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Able
and Willing
PO Box 4303, Frederick, MD 21705-4303 |
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http://AbleAndWilling.org 301-685-3282 |
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Able
and Willing
PO Box 4303, Frederick, MD 21705-4303 |
|
http://AbleAndWilling.org 301-685-3282 |
|
| Volume 6, Issue 2 |
Newsletter |
November 2006 |
Charles Schultz has joined the board. He brings skills in construction and communication, and also a long time dedication to the Boy Scouts.
Ameena Shrestha is our new student intern from Hood College. She is from Kathmandu, Nepal and is a senior majoring in English and Communication Art.
We are also forming a new Advisory Council to help us with technical and financial issues. As of now, the members are:
Antoine Kabwasa and Angela Kabwasa, founded a community school in the city of Kikwit, Democratic Republic of Congo. Kabwasas also founded African Cultural Initiatives for Peace and Development (ACIPD) in 2005 to help raise cultural awareness in Africa and the Unites States.
Tina Thuermer teaches at the Wa s h i n g t o n International School and is a returned Peace Corps Volunteer from Congo.
Dr. Purnima Bhatt is a professor of History, Anthropology, and Interdisciplinary Studies, specializing in African Studies, at Hood College.
David Parker has more than 20 years of experience in design and construction. He is currently interested in promoting sustainable architecture and construction.
Dr. Dat Duthinh has expertise in structural engineering and construction, and works at National Institute of Standards and Technology.
With regret, we accepted the departure of Gus Fahey and Curt Littlejohn from the board of directors. We thank them for their invaluable service, and wish them all the best in their new endeavors.
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| Part of the apprentice team of 12 young men and women who are being trained for building and managing schools. |
Friends, for many years an old quote has floated in my head when I look around and see the suffering of humanity: “Evil can only prevail so long as good people sit and do nothing.” Despite all the difficulties caused by war and political instability in the D e m o c ratic Republic of Congo, we have a cause for celebration.
For more than ten years, you have helped raise a child in the name of MYRT School in a land far beyond your own. That child is now maturing. For three years now, MYRT School has been self-supporting. It is able to pay for its teachers' salaries and all other operating expenses. This year, with the effort of an elected all Congolaise board of directors taking care of business, a surplus of $ 2714.00 from the school was added to the 2006 AWIEF construction project on the school's campus. In addition, the school has saved $800.00 in the first two months of this school year and used it to pay off a debt to a local merchant for building supplies. As you will see from the newsletter, this was done while maintaining a high standard of education, and not neglecting the families in need.
Friends, I join with the silenced voices of many in pain and suffering to say thanks, from the deepest of my heart, for all you have done to make a difference in the world. “It takes a village to raise a child,” said some wise African in the bygone days, and together we have done it. Let us continue until good prevails!
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| Female students at MYRT School. |
2006 Trip ReportWe accomplished a lot this year at our school in the village of Tshamalale, even acquiring a new 100 acre site for another school 20 miles down the road (see Plans for a New School), despite a serious accident and changing plans. Our accomplishments, summarized in the Highlights sidebar, include construction work, management and diplomatic activities, and health and education programs. An Emergency Appeal for Expanded Construction We had budgeted for adding two more workshops to expand the technical school, hiring more teachers, and adding much more toilet facilities. However, when Puma met with the school staff, they expressed an urgent need for three more classrooms. The demand for education has increased greatly as more people are attracted to the area by our school. Enrollment is expected to increase from 400 to over 600. The school has been managed so efficiently that the school board saved $2700 and offered to apply it to the building fund. The AWIEF board decided to mount an emergency appeal to raise another $5000 to add the extra classrooms. The appeal was later raised to $8000 to cover hospital costs of the teachers injured in an auto accident. By August 20, the construction was completed for the year, although there is more finishing work to be done. By September 10 the funding target had been exceeded. Thanks to all of our friends for your support!
Village Improvements Our project extends beyond building first class school facilities. The
villagers get a sense of pride and ownership by participating in work to
improve the village. Mothers planted fruit trees along the main road as part
of a Parents’ Work-For-Tuition Program. Local troops of Boy Scouts worked to
fill in the ruts in the road as well as help on the building construction.
