The Village Times Term II 2015

grow develop seek innovation create discover committed

reach beautiful invest create achieve dedication empower Learning innovation seek

love Community imagine opportunity discover growth art

integrity grow develop seek innovation create discover

committed beautiful invest create achieve curious dedication love imagine exploreortunity

discover growth familyirity

explore support

Note From our Village Director

I am honored to share the incredible story that continues to unfold in Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village. Eight years ago, Anne Heyman imagined and founded ASYV with the deep belief that everyone is an educator. This notion that a driver, a kitchen staff, a teacher, a counselor, and a manager alike should be given every tool possible to become a role model has enabled our Village to blossom into a community of meaning. One of our greatest achievements!

This philosophy shaped our organization into the learning community it is today, which has led to the immense success of our mission, as students transform from vulnerable youth into agents of change for their country.

ASYV is a place of education that values collaboration and the sharing of knowledge and experiences. To function as a learning community is to empower each individual with a new perspective. Conversely, by empowering individuals we contribute to a better society and to a better tomorrow.

Since December 2008 when the Village welcomed its first cohort of 125 youth, our educators received and continue to receive extensive training and knowledge of the key pillars of our philosophy. We worked together across every department, with staff members from Rwanda, the United States, and Israel to come up with enriching values that transcend cultures, and are now the backbone of Agahozo-Shalom.

Learning Community is one of the seven Core Values at ASYV. and was founded on the principle that our diversity is what makes our unity, cohesion, and strength. The educators at ASYV range from 21 to 59 years of age; they come from all parts of Rwanda, the African continent, and the Western world.

Over the years, our common purpose of addressing the needs of vulnerable youth has deepened our social fabric and enabled us to openly share knowledge and experience in order to continually improve our educational methods with integrity in the best interest of the child.

In my time at the Village, I have witnessed great moments occur within our Learning Community. One such instance was to see Jean Kagame, one of our alumni, teach Microsoft Word and Excel skills to a group of family Mamas. I have seen one of our ESL Volunteers (English as a Second Language) share teaching methodologies with our Liquidnet Family High School English teachers. I have attended meetings where Big Sisters, Cousins and Mamas reflect on the best way to help a kid in need of counseling.

Our Learning Community, our Village is a place where we learn to put the virtues of respect into action through understanding and accepting that there is not a one size fits all solution. Our educational model is individualized to create an environment that will be most conducive to the development and growth of every student, with no one being left behind.

As role models to our kids, there are some fundamentals that we impart to them. We want them to be tolerant and to accept that everyone has an opinion that counts; we want them to respectfully disagree if necessary; we want them to commit to doing acts of good and to sharing everything they have learned at the Village. As they support people in need, they must remain humble. We continue to cultivate a community of meaning so that we can become trendsetters and nation-builders. Above all, our kids and all of us at the Village know that we are eternal learners.

Jean-Claude Nkulikiyimfura ASYV Village Director

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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Learning Community at a Glance

Enrichment Programs

Art & Science Center

Pioneers in Technology

Leadership Club & Language Development Club

Recording Studio & Village Time

Debate Club & Debate Team

Learning Community Inside the Family Home

Visitors & Cousins

Family Naming & Professional Skills

Health & Wellness Center

Learning Community Within the Staff

The Village Times Term II 2015

family homes5 Female & 3 Male

homes per grade 8

where 16 students and 1 family mother live together for 4 years

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1713 Enrichment

Programs

Clubs

Science* Center

Mechanical Lab

ASYV by the numbers…

ACRE FARM36

35%

Percent of the Village’s daily food needs produced by farm

Life Skills Classes Knowing & Living with oneself Healthy Living Knowing & Living with others Effective Decision Making

IT Modern Agriculture Hospitality

Professional Skills Training Program

Learning Community1

7 Sport Teams

Current Students502 360ASYV

Alumni

Student-led Initiatives 8

Computer Lab

Engineering Lab

Gelfand Family Science Center*

ASYV is hard to describe. It isn’t exactly a boarding school and it is not an orphanage, but no matter what you call it, the

Village is always a Learning Community. “Learning Community,” a key pillar to the ideology of Agahozo-Shalom,

is a way of engaging with your experiences in order to seek and maximize opportunity for growth and development.

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Healing and growth can occur not only in formal therapy, but also through self-expression in sports or art. Most of our students are coming from dire living environments where they did not

have the luxury to explore personal interests or talents. For this reason, the Village offers 13 Enrichment Programs that first and second year students can choose from to develop untapped

passions. After having the chance to learn what interests them, students can then go on to participate in any of our formal academic or sport teams that participate in national competitions.  

