Tikkun Olam
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Tikkun Olam at ASYV
Talya Curtis, London, England
The Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village in Rwanda prides itself in installing in the children the idea that they, orphans of the genocide, are
worthy of helping those less fortunate than themselves. This concept of going outside the village to help others is not only to help them recognize how lucky they are to be in ASYV, but also to teach them that every person has something to give to the community and wider society.Anne Heyman, the founder of ASYV, built the Village on Jewish values and thus, the Village sets aside one afternoon a week to do Tikun Olam, the Jewish notion of repairing the world. There are three options of Tikun Olam that the children can choose from: elementary school, social work, and HIV-AIDS clinic. I chose to go to the HIV-AIDS clinic with the children. As soon as we walked out of the Village, I immediately noticed the difference between those who are lucky enough to live in ASYV and those who live outside. The former are better dressed, well-nourished and speak impeccable English.
Arriving at the clinic was a big shock for me. The clinic was made up of a few dark and rundown buildings, some made of mud. There was nothing inside the clinic that resembled a medical center, no electrical medical equipment, no real waiting rooms and hardly any
medical supplies. We were given a tour around the clinic, but during the tour I couldn’t help but get distracted by the background noise. My eyes couldn’t focus on the doctor talking to us. All that my eyes were drawn to were the mothers outside trying to cradle their sick and crying babies. As we were told later, the babies scream with pain because they have not eaten or drunk water for days, often weeks. This for me was painful to be around but the children of ASYV didn’t seem fazed by it, and I couldn’t understand why. It was only until later that day that I realized why. The children of ASYV used to be like those children I saw in the clinic, stricken by poverty and often sickness, and it made me so grateful for the work that this Village does for the children. They have been given a life-changing opportunity: an education, medical treatment, support system and most importantly hope, and I am deeply honored to be a part of this. -
Teaching English at Rubona Primary School
By DUSENGE Venuste (Class of 2012) & INGABIRE Marie Chantal (Counselor and Tikkun Olam Committee member)
This year (2010) the kids of the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village started doing Tikkun Olam in social affairs, school, and clinic outside the village.
Some of the kids of ASYV went to the primary school in Rubona. Ours goal was to give English lesson and to create friendships with the school (both with the kids and their educators).
Before we started volunteering at the school, we went there to explain about Tikkun Olam and ask them what they wanted us to do to help them. The principal of the school told us that it would be good if we could teach English to the kids in Primary 4. So we agreed to start teaching their kids the English lessons.
There are 245 kids in P4. ASYV kids split up into ten groups. Each group had two students from Agahozo-Shalom and about 25 students from P4.
The methods used for teaching English were: showing the kids pictures and then giving them explanations of those pictures, reading stories to them, playing games, showing movies, and practicing conversation.
The kids in Rubona primary school were so happy to be with us. Since one of our goals was to create friendship with our neighbors, including those kids of primary school, we invited them to the village for a tour and explanation of our village.
At the end of each term we gave them an assessment test to see if they understood what we were teaching them.
We ended the year by asking the teachers of those kids if they have seen the improvement. The teachers said that there was a big improvement in speaking, reading, and even in writing English. The teachers also said that the Primary 4 students have developed self-confidence, which was a big achievement because before we started working with them the kids used to have a fear of speaking English.
This project was not only good for the kids of the primary school, but it was also good for kids from Agahozo-Shalom. They said that they too were able to learn many things from the kids of Rubona primary school.
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Tikkun Olam – Social Affairs
By UWIZEYIMANA Jacqueline, Class of 2012
In Tikkun Olam there are different groups for the school, the clinic, and
social affairs. Social affairs is then divided into five groups of 16 each,
all from the *Urumuri* (seeds) grade, and there is one educator/counselor
who guides each group and reminds us to clean the tools and to work hard.This year our group worked at two sites. In January we started to rebuild a
house for a poor widow who lives with her son. She was sick and unable to
work in order to earn money to rebuild her house. She didn’t have a door or
windows so the youth of ASYV took initiative to rebuild it. We also helped
to treat her for jiggers and left her with a system for collecting and
storing water, so that now she is in a better condition.In the middle of June we began working in another place that was closer to
our village. We helped another poor family of old people who were in need of
a new kitchen. We helped them to rebuild their kitchen out of mud. We
were met with some difficulties in this project because we didn’t have
enough time to finish this project.
Students preparing the mud to rebuild a house
What we got from Tikkun Olam this year through building houses without any
help, was to be focused on our projects, to have time management, and to
feel someone else’s pain. This experience was also good because we have
learned how to handle special cases or problems of different people who
surround us, and to go the extra mile.
