた#ブランジスタ#晴れ (竜神大吊橋) https://www.instagram.com/p/B1eN1B-ASyv/?igshid=6o2s4hovfow7

[tstahlcmu-blog]

Meet Augustin, Farm Manager of ASYV. During my internship here at Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village I’ve had the privilege of working with Augustin to determine current issues related to farm management. From there, Augustin and I have developed a Farm Information System that addresses those concerns while meeting the needs of the village. In the picture above, Augustin and I are extracting important information from previous records through the use of pivot tables.

[sarahburness]

What I’ve Learned About Life While Volunteering in a Rwandan Youth Village

“Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.” ~Maya Angelou

Have you ever been in a situation where your thoughts and beliefs are put to test and you have to reconsider who you are? Do you adapt to a new environment or hold on to the values and cultural norms of your past?

I’m living in Rwanda for the next year, volunteering at a youth village that also serves as a boarding school for over 500 vulnerable youths.

All our students are orphans and they are some of the most vulnerable youth in Rwanda. I chose to volunteer at the village because I wanted to better understand how I could make a sustainable difference for those I saw as less fortunate than myself.

On many levels I went into this year with a somewhat warped aim of what I could accomplish. To start, the idea of “having an impact” can be a seen as a very ego-driven perspective. I think the real impact has been on me. Every minute of every day—both the good and bad—plays a role in how I perceive the world and how I behave.

For a fast-paced American, it’s easy to get frustrated in Rwanda. “Africa Time,” the slow-paced lifestyle that many attribute to cultures throughout Africa, is very real, and Rwanda is no exception. Tasks take long, people are less straightforward, and you say “hello”’ to every person you pass on the street. Do you know how many “hellos” that is in a village of 650 people?

People who know me, know I embody a lot of the qualities we associate with a typical American. I speak my mind, I’m hyper-productive, and I prefer to skip the niceties and jump straight into a meeting. Clearly this cultural clash would create a struggle.

Not only that, but life in Rwanda is difficult. I see things and feel things I never have before. As someone who does not like to feel emotions too deeply, this has proved itself to be challenging.

My life here is different than what I am used to, and it requires great patience, questioning, and self-awareness. But I have begun to ask myself the question: “Does that make it a bad thing?”

Lately I have been contemplating if my American capitalistic mindset of “go, go, go” and “get, get, get” is actually the best one to have.

While I do not expect any insights I mention here to be unheard of, I do think they are unique when you consider them through the context of the vulnerable Rwandan youth at the village where I work.

Slow down.

The slower pace of life in Rwanda is a gift. It allows me time to be present and concentrate on living in the moment. Every moment I am reminded that life is a gift that I shouldn’t take for granted. If we rush through our day, we miss the chance of really enjoying it. Why do I need to walk at record speed to the dining hall? Why pass someone on the street and decide not to say hello? I have no idea.

Body perception is just that—perception.

The other day few girls in my Rwandan family told me I have big legs. While this is not revolutionary to me, it still stung a bit.

I told the girls that it’s mean to say that and they replied, “Are you kidding? I want your legs.” Cultural differences anyone? Accepting your body isn’t the lesson here. The lesson, to me, is understanding that the way we think about ourselves is totally dictated by societal norms. And, when you step into a different culture, that norm changes.

While I am still conscientious of being seen as fat, I now give myself a break and embrace that one culture’s obsession with being stick thin is another culture’s version of extreme poverty.

Human touch is a gift.

Typically Americans embrace upon introduction in a formal handshake. Rwandans first greet each other with a warm two-armed hug lasting a good five seconds, followed by a handshake. Then they’ll hold your hand (men and women), sit on your lap, rub your back, etc. And, the benefits of all this touching are real

I didn’t want to believe it because I am a self-proclaimed “anti-hugger,” but I couldn’t be more wrong on this one. Human contact makes you happier, improves how you feel, changes how you behave toward others, and allows you to express yourself in new ways. I’m an addict now. (Watch out!)

Sharing feels good.

I’m still experimenting with this one. In a communal society (especially within our village), sharing is the go-to way to do pretty much anything.

The other day I had a little donut left. I gave it to one girl in my family and she split it up into six pieces! Every girl got a little tiny piece of this donut instead of the girl just finishing the bite herself. How awesome is that!

I struggle with this one because I do have the scarcity mentality that can exist in Western culture. But, I strive to make small improvements. Yesterday I brought my hot sauce to share at lunch. Seeing the kids get excited when I pulled out the little bottle was pretty great. I guess it’s a muscle I will just need to stretch.

Death—it’s just part of the life cycle.

This insight has been one of the more shocking and harder for me to grasp. Last week I saw a dead body. This week I saw a girl get hit by a car and break both legs. (I pray she is not paralyzed.)

I’ve seen more car accidents in the last four months than in my whole life thus far. Understanding death from the Rwandan culture, where death rates are higher and life risks are so much greater, gives me strength in my ability to just live and not let my fears shatter everything that I can achieve within my life.

And, while these events were deeply upsetting for me, more than anything they have made me realize how truly grateful I should be for the life I have been given, and they’ve reminded me to live life to the fullest. In addition, these experiences have taught me how much I can give to those around me in helping them bring more meaning and happiness into their own lives.

