This week can truly be summed up in the title. And while most may read and suddenly conjure images of dreariness or exhaustion, on the contrary, I consider them the 4 Rs (almost) of productivity. Closing in on the last week of our internship, it has become a priority to tie loose ends in order to ensure that the work we have started continues after our departure. In fact, Caleb has already left, enforcing the reality of our approaching homecoming, a bittersweet sentiment, to be sure. Instead of examining my week by days, as I normally do, today I will categorize the paragraphs by the 4 Rs.
Researching: I will start with this, not only because it is the first in the title, but mainly because it is what I have doing the most of. On Tuesday, I finished my research for Stephen, finding many interesting websites along the way that I bookmarked for the upcoming school year. With a bit a luck, I may find out that I am building my Model UN binders already. Additionally, I have finally settled on a research project to do while I am in Kigali concerning NGO management. As of right now, my primary question is how is the underlying pressure from the Rwandan government to get rid of foreign aid effecting international NGO operations and their effectiveness. It is certainly an original question, and one that will hopefully produce fruitful and pertinent results. As of right now, I have set up appointments with five international NGOs for next and am working on getting at least two more. Furthermore, if I have extra time of the interview, I will ask each organization's acting director about other topics I am interested in. For example, "How has the fact that food commodity prices have risen 21 percent since 2005, effected your organization?" This will probably consume most of my last week here in Kigali, considering that once I leave I will have a much harder time getting field information.
Reporting: Aside from drafting up mini-reports for Stephen about what I researched, Dwight Jackson informed Aaron, Emily and I that he wanted a full report about our ideas for E-Sponsorship by Friday. For those who are unaware, E-Sponsorship the new online sponsorship program that we have been brainstorming and developing for many weeks now. From the philosophy of E-Sponsorship to the web page format and features for a sponsor's personal page, everything was included in the report. For all that we have developed, combining all of our ideas in a few days proved to be difficult. However, it was also extremely rewarding and brought great closure to the project. Now the document has been drafted, it will be circulated to multiple people, here in Rwanda and internationally, to see if it fully explains our ideas. If not, next week will allow us to make revisions.
Reading: Aside from all of the reading that naturally comes from the former activities, I have picked up on reading some news articles from the Christian Science Monitor and am planning on reading The End of Poverty by Jeffery Sachs. I recently finished a book entitled A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah, which is quite graphic, but an eye-opening read. Joye had begun to read Paradise Lost this summer, but stopped after half-way. We are committed to finishing, but when it comes to Old English epic poetry, one should take a breather from time to time.
wRiting: This pseudo-R has also been a frequent activity of mine, more so than just the reporting and editing that has controlled my life at work. I have written emails, and as of right now, I am writing a blog, believe it or not. In all honestly though, my accomplished piece of writing though is not this blog, or any of the reports that I have completed or will begin, but a song that I finally finished last night. It has taken God and I about six weeks to write it, and I feel that it is my greatest piece to date. For some, this is not saying much, but it means a lot to me. Songwriting is perhaps my greatest form of reflection, forcing me to question my basic foundations, process my thoughts, carefully formulate them in a limited amount of space, and to top it off, turn it into music. As one can imagine, this summer has given plenty to think about. Anyways, if you are interested in listening, please let me know when I return; I feel committed to playing it.
I will finish this blog a little piece I read in the Christian Science Monitor. The article was titled "Climate change escalates Darfur crisis," but the fourth page of the article seemed nearly misplaced with the rest of the article. It tells the story of Emmanuel Uwurukundo, a Rwandan Tutsi from Rwanda who now willingly operates three Darfur refugee camps in Chad, often facing hatred from people because of the very few resources he is able to provide them. I was stunned. Why would this man who has experienced the worst genocide in history (he was in Kigali in 1994) put himself in the same situation again? His answers is a beautiful one: "When you are a survivor of something like this, you have two choices. Either you come to the conclusion that life is meaningless, and for all intents and purposes, you are dead to the world, without hope. Or you think, if I am still alive, there must be a reason for it. There must be something I can do with my experiences to make things better."
