A Day in the Life of a Think Impact Scholar

July 2, 2012

It has now been two weeks since I left the States, and while it is hard to say that any day here is “normal,” here is the basic routine of Scholar life in Rwanda:

·         5:30 am: Wake-up

o   Often my family is already out in the fields cultivating by the time I wake up.

·         6:00 am: Run to Lake Muhazi/Exercise

o   Lake Muhazi is a giant u-shaped lake that surrounds our community. All roads here lead to Muhazi. It is about an 11 minute run past the church and school and through the farming fields to get there. We watch the sun rise on the horizon over the lake as we run. It is simply beautiful.

·         7:00 am: Team Check-in for the Day

·         7:30 am: Breakfast

·         8:00 am: Translators arrive

o   We have 4 translators in our village, and they are invaluable resources both in sharing their own knowledge and in translating during our community interviews

·         8:30 am: Observation, Exploration, Shared Experiences

o   Essentially everyone in the village cultivates their crops in the morning. While it is still cool outside, we wander from place to place, helping to harvest ground nuts and cassava one day and learning to do household tasks or visiting different cooperatives on others.

Cultivating maize and groundnuts with Mama Shalom

·         12:00 pm: Lunch at Home and Interview Prep for the Afternoon

·         1:00 pm: Interview Community Members

o   In the first few days, we focused largely on the local formal businesses, including the carpenter, shop keepers, the tailor, and so forth. In reality though much of our richest learning is also coming from observing the informal sector and hidden transactions amongst community members. We are interviewing family members in different settings to get a glimpse of how people live their daily lives.

Gilbert (translator), Gabriela, Tom, Emanuel, me, Audrey (adviser), and Emanuel (translator)

4: 30 pm: Team Debrief and Curriculum Workshops on Methodology, Tools, and Frameworks

·         6:00 pm: Downtime, Bathing, and Dinner Preparation

o   The sun sets around 6:30, and almost everyone is home by then. The evenings are filled with visits from neighbors and with the kids who want English/Kinyarwanda lessons and singing and dancing time.

·         8:30 pm: Dinnertime with the Family

o   Sitting in the dark, we laugh, learn new words, and try to share stories in combinations of French, English, and Kinyarwanda until we are all practically falling asleep.

My fantastic host family
From L to R: Gabriela (scholar), Shalom, me, Mama Shalom, Jolie, Papa Amiel

·         9:30 pm: Reading, Journaling, and Prep for the Next Day

·         10:00/10:30 pm: Sleep!