EP SPORTS

Playing sports has shown numerous benefits for the development of adolescents. It fosters social cohesion and inclusion, as well as improving mental and physical health. Through the use of sports, ASYV students are developing healthy and balanced lifestyle habits that will foreshadow the choices they make as adults. It also turns out that our students are exceptionally talented and hard-working athletes when given the chance. It is not an uncommon story for a student to arrive at ASYV having never seen a real basketball or soccer cleats, and then to become one of the best on the team or even in the country. In fact in this year alone :

13 Enrichment Programs (EPs)

Football (Soccer) Basketball Volleyball Karate

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Each of our Karate contenders placed in the top four spots during Provincial Level for both girls and boys The Girl’s Basketball Team made it to the Semi- Finals The Girl’s Soccer team took home The District Cup

EP Arts

Traditional Dance Media Lab Carpentry Kitchen Skills

Visual Art Guitar Piano Traditional Art Music Production

Sewing Enrichment Program

In this EP, students learn how to create different products that can then be sold at the ASYV gift shop, in addition to bags that are distributed to students for carrying school materials. Chartine, a student involved in the program, plans to open her own sewing business after she graduates, explaining how proud she feels after seeing her finished product. “Needle and thread will be the weapon I use in the fight for success.”

Traditional Dance Enrichment Program

Traditional Dance, an important and beautiful part of Rwandan culture, is a heavily choreographed dance style that tells the story of Rwandan’s rich history. The dance is divided into three components: the ballet (performed by women), the dance of heroes (performed by men), and the drums.

Kitchen Skills Enrichment Program

The Kitchen Skills EP teaches students about nutrition and how to cook local cuisine. This program provides The Cantine, our small food shop in the Village, with a weekly supply of Amandazi (fried bread or Rwanda’s version of the donut), Sambusa (meat or potato-filled pastry), and Chapati (unleavened flatbread). Many of our students take the skills they learn in this program to sell baked goods over their holiday break in order to support their family.

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Art Center

“Through art, the world enables us to express our feelings and

create our own imagination.” Rossi, ASYV Graduate & 2015 Art Intern

The Art Center provides a home for many of the Art Enrichment Programs, but it is also a creative space open for students to use during their free time.

The room is filled with art materials such as paper, paint, crayons, glitter, and glue, and the walls are lined with artwork produced by students.

The Art Center was built as an area for self-development. It is an opportunity for students to express themselves in a way that they feel most comfortable, whether that is through water color or photography.

Students often visit the Art Center to create birthday cards for their friends, and even decorations for their family homes in the Village. The Art Center enables students to personalize their rooms and their house, to take pride in ASYV being their home, and to show their friends love and support.

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Science Center

The Gelfand Family Science Center in the Village is comprised of three labs - Electronics, Computer, and Mechanical lab. Our first and second year students (Enrichment Year and Senior 4) spend a third of the school year in each, with constant collaboration and support between the three labs.

Our students are training to become innovators and entrepreneurs through hands-on, project-based learning. The Science Center continues to challenge and expand their knowledge through a pedagogy called EDGE, which stands for Excite, Demonstrate, Guide, and Enable.

During the 2nd school term (28 April-25 July), Agahozo-Shalom was pleased to welcome Prince Dukundane, our new Science Center Coordinator, to the Village. Prince recognizes the omnipresent role technology will have in shaping Rwanda’s future. He is training “makers,” people who will one day make ground-breaking tech advancements, but he is also training every student to become an educated consumer. “No matter what career you choose, there will always be a tech component. I am teaching our students not to be a passive consumer of technology, but to understand how it functions - that it is not just magic.”

When asked about challenges he has faced as Science Center Coordinator, Prince explained that there will always be challenges, but instead of being deterred, those challenges should inspire people to find solutions. He spoke of how frequently students come to him with amazing ideas and innovations that the Village is unable to support because of financial restraints and lack of materials.

Meet Prince, our new Science Center coordinator!

“The solution is never to drop your idea. I say, let’s see how this would be done. There are lots of processes that must be fulfilled before you are able to begin developing. I encourage them to research as much as possible. Right now, we may not have enough materials, but do your research, become well prepared, and once we are able to afford materials the implementation will be easy.”

Prince’s aspiration at ASYV is to further improve the Science Center, to make it bigger, with more materials, so that every student may be able to pursue their passion in innovative “making.”

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From learning how to turn on a computer to becoming technological pioneers

One of the many projects at Agahozo-Shalom’s Science Center, ArtScience Prize is an initiative that started at Harvard University and encourages international youth to combine both artistic creativity and technical innovation to generate unique solutions to global problems. Agahozo-Shalom is the first school in Africa to be able to participate in this competition.

The ArtScience Prize is intended to encourage not only cross-cultural collaboration, but also to unite two different academic spheres: science and art. Each year there is a theme for the projects to be based around, with this year’s theme being the crisis of biodiversity.

ASYV formed three groups that worked together to design three projects: a solar panel bag, non-toxic and natural pesticide, and a horizontal urban garden.

