Talent Search! Videographer needed

From: Kristen Swanson
To: Film or production students interested in a life-changing project

Seeking a Videographer for our Service Trip to Rwanda

The Institute for Women’s Excellence (IWE) is a secondary school that serves girls orphaned by genocide and AIDS in Rwanda. The school is a project of ALARM, African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries, an African peace and reconciliation group based in Rwanda and doing outstanding work in Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, Sudan, and Uganda. (See www.alarm-inc.org for more information on the organization).

In 2008, two seventh graders in Bucks County, PA, decided to write a book about the girls of IWE in order to raise money for a much needed dormitory. They have raised over $9,000 so far with the book, Inzozi, Dreams of the Future. The dorm has been completed, and they are continuing to raise funds for equipment and scholarships for individual girls. This summer I will go with the girls and a few other students and parents to the school in Rwanda to interview the girls, collect more detailed interviews, and revise the book, with the goal of publication. (So far they have self-published at Staples).

One former student, now a talented film major, has had to withdraw from the trip, and at first I just thought that I would take home videos of our trip and settle for that. But now I have received a request from ALARM for good quality film of their Rwandese staff, all of whom were affected directly and dramatically by the genocide, and have powerful stories to tell. I know I am not up to producing quality work that is worthy of their courage and commitment to making peace under horrific circumstances, and so I am looking for a creative film student that is able to do this project with us, for ALARM.

The cost of the trip is about $2500-3000 for a week in Rwanda. Conditions will be very basic, but as safe as any tourist travel can be. Crime in Rwanda is low, and the country is committed to maintaining peace and never again allowing genocide to occur. I have ten years of experience living and traveling in Africa, and will do my best, with the ALARM staff, to steer you in safe places. What will be in the most danger are your assumptions about Africa, the limits of human forgiveness, and perhaps your whole outlook on life. After our project, I am going to Tanzania with the group, for a few days in a game park, and then to explore examples of international business development, education, and health care, since my students are interested in those careers. You are welcome to come along to the game park and to see places like hospitals, schools, and small businesses, but the cost will add up fast once you get on the tourist circuit! I will be happy to estimate those costs for you if you are interested.

If you are interested, contact me at the following:

Kristen Swanson
98 Old Bethlehem Road
Quakertown, PA 18951
215-536-0967
kristen.mamajojo@gmail.com

BC : AD
by
U.A. Fanthorpe



This was the moment when Before
Turned into After, and the future's
Uninvented timekeepers presented arms.

This was the moment when nothing
Happened. Only dull peace
Sprawled boringly over the earth.

This was the moment when even energetic Romans
Could find nothing better to do
Than counting heads in remote provinces.

And this was the moment
When a few farm workers and three
Members of an obscure Persian sect.
Walked haphazard by starlight straight
Into the kingdom of heaven.


Merriest of Christmases from all the Swansons!

I have two sons, and one of my sons has four brothers.
A riddle?
No, just a family blended by the great adventure of ten years in Africa, the tragedy of AIDS, and the joy of adoption. Matthew was born in the US, but grew up in Tanzania, inseparable from his best friend, Will. When Will’s mom lost her battle with AIDS, we adopted him as a young teen and brought him with us when we moved back to Pennsylvania. He now makes us proud as an engineering student at Pitt.

For a few years, we lost track of Will’s youngest brother, Rama, who spent time in a village with relatives. Then, in 2007, my daughter and I visited Mtwara, our old home in Tanzania, and found him, back with his grandmother and the other grandchildren she cared for so well. Sadly, we discovered that Rama, the little boy Will had watched out for as a young boy, had contracted HIV from his mom at birth. But at 13, Rama was still attending school, playing soccer, and growing into a teenager himself.

We had left Tanzania in 2000, when anyone who contracted HIV could expect to live only a few years. But Rama seemed to be doing amazingly well! His brothers and grandmother had been caring for him, faithfully taking him for retroviral medications that PEPFAR had provided to so many in Africa. We were anxious to see him, but the day we visited he was at school, with the same teacher that Will had known years before.