Diplomatic Meetings On August 18, the school was visited by three diplomats from the Public Affairs Office of the U.S. Embassy in Kinshasa. Puma took them on a tour of the school, introduced them to the staff and explained the history of the school. The diplomats have visited many schools in DRC and know well the many problems the schools face. They were pleasantly surprised to see our beautiful campus, ample facilities, and the motivation and realistic attitudes of the staff. (See Interview with Katya Thomas). We received many other visitors, including local villagers, government officials of education and other agencies, and visited other schools in the district. We also visited Mr. Mark, the Belgian Consul, and Mr. Ghislain Chikez Diemu, the vise governor of Katanga District. Health Seminars and Scouts Program As usual, MYRT School organized seminars for HIV/AIDS for all students and staff and hundreds of Scouts attending our annual contests. Instruction was given by AMO-CONGO who also did blood tests on all volunteers. As usual, MYRT hosted a three day event for the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts in the region. The three days were filled with camping, cooking, skits, and all sorts of contests. Prizes were supplied by AWIEF and by NDB Inc., a construction supply store in Lubumbashi. Conflict Resolution Program During the first two weeks, Gus reviewed ten lessons with teachers at the school. Teachers then practiced the curriculum over the next two weeks with students in a pilot program. Gus faced many challenges, including language barriers, insufficient
time, teaching styles, lack of electricity, and attendance problems. Gus
knew that for the program to survive, it would need some continued local
assistance. To develop that assistance, Gus and three teachers attended a
seminar sponsored by the Anglican Church. On the return trip, they were in a
serious accident. The eventual fallout from the accident cast a pall over
the entire project. It will take some work to get the program going.. |
Highlights: June 5 – August 20I. Construction Work:
II. Management Activities
III. Diplomatic Activities
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3 Acre Campus in Village Tshamalale, Katanga District, Democratic Republic of Congo
Interview with Katya Thomas, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Embassy, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo
Katya
Thomas is the public diplomacy officer at the United States Embassy in
Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. For more than a year, she has been
working with American Language Institute, which provides outreach programs to
secondary school teachers and trains them in language, health education dealing
with HIV and AIDS, and a variety of other programs. Over the course of her work,
Thomas has visited many schools in different regions of Congo. She came to the
MYRT School in Aug. 2006 along with Kereen Thorpe and Annie Meta, also from the
U. S. Embassy. AWIEF talked to Thomas on the phone about her observations
and experience in her travel. Here are some of the excerpts from our
conversation with her.
AWIEF: What is the state of education in Congo?
Thomas: Many of the schools in Congo do not have basic infrastructure.
Their walls are crumbling, there is no running water or toilet facilities. Even
the basic resources such as books, blackboards, pencils and papers are lacking.
It is an amazing testimony to the kids who still want to learn and be educated
under such conditions. And the teachers really care despite the fact that many
of them were not paid for months.
AWIEF: What do you think of grassroots initiatives such
as AWIEF and MYRT School? What level of difference do they make?
Thomas: I think they are extremely important. They provide educational
opportunities to kids and even adults who have very limited or no such
opportunities otherwise. They ultimately change the lives of many kids, allowing
them to hope and dream and enjoy their childhood.
AWIEF: What are your impressions of MYRT School?
Thomas: I did not know what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised. It
is by no means anything like a brand new U.S. school, but I was impressed by how
clean and well-managed it was. The facility was beautiful and welcoming. The
site was well planned. The administrators were dedicated. They had a realistic
“Do It Yourself” approach to forthcoming improvements. They had a
wonderful relationship with parents and the community. It’s a school that works
within the environment and the community. It is one of the first schools in
Congo that I saw with such healthy and happy students. It provides constant
scholastic environment to students without it being a costly experience. It has
realistic and pragmatic goals and I take my hats off to Puma. I would definitely
like to visit it again when classes are running.
AWIEF is expanding its program to educate elementary and middle school students about Africa.