On July 3rd, these students were recognized for their impressive achievements during ELERwanda’s 2nd Annual Youth & Business Excellence Awards hosted in Kigali.

ELERwanda, which stands for Emerging Leaders and Entrepreneurs, serves as a platform for Rwandan youth to join together in developing home grown solutions to local issues.

The ArtScience Prize

!!

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16 of our third and fourth year students are completing a six-month coding workshop with Hehe Lab

Hehe Lab, a mobile applications development company, offered free coding courses to five of the best schools in Rwanda, including ASYV! Since the beginning of this school year, the Agahozo-Shalom class has been meeting for three hours every Friday with a team of trainers. Our students were then challenged to come up with a mobile app idea that solves a local need in their community.

In only half a year, our students picked up the intricacies of coding, brainstormed and conducted thorough research, and managed to develop two amazing apps :

Ikaze Mobile App an in-your-pocket guidebook to East Africa Filled with helpful maps, recommendations on hotels and restaurants, history summaries, and tourist attractions, “Ikaze” is incredibly useful for every single tourist,

and even locals interested in learning more about their region.

Iga Mobile App a one-stop resource chamber providing citizens with instant vital information

The  second  App  is  called  “Iga,”  which  is  a  Kinyarwanda  (Rwanda’s  local  language)  word  meaning  “to  learn,”  and  is  divided  into  four  main  categories:    

Rights  This  page  provides  a  summary  of  Human  Rights  in  Rwanda  (broken  down  into  Women’s  Rights,  Children’s  Rights,  and  Labour  Rights),  as  well  as  Environmental  Rights  (including  Prevention,  Rights  of  Nature,  and  Case  Law)    

Phone  Troubles  has  seven  different  subtitles  for  common  problems  people  encounter  with  their  Android  phones,  and  how  to  solve  them  without  having  to  go  into  a  store  and  pay  for  advice.    

Job  Creator  offers  free  instructions  for  creating  a  great  CV,  the  Do’s  and  Don’ts  of  an  Interview,  and  tips  for  applying  and  completing  applications.  There  are  even  examples  and  exercises  to  ensure  the  reader  has  proper  understanding  and  can  feel  conOident  going  into  their  next  job  application.  

Make  Money  is  a  great  resource  to  (you  guessed  it!)  learn  how  to  make  money.  This  section  outlines  the  steps  to  starting  a  business,  the  skills  needed  to  be  an  entrepreneur,  and  new  techniques  and  explanations  of  modern  farming.  

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From learning how to turn on a computer to becoming technological pioneers

Another after-school initiative that brings together students from every grade are our 16 Clubs. The Clubs and Enrichment Programs were both created to foster personal growth and to act as a form of non-traditional therapy, however clubs were specifically designed to involve kids in the management of the Village. These meetings are an opportunity for students to diagnose problems within Agahozo-Shalom and to becomes leaders in pioneering a solution. Clubs are a way for students to take ownership of the Village as their home.

16Clubs

Research Development Newspaper & Storytelling Language Development

Technical Club Environment Club

Sewing Club

Leadership Club is a group of kids working together to support the leadership

and management of the Village. We believe that the Village can only be successful when kids are involved in the process of

their transformation. As Leadership Club and ASYV members, we

are the ones to protect our values from

challenging students with difficult questions about the meaning of ASYV families and how family spirit impacts core values.

Written by Modeste, ASYV Student

“

”

disappearing. Our club representatives decided to take action through topic discussion and role modeling. The family spirit is an intricate part of the ASYV philosophy and is connected to Tikkun Halev, healing of the heart.

It is for these reasons that our club began to initiate sessions at both family and grade-level,

Debate Club Leadership Club

Religion & Never Again Club Tikkun Olam Club

Hygiene Club

Traditional Art Club TV & Entertainment Club

Information Tech Club Visual Arts Group Village Time Club

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Language Development puts on various activities to encourage an overall increase in English and French fluency. In addition to Word-of-the-week and spearheading a reading initiative, this club also plans the Village-wide Spelling Bee! Tri-Annual

Spelling Bee

How would you do in ASYV’s Spelling Bee?

Meet Sam, the winner of this Term’s Spelling Bee!

AlthoughA. For this reason; later than the present time

Furthermore B. In spite of the fact that; While

D. Beyond what has been stated

Hence

Likewise

C. In the same way; similarly

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Each term, the Language Development Club plans and hosts a Village-wide Spelling Bee. The competition begins in the individual family homes, where a club member leads three or more rounds to determine the final two representatives from each family.

The competition continues amongst each grade’s top contenders and includes a matching section, where contestants are challenged to match Conjuctive Adverbs with their corresponding definitions, and of course, the traditional spelling rounds where they are asked to spell a broad selection of words, with a varying degree of difficulty

The top two winners from each grade go onto the final round, which takes place during “Grading Week” (the last week before vacation). Students cheer on their friends during this close match as one student spells their way to first place!