Just before we saw Rama at school, he had been diagnosed with TB, in addition to AIDS. At the time, I was afraid that that would be too much for any boy to bear, but Rama has even beaten TB, and is still thriving! This is more than I had ever hoped for, after having lost my own cousin to AIDS in 1991, and then living in East Africa in the earlier years, when HIV was a hopeless diagnosis.

I am so proud to be part of a nation that extends the miracle of life to kids like Rama, not a stranger or a statistic, but my son’s little brother.

Joanna, Rama, older brother, Jackson

Emmanuel's Return to Life

Special Opportunity: Emmanuel’s Return

When Emmanuel Mbonihankuye and his wife, Angelique, ran from the sudden onslaught of genocide that had arrived at their college, they had no idea what they were facing. Crossing the river into Congo, they found a family in the forest who was willing to take them in, and there they hid, helping with farm chores, fetching water, and waiting out the horrors that overtook Rwanda as one tribe sought to wipe out another.

They thought that the forest would provide protection, and their little daughter was born there, but soon after, rebel soldiers raged through that part of the forest, taking Emmanuel, their host family, and the baby. Only Angelique was spared, unnoticed on the path to fetch drinking water at the river.

First, she waited by herself at the deserted cottage. Weeks passed, and eventually a few of the Congolese family straggled home, breaking the heartbreaking news that the baby had died on the trail. Still she waited, hoping that Emmanuel would appear, and they could return to the school in Rwanda, or their home in neighboring Burundi. The genocide was over, Angelique’s Tutsi tribe had taken over peaceful leadership of Rwanda, and after months of waiting, Angelique went home alone.

Daily she prayed and waited for news, but none came. She finished her school program in Rwanda, and next went to Kenya for training in ministry and social work. Her prayers never wavered, but no news ever arrived… until eight years later, when a message reached her that Emmanuel had escaped his slavery to the rebel group, and had made his way back to Burundi. He was waiting for her there, hoping that she was well, and had not given up and married another. He had only recently learned of the death of their little girl.

It was truly a miraculous reunion, astonishing that both had survived, had not married again, and were spared permanent injury or the ravages of AIDS. Angelique was hired by ALARM, (African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries) to head their women’s work in peace-making and income generation for the poor. Emmanuel had to regain his strength and pick up the life he had lost eight years before. At 35, he humbly put on the khaki shorts of a secondary student and finished that diploma, which equals junior college here. He was in the midst of exams when I met him on a trip to Burundi, and visited the work that ALARM does there.

Angelique is a quiet, gentle soul, who gives no hint of the suffering she has gone through, and puts her energy into helping others in poverty and conflict. She didn’t tell me her story until I asked her what her forgiveness story was. Everyone in Rwanda and Burundi had one, but I never expected to hear a tale of slavery and loss from a peaceful woman like Angelique. I rejoiced to see that she held her 18-month-old son in her arms as she told me her story, which seemed to be a miracle of “happily ever after.”

I went home and set about to raise scholarship money for Emmanuel to attend college. He is studying social work, so that he can minister to others who go through similar trauma. When a donor finally agreed to fund his first year, I got on my computer to email Angelique the good news, but she had just written to me: her sister had died in Rwanda, leaving five children, and she was taking in four of them, aged 19 through 18 months. They all live in a tiny Habitat for Humanity home, and the older children help care for the younger. Angelique was pregnant at that time, and her twin boys are doing well, adding to the family to make nine.

In January, Emmanuel will start his last year of college. He needs $1500 for tuition and fees. God has always surprised me with a donor, and I am hoping that this year some of you might like to be a part of this story. The donation will be passed through ALARM (www.alarm-inc.org) and so will be tax deductable, but I promise you, that will not be your greatest reward!

For eight Christmases, Angelique hoped for the return of her Emmanuel, and our God answered her prayer. What a marvelous God we have, and what an honor to be able to hear stories like this one, to have a small part in their lives, and to link in friendship with such courageous brothers and sisters!

