Back in school…?
We began the day by
visiting with National University of Rwanda students in a biology classroom. Many of these students were seniors, still on
campus because they were finishing their “memoirs.” The memoir is similar to a senior thesis
project, a study that they have prepared, which also shows their conclusions. There were perhaps 20-25 students who spoke
with us…more than 1/3 women. It was a
give and take session of questions going both ways. As time passed, the number of Rwanda students
winnowed…they needed to get back to their memoirs. Five or six of the students walked with us
(about a ½ mile down the road) to a nearby restaurant and we shared lunch. I spent my time with a young man named Enock. I was very impressed with him. We spoke back forth on the walk and some
during lunch. His parents are deceased. He has an elderly grandmother in her 90s and
two young siblings. Next year, Enock
will graduate and will have to take a low paying job to help his family before
he can really move on with his individual direction. He has a few goals already in mind: Enock
wants to teach English; he wants to help the less fortunate find jobs… He has a strong sense of duty and faith…a
very impressive man.
Michael met a
genocide survivor among the students.
In the afternoon,
we stayed at the university observing the vervet monkeys that hang around on
the campus. It was our first monkeys! We watched as they played, foraged, and
groomed, and we learned how to recognize quickly the males and females. As the monkeys moved away from us, we continued
to walk through the arboretum. The
species of trees were marked; we saw varieties of eucalyptus as well as bamboo…and
many other types of trees. We planned to
visit the university the next day to continue observation of the vervet
monkeys.
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