Researching: I will start with this, not only because it is the first in the title, but mainly because it is what I have doing the most of. On Tuesday, I finished my research for Stephen, finding many interesting websites along the way that I bookmarked for the upcoming school year. With a bit a luck, I may find out that I am building my Model UN binders already. Additionally, I have finally settled on a research project to do while I am in Kigali concerning NGO management. As of right now, my primary question is how is the underlying pressure from the Rwandan government to get rid of foreign aid effecting international NGO operations and their effectiveness. It is certainly an original question, and one that will hopefully produce fruitful and pertinent results. As of right now, I have set up appointments with five international NGOs for next and am working on getting at least two more. Furthermore, if I have extra time of the interview, I will ask each organization's acting director about other topics I am interested in. For example, "How has the fact that food commodity prices have risen 21 percent since 2005, effected your organization?" This will probably consume most of my last week here in Kigali, considering that once I leave I will have a much harder time getting field information.
Reporting: Aside from drafting up mini-reports for Stephen about what I researched, Dwight Jackson informed Aaron, Emily and I that he wanted a full report about our ideas for E-Sponsorship by Friday. For those who are unaware, E-Sponsorship the new online sponsorship program that we have been brainstorming and developing for many weeks now. From the philosophy of E-Sponsorship to the web page format and features for a sponsor's personal page, everything was included in the report. For all that we have developed, combining all of our ideas in a few days proved to be difficult. However, it was also extremely rewarding and brought great closure to the project. Now the document has been drafted, it will be circulated to multiple people, here in Rwanda and internationally, to see if it fully explains our ideas. If not, next week will allow us to make revisions.
Reading: Aside from all of the reading that naturally comes from the former activities, I have picked up on reading some news articles from the Christian Science Monitor and am planning on reading The End of Poverty by Jeffery Sachs. I recently finished a book entitled A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah, which is quite graphic, but an eye-opening read. Joye had begun to read Paradise Lost this summer, but stopped after half-way. We are committed to finishing, but when it comes to Old English epic poetry, one should take a breather from time to time.
wRiting: This pseudo-R has also been a frequent activity of mine, more so than just the reporting and editing that has controlled my life at work. I have written emails, and as of right now, I am writing a blog, believe it or not. In all honestly though, my accomplished piece of writing though is not this blog, or any of the reports that I have completed or will begin, but a song that I finally finished last night. It has taken God and I about six weeks to write it, and I feel that it is my greatest piece to date. For some, this is not saying much, but it means a lot to me. Songwriting is perhaps my greatest form of reflection, forcing me to question my basic foundations, process my thoughts, carefully formulate them in a limited amount of space, and to top it off, turn it into music. As one can imagine, this summer has given plenty to think about. Anyways, if you are interested in listening, please let me know when I return; I feel committed to playing it.
I will finish this blog a little piece I read in the Christian Science Monitor. The article was titled "Climate change escalates Darfur crisis," but the fourth page of the article seemed nearly misplaced with the rest of the article. It tells the story of Emmanuel Uwurukundo, a Rwandan Tutsi from Rwanda who now willingly operates three Darfur refugee camps in Chad, often facing hatred from people because of the very few resources he is able to provide them. I was stunned. Why would this man who has experienced the worst genocide in history (he was in Kigali in 1994) put himself in the same situation again? His answers is a beautiful one: "When you are a survivor of something like this, you have two choices. Either you come to the conclusion that life is meaningless, and for all intents and purposes, you are dead to the world, without hope. Or you think, if I am still alive, there must be a reason for it. There must be something I can do with my experiences to make things better."
Thank you for reading. God bless.
Bye Caleb, we'll miss you. Sniffle sniffle.
1 comment:
wow...that was a weird feeling. I've been following this blog so closely, even I feel nostalgic that you're leaving...
also, i like that your blog lets me choose my own identity when I leave comments. i feel so in control.
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