The
presentation AWIEF gave to the students at Monocacy Valley Montessori School in
Apr. 2006 was covered by the Frederick News-Post, which generated invitations
from other schools.
Julie Dixon, media specialist at Walkersville Middle School, invited us to give presentations to three sixth grade classes in Jun. 2006 to enhance their curriculum. The students made over 50 posters with AWIEF as their central theme. They cast votes by making small donations in order to choose the winning poster. They collected $507.00. After slide shows, story telling and a brief talk session by Puma, Jim, and Curt, the students presented a check of $ 507.00 to AWIEF.
In Oct. 2006, Janet Manning, the Renzulli/ Enrichment Teacher at Lincoln Elementary School in Frederick, invited AWIEF to give presentation to the fourth and the sixth grade students. Puma, Jim, and Ameena gave slide show presentations about schools in Africa. Puma also emphasized the importance of imagination and resourcefulness to students by demonstrating the model cars he constructed when he was a child in Congo. The cars were made out of scrap wires with wheels made of plastic sandals. The students also used their imagination by making various objects out of colorful pipe cleaners.
AWIEF is is making arrangements with four other schools to give presentations.
Interview with a remarkable Congolese man.
Antoine
Kabwasa is from the Democratic Republic of Congo. He worked with the
United Nations for more than 25 years, serving in the United Nations Economic
Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in countries such as Ethiopia, Haiti, and France,
before retiring in 1992. Currently, he is the Prestige Professor of Humanities
at the University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio.
Kabwasa and his wife Angela founded the Cours Solel School in 1995 in the Congolese city of Kikwit, which is about 230 miles from the MYRT School. Cours Solel currently provides education from the first to the sixth grade levels to more than 200 students. Kabwasa also founded African Cultural Initiatives for Peace and Development (ACIPD) last year with a goal to foster exchange of ideas and information between the United States and the African countries.
For more than a decade, Kabwasa has been utilizing the compendium of knowledge and experience he gained from his work with the UN to foster grassroots level development in African countries. He says, “Bigger organizations have resources but it takes grassroots level initiatives to have a direct impact on people’s life in developing countries. Thus, the idea is to bring together organizations and peoples from all walks of life to work as a whole unit.”
Indeed, it is a difficult process to foster swift changes in countries such as Congo, which has seen decades of war, poverty and the resulting inefficiency in governing. “That is why,” says Kabwasa, “it is important for individual citizens to take initiatives and work for their cause. Grassroots initiatives such as AWIEF, in collaboration with brother and sisters from the United States, set up efficient and effective organizations that fight corruption and cultivate a cult of honesty.”
The demand in Tshamalale for education is growing and MYRT School wants to expand its work in other villages. The school board has targeted their plans for next year. The school is able to finance much of their plans for themselves and has a team of 12 young men and women who have been trained to lead the work.
AWIEF is planning a four year project to build a school 20 miles from MYRT School in a village that is even more underdeveloped than Tshamalale was 12 years ago. The school will have 100 acres of land with room for entrepreneurial projects.
The goal of the new project is to be self-sufficient at the end of four years. This will free up resources for our long term plan to find and support people like Puma – talented immigrants from developing countries with dreams of leading the transformation of villages in their native countries.
The Sept. 24 benefit dinner was a success. Nearly 60 people attended to enjoy the African food prepared by Puma and friends at the spacious facilities of Frederick Way Station. About $3000.00 was raised to support our projects.
AWIEF thanks all our supporters for making this event a success. We would also like to thank all those who helped us prepare and serve. Special thanks to Bob Hanson, Randy Williams, Kimberly Lee, Hanne Borgerson, and Emily Mansfield. Thanks to Ameena Shrestha, our intern, for handling publicity, planning, and much more.
Dec. 1: Presentation at the Washington D. C. Chapter of the Society for International Development. http://sidw.org
Dec. 2: Benefit Concert for Education in Africa @ Frederrick Coffee Company & Cafe, 100 East St. Shab Row & Eveready Square AbleAndWilling.org.
Dec. 8: Program for Brunswick Middle School.
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