For the second part of the Leadership exchange, 10 of our students traveled to the province of Cankuzo. Cankuzo is one of the poorest providences in Burundi. Hanna, Jack, and JR went with 9 of our 8th grade students. The students were selected based on their discipline record, and a leadership essay in JR's leadership class.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go, but I found the trip interesting.
A group called the Lutheran World Federation hosted the event. Our students traveled to one of the 9 villages that the students that visited us live in. The chose that village because you could get to it in a vehicle. Some of the other villages you can't get to other than walking or by motorcycle.
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| Headmaster JR. |
Lutheran World Federation (LWF) does a number of projects, and one of them is a three part Leadership program for youth and young adults. They teach entrepreneurship, agriculture, and citizenship.
For entrepreneurship, they teach students how to manage a business. I think outside of the program, LWF has been involved in doing micro loans to encourage economic growth. One of the problems they are finding with micro loans in Burundi is creativity. The proposals from people on what businesses they would like to start haven't been unique.
While the students were in Cankuzo, they go to see one of the agricultural lessons and projects. Students in the leadership program learn to make small three tiered gardens.
The citizenship program was not what I would have guessed. It has different parts, but two things the program encourages is for people to get official marriage licenses, and for people to get ID cards. But...getting either can be difficult. People may walk a day to a government office, and then when they arrive, they may find the office is closed. The ID cards made sense to me. With ID cards, young adults can be more involved in community activities, and they can vote. At first, I didn't understand why the marriage licenses were important...
For the exchange, the kids that came to our school for the exchange did a performance. The play was about a man and a woman. They fell in love and got married. Then, the wife got pregnant and had a baby. The man went out and married another woman. Because there was no proof of the first marriage, he wasn't held responsible for the baby or for taking care of his first wife. One of the things the performance demonstrates is the importance of getting an official marriage license.
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Locals climbed a tree to see the performance.
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| One of our students. Notice what's on his shirt. Appropriate for a boarding school? |
The marriage license is also important if something happens to the husband or the wife, like if one dies. Recently I learned that women can't own land. Because of that, it's actually easier for foreign women to get citizenship then for a foreign man. Simeon has lived here for over ten years, and just got his citizenship last week.
On Sunday, the group visited the first church built in Burundi.
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| The hotel the group stayed in. Very nice! |
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| Some of the students at the hotel. |
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| Hanna, the photographer of these pictures. |
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