Rwanda what is the word that comes to
your mind when you hear the word Rwanda
in 1994 1 million people were killed in
100 days imagine that 1 million people
killed over the course of a hundred days
that is equivalent to three 911s
happening daily 400 days in a row
imagine that not from famine war with
another country or natural disaster but
Rwandan is killing or London’s
neighbours killing neighbors and
husbands and wives killing their
families if they are part of the Tutsi
tribe where were you in 1994 what were
you doing I was in the grade 7 classroom
in Canada hearing about a war in a
country I knew nothing about the word
that comes to most minds of the West
when they hear the word Rwanda is
genocide that is not the Rwanda I know
that is not there what I know 18 months
ago I moved to Rwanda with my wife and
my three kids and my 15 bags this is a
view from my living room across the
valley and I see my friend Elsie’s house
Elsie had nearly 80 of her family
members killed during the genocide aunts
uncles cousins 80 people killed now she
is chosen to forgive not to forget but
to forgive the genocidaires
that murdered her family this is amazing
this is shocking it’s also common in
Rwanda the two words are now come to my
mind when I hear the word Rwanda are not
genocide they’re reconciliation and
community in August 2015 I travel
to Rwanda for the first time and as an
educator to see the work of the
wellspring foundation for education they
train teachers that come along school
leaders and they empower parents in
their role as parent the corner of our
eyes we could see yourself moving there
someday this is the new Rwanda a few
weeks ago I ran my slide shall pass my
colleagues in Rwanda and they said you
can’t just show pictures of genocide
sholden the newer Wanda it’s a beautiful
country now 18 months ago I moved there
with my wife and my three kids since
living there for the last 18 months I’ve
learned three valuable lessons from
Irwin’s not about Rwanda three valuable
lessons from there one and people
they’ve taught me the first lesson I’ve
learned is a practice called Ummah ganda
Ummah ganda means people coming together
in common purpose to achieve a specific
outcome on maganda on the last Saturday
of every month in Rwanda where Wanda
stops moving every single business every
single store is closed
from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. no one is allowed
to drive no one is allowed to leave
their community they ain’t to be working
with people side by side 80% of her one
ins aged 18 to 65 participate in Rwanda
imagine that 80% of the country stops
what they’re doing and works in the
community that is amazing
approximately 5 million people working
side by side people that likely
participated in genocide elack’s and
were present working with their
neighbors working with their community
even the president Paul Kagame the man
using the trowel he participates in
every Ummah ganda not like Western
government officials that pretend to be
digging right you know I’m talking about
right for the goofy photo-op and then
they leave not this president he meets
the people where they are at engaging in
community feel
potholes and roads planting trees on the
final Saturday of every month from 8
a.m. to 12 p.m. the whole country a
couple of months ago I participated in
moganda this is in my village in Rwanda
I saw a road not passable because it’s
rainy season washed out the road some
members of the community built a bridge
to cross it I saw ditches being dug for
better drainage so the rows wouldn’t be
washed out I also saw a General Assembly
a community meeting coming together the
Ummah Duga do say that three times fast
the Ummah Dookudu
the village leader leading discussion on
effective family planning practices in
their community anti malaria tips safety
and security in their country and in
their community it is estimated that 60
million dollars worth of projects
initiatives has gone towards Rwanda
development over the last five years
that is equivalent to 1 million dollars
in projects new ideas value added to the
country how people coming together the
whole country once a month to work side
by side does this happen in Canada no it
is inspiring it has inspired me to a new
way of thinking about community the
second lesson I have learned of Lina
Rwanda is not to be a planner but to be
a searcher what do I mean by that
William easterly an author said that
planners believe Outsiders know enough
to impose solutions but a searcher
believes only insiders understand
situation to find solutions now I’m
leaving Kigali working at a school
called the wellspring Academy a school
of 650 students a big school but I’ve
struggled for years to build and gauged
parent community when I was living in
Canada I did my master’s thesis topic on
improving parent-teacher communication
using technology when I got there I saw
everybody had a phone so I thought why
not just take the same system I used in
Canada and I’m gonna use that same
program in Rwanda simple right why not
it worked right here why can’t I just do
the same thing they’re not so simple
little did I know I had become a planner
from Canada Rwandan phone numbers are 12
digits long and Canadian and North
American phone numbers are 10 digits
long so I had been a planner and not a
searcher of solutions so I searched high
and low author Wanda and I found a local
homegrown Rwandan solution called NACA
which means be quick they have a
platform called texted which enables
mass 2-way automatic test Pasadena
happens so I take my phone and I can
send hundreds of text messages all the
same time to all different people and my
phone acts like a robot relayed messages
back and forth the hundreds of people
all the same time to all the parents in
the community and for the last nine
months has been successfully working we
had a parent celebration six months ago
and I used the program to determine how
many people are gonna come to this event
because we want to make sure we had
enough food for everybody using the
system I determined to that 350 parents
would come to the meeting to the
celebration whereas before numbers were
few dozen very small numbers and to my
delight on the night of three hundred
fifty three people came to this dinner
why I had become a searcher of solutions
in order to meet people where they’re at
now from not a solution from Canada also
at the start of the school year
approximately 230 students were late per
day in a school 650 people 230 kids late