Kristen Swanson
kswanson@pennridge.org

Malaria: Time for Change

Our ten years in Tanzania provided many adventures and joys, but almost no one, national or expatriate, can live in East Africa that long and avoid contracting malaria. We averaged about three rounds of malaria each year. The very worst was watching our kids deal with the characteristic fever, vomiting, diarrhea, aching joints, and headaches. The first experience with malaria often brings the fiercest symptoms, and our kids had very high fevers and lost weight rapidly when they were young children. Matthew was only 5 years old when he was first hit with malaria, and hallucinated in both English and the Swahili he was learning while playing with his friends. Matthew recovered, but his friend in the red shirt was not so lucky, and later lost his life to malaria.

Several birthdays were ruined by malaria, and Matthew recalls being a skinny, listless kid trying to celebrate. Joanna was about 4 when she missed the fun of a vacation on Zanzibar and had to lie in the shade on the beach, trying to keep down her malaria pills. We eventually adopted Will, Matthew’s best friend, when they were both young teens, but he almost lost his life to malaria before that, when the rest of us were in the States. Will survived because the local church people looked after him so carefully.

Malaria was a part of normal life in Tanzania, and we accepted it as we did colds and flu, except for times when we suddenly lost friends and our illusion of safety melted away. Now in college, Matthew spent spring semester “back home” in Tanzania, and once again had malaria during a stay in a remote village. Malaria is not yet defeated! But this time, much quicker testing was available, and he received a new medication that is in wide use. Zanzibar, our favorite vacation site, once was a place where we expected to pick up malaria. Now there are very few cases on that island, thanks to a concerted use of nets, spraying, and quick treatment. Our whole family is looking forward to the day when malaria is eradicated. In the mean time, I am delighted to report that Matthew was healthy and strong by June, when all three kids were together to celebrate Joanna’s wedding.

The statistics are coming down, but close to a million people still die from malaria each year, mostly children under 5 and pregnant women. If you would like to join me in the fight to wipe out the parasite that has probably killed half the people who ever lived on earth, visit www.malarianomore.org.

(This blog was submitted to Malaria No More on July 20, 2010)

Perception

Thanks to Allison Rahs for passing this on!

*PERCEPTION* *

Something To Think About....*


THE SITUATION*
In Washington , DC , at a Metro Station, on a cold January morning in 2007,
this man with a violin played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During
that time, approximately 2,000 people went through the station, most of
them on their way to work. After about 3 minutes, a middle-aged man noticed
that there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few
seconds, and then he hurried on to meet his schedule.
*
About 4 minutes later: *
The violinist received his first dollar. A woman threw money in the hat and,
without stopping, continued to walk.
*
At 6 minutes:*
A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his
watch and started to walk again.
*
At 10 minutes:*
A 3-year old boy stopped, but his mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid
stopped to look at the violinist again, but the mother pushed hard and the
child continued to walk, turning his head the whole time. This action was
repeated by several other children, but every parent - without exception -
forced their children to move on quickly.
*
At 45 minutes:*
The musician played continuously. Only 6 people stopped and listened for a
short while. About 20 gave money but continued to walk at their normal pace.
The man collected a total of $32.*

After 1 hour:*

He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed and no one
applauded. There was no recognition at all.
No one knew this, but the violinist was *Joshua Bell*, one of the greatest
musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever
written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before, Joshua
Bell sold-out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100 each to sit
and listen to him play the same music.

This is a true story. Joshua Bell, playing incognito in the D.C. Metro
Station, was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment
about *perception, taste and people's priorities*.
*
This experiment raised several questions:*
*
In a common-place environment, at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive
beauty?

If so, do we stop to appreciate it?

Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context?*
*
One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be this:

If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians
in the world, playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the
most beautiful instruments ever made...* *

How many other things are we missing as we rush through life?*

Bill and Melinda Gates: Living Proof that the US makes a Difference in World Health