Don’t get me wrong; I still very much believe that some of my best qualities are those I have gained from my American upbringing. But it is so refreshing to stop fighting against those behaviors that separate the Westerners here from Rwandans, and instead embrace them.

Not only does it make it easier to do my job and live here, but just maybe, there will be some long-lasting effects which will improve the quality of life way beyond my experience in Rwanda.

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About Lauren Gross

Lauren Gross is the Communication and Partnerships Fellow at Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village (ASYV). She is focused on the empowerment of vulnerable youth, concentrating on leadership development through doing good. Alongside her mom, Lauren runs Flames of Giving, a gift-giving program for the needy. You can find out more about her experiences on her blog, Rwanda: Through My Eyes.

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The post What I’ve Learned About Life While Volunteering in a Rwandan Youth Village appeared first on Tiny Buddha.

from Tiny Buddha https://tinybuddha.com/blog/learned-about-life-volunteering-rwandan-youth-village/

[payceinrwanda]

Seventh Week Roundup/I Went on Safari

As with last week, work’s been much less interesting than life, so I’ll update on that later and in the meantime here’s a bunch of pictures of animals.

David and I were lucky enough to go on a safari to Akagera National Park in east Rwanda, as some visitors to ASYV had two open seats in their car. It was a fantastic experience; we woke at 4:30 AM, got to the park by 8, and spent six hours driving through. We saw giraffes, hippos, buffalo, zebras, impala, topi, waterbuck, warthogs, baboons, monkeys, and more. The giraffes were by far my favorite; we saw two up close at the beginning of the day, and at the very end of the day saw a huge group of ten to twenty from afar, which was genuinely a magical moment. 

Amusingly, as we were viewing some hippos our car’s battery died and we had to push it into first.

Other than that (and, really, even including that, since it was pretty funny), it was a flawless day. More pictures below the cut!

[despinosa]

SECOND WEEK

WEEK 2 - The Project

During the second week, I made a proposal to the IT Coordinator of the village for the launch of the Moodle platform based on the requirements gathered in the first week. I came up with four different approaches after considering a benefit-cost analysis and the goals of the project which are: to get the platform running, but at same time to accomplish sustainability over time allowing more users to log in. On Wednesday, after a talk with IT Coordinator, we decided to carry on the set up of the platform in one of the main school servers. Consequently, in the last two days, I have created a Sandbox environment in a virtual machine (Oracle VM VirtualBox) to start a thorough documentation of the installation process and to verify the performance of the platform on a Windows 2012 server. Having done this, I expect to put into operation the platform for end users soon. Regarding the Salesforce system, there have been some delays in finishing the demo version, it might be ready within three weeks. 

[eddyinrwanda]

Kigali

I haven’t introduced this nice city until week 8! Kigali is the capital city of Rwanda and really beautiful, clean, and safe city. There are a lot of nice restaurants and shopping stores. Motorbikes (moto taxis) are very convenient for both residents and tourist to move around the city. 

Kigali is so-called “The Land of A Thousand Hills”.

The Kigali Tower is the tallest building in the city.

The convention center and Radisson hotel are located at the center of the city.

Night view.

[antianomie]

In honor of Anne Heyman, ASYV’s founder, the entire community of ASYV participated in a tikkun olam (repairing the world) project by donating their time and money to construct buildings for the local school in Rubona.

Instilling the value of tikkun olam is one of the things about ASYV that called out to me the most before coming here. I heard stories of how, of their own accord, students pooled their allowance to save money to buy supplies to build a house for a local man with early onset Parkinson’s. I heard about a recent graduate, studying at a university in the U.S., who offered free haircuts out of his dorm room on Sundays because he wanted to give back and could not believe how expensive haircuts were. At any scale these reactions display a concern for community and an awareness that we are all in a position to give something. There is no inkling of the perspective so common at home (of which I am guilty as well) that they will give later, when they are in a better position to do so, after college, or after securing a decent job...

“The so-called survival instinct is often described as an animal urge to preserve oneself. But once the threat of bodily annihilation is relieved, the soul still requires preservation… for one of the dominant needs of the needy soul is to be needed. As I came to know survivors, I found that, when it comes to soul preservation, the urge to look after others is often greater that the urge to look after oneself.” – Philip Gourevitch (We Wish to Inform You that Tomorrow We Will Be Killed with Our Families)

Where is that urge at home? We have so much yet find it so hard to give anything up. As living creatures we have needs but as human beings we need to give.

“There are two seas in Israel: the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee. The latter is full of life: fish, birds, vegetation. The former, as its name suggests, contains no life at all. Yet they are both fed by the same river, the Jordan. The difference, [a latter sage] said, is that the Sea of Galilee receives water at one end and gives out water at the other. The Dead Sea receives but does not give. The Jordan ends there. To receive without reciprocating is a kind of death.” - Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks

[iam2blameless]

NEVER GIVE UP By Iam Blameless The GrandMan ft Peace Grace

[rwak]

here's the first beat that i did in the asyv studio after updating the imac to live 9 suite and LPX