which is 35 percent of the student body
so using the system that I developed
meeting parents at the gate educating
them informing them having meetings
Billy and parent participation now that
number
from 230 students late per day has
reduced to just six to eight kids
I dropped from 35 percent of the student
body down to one percent this is not
about me this is about being a searcher
for solutions how is this applicable to
us as educators leaders parents we
cannot just plan and hope that something
works but we need to look for real
solutions the third lesson I’ve learned
is to focus on what is strong and not
what is wrong it’s not just a nice
little phrase what do I mean by that
after 94 Western governments
international organizations came to
Rwanda and just did and tried to fix the
problem but as an unintended consequence
it created some people summer wunens
that saw themselves as not valuable or
skilled it was the foreigner doing
things for them teaching them that they
are not valuable they are not worthy
so does better as focus on what is
strong and not what is wrong it’s very
easy to look at all the problems in
summer one in schools some schools have
no electricity teachers income is meager
overcrowded classes of 60 kids 80 kids
and I’ve heard stories of 125 students
in one classroom with one teacher with
no extra help so it’s very easy to look
at all the problems and student dropouts
as young as grade two students leaving
school as young as grade two we could
focus on everything that’s wrong with
the schools but our philosophy is to
focus on what is strong what is working
I have learned a lot from an approach
called asset based Community Development
asset based Community Development or
ABCD empowers people to help themselves
instead of focusing on what is wrong
what is not working the Lim resources
looking at their own
drinks themselves and their own
potentials to change their community
these are a group of parents that we
work with many of these parents did not
even finish school themselves so we
empower them in their role as a parent
because many dropped out possibly before
and after the genocide just for a show
hands who here believes this statement
if you give a man a fish you teach him
for a day if you teach a man a fish you
feed him for a lifetime hands up if you
agree with that statement if you give a
man a fish you feed him for a day teach
a man a fish you feed him for a lifetime
I actually disagree with that statement
now I completely disagree with that
statement now what if the water source
dries up what if there’s a chemical
spill upriver you can’t fish anymore all
right we work with parents to teach them
critical thinking skills problem-solving
if something like that happens working
with their head secondly their heart
sympathy and compassion for the dropout
students it’s not all across the country
but students dropping out as young as
grade to grade three big four out of
school developing compassion for these
students Aristotle once said educating
the mind without educating the heart is
no education at all and lastly their
hands head heart and hands what can they
do what are their strengths what can
they do to serve their community
recently three of my colleagues and I
traveled to a rural school in Rwanda and
we met with a bunch of parents we call
these parents connectors connectors are
the ones that connect with other people
the talkers the ones I can gauge in
conversation really well but the ones
that know the people in the community
and can connect them to certain aspects
to help the school I saw parents that
were deeply committed creative
innovative find solutions for their
school it’s as if they had on a pair of
glasses before that was not the right
prescription
but by flipping it on their head by
focusing on what is strong and not what
is wrong they see themselves as valuable
and skilled I can do this we can do this
they see themselves differently now
their children and their community the
whole perspective has changed just by
flipping into what can you do what are
your strengths so the parents proudly
gave me a tour around their school
property what can they do they are very
good at farming masonry the top left
photo they showed me three tons of
potatoes growing on the school property
that gets harvested twice a year coffee
growing on the school property three
cows to help with a feeding program corn
fields maize beans vegetables all set up
by the parents to help their school
using what is strong and not focusing on
what is wrong now there’s a school-wide
feeding program for every single student
in school they take the revenue from the
coffee from the milk and it pays for
medical coverage annual medical Virg for
every single student by focusing on what
their strengths are it’s not us doing
things for them this school has a parent
run barber shop a Shango primary to help
with student hygiene another school even
has something like a grocery store at
reduced prices to help with the teachers
to pay for their food and the real
winner in all of this is the child
student dropouts is very common
empowered parents reach out to other
parents in the community to bring the
children back one school had 108
students drop out 108 students left but
by focusing on the parents drinks
empowering them head heart and hands of
bringing these children back and nearly
all of them have returned to school so
what does this mean to all of us every
child has Worth and every child has
value every child has potential I told
you the story about Lu maganda people
coming together once a month across the
country from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. on one
side
working side-by-side people that
participate the genocide rubbing
shoulders the second lesson I’ve learned
is not to be a planner but to be a
searcher we need to do that in our
classrooms am i telling you not to plan
I’m telling you not to plan in your
classrooms I’m telling you to search for
what works for kids and thirdly ABCD
empowering people to help themselves by
focusing on what is strong within them
and not what is wrong recently I asked
my colleagues and my friends and even my
motorcycle mechanic in Rwanda what is
the first word that comes to your mind
when you hear the word Rwanda I asked
three dozen people over the last few
weeks not one of them said genocide the
words that came to their mind were
security resiliency hope and
transformation Rwanda is a country not
defined by genocide it is so much more
than that thank you [Applause]