ASYV is an organization where students are exposed to ideas and opportunities that they never could have otherwise had. Inside the Recording Studio, located in the Art Center, students have the chance to identify, cultivate and display their musical talents. After creating their own original music, students can perform songs for their peers as part of the weekly Village Time assembly, or during special events. The Recording Studio has even hosted outside artists to collaborate with students and provide them with invaluable professional recording experience.

Students can come express any form of musical idea that they may have. ASYV is home to a number of talented singers, rappers, poets, guitarists, and pianists, but certain students are also trained as producers. For these uniquely talented individuals, creative expression is an integral part of the healing process, and a fantastic way to boost confidence.

You can connect with the Recording Studio by searching for the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village on iTunes, or by emailing max@asyv.org

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Agahozo-Shalom is the place to be on Friday nights! Starting at 6:00pm, the Lily Safra amphitheater fills with students and staff, who excitedly gather to watch the weekly talent show,

Village Time. During this special event, every student has the opportunity to showcase his or her passion to the entire community. Village Time is filled with speeches, sketches, live music, dancing, and even more. Every Friday is different, but each performance expresses the wide-range of talents and interests that are being explored at ASYV.

The entire event is coordinated through the Village Time Club who prepares the stage with decorations and equipment, plans the schedule, and chooses a student MC for the evening. ASYV staff members help facilitate the performances, but the program is entirely created and managed by students. The Technical Club sets up and runs the lights and speakers, and each performance is the result of each kid’s hard work and dedication to their passion.

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DEBA The Debate Club is a great introduction to the world of debate. During each weekly meeting, the students learn the rules and structure of a debate competition, and how best to succeed.

Separate from the formal ASYV Debate Team, the club has hosted neighboring schools in friendly matches to encourage confidence in beginner debaters, so that they feel comfortable with the process should they go on to compete.

These exciting and light-hearted matches lead to the development of new friendships outside of Agahozo-Shalom, but also help strengthen the bond between the debate community.

While there are no winners, the elder students and “debate legends” come to cheer on their classmates and offer advice for their next competition.

In addition to developing debate skills within club members, the club also reaches out to the rest of the Village by facilitating a weekly debate in each family home.

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On May 23rd, the ASYV Debate Team joined in the third edition of the East African Debate competitions where they participated against a total of 62 of the best high school teams from Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania.

The ASYV team was comprised of students Maxime (Senior 6), Ornella (Senior 4), and Bonfils (Senior 6).

The day began with the ASYV team traveling to Kigali to partake in the big event, and continued for almost twelve long hours of intense debating, where they argued seven different complex motions. It was obvious that every competing team had dedicated an immense amount of hard work and time to reach this level of competition, which led to a challenging and close debate. Despite the clear determination across the teams, as soon as the debate finished, the students’ hard exteriors melted away as they began to socialize with new friends.

The event was a wonderful opportunity for youth across the East African region to join together and discuss solutions and ideas surrounding the challenges facing their communities.

Appropriately selected, the Championships were based on the debate motion, “The government of Rwanda should adopt The East African Treaty by establishing a common market, monetary union, and a political federation.”

TE Agahozo-Shalom Team wins first place at the East African Debate Championships of 2015!

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D N A Family Time Debate

iscuss i o n

egot iat i o n

gree

e n t

Being a “mama” to 16 teenagers requires love and support, but it also means having difficult conversations and implementing constructive discipline from time to time. When our kids make mistakes, we don’t believe in punitive discipline, but instead treat our students with respect. This philosophy is known as DNA, where the goal is to teach values, not behavior.

Family Time is held after dinner for one hour, where families gather together to discuss a specific topic. This is a scheduled time where each household can bring up different issues that they are facing, as well as share their opinions and thoughts on current events.

Should you date in high school? Does education prepare you for life? Does mass media do more harm than good?

Every Wednesday, first and second year families participate in debates covering topics like these within their household. The debate topics are chosen the week before by students in The Debate Club, and facilitated by a representative from each family.

These weekly debates allow our students to look at various sides of an issue, strengthen their English skills, and gain insight into current events.

Learning Community in the family home

m

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A day in the life of an ASYV Mama “The family mother is a key figure in the lives of the kids at ASYV, and is responsible for creating a home characterized by parental wholeness in the absence of biological parents.

The family mother stays with 16 kids in the same house for four years. We care for them, listen to their concerns, and provide them with guidance. We are responsible for them, as a real mother would be.

The family structure encourages a community of learning and growth. Our kids implement the Village’s seven core values and it gives them a heart of togetherness, love, and humanity. The way that they stay together under one roof is a sign of strong unity, and prepares them to live a peaceful life with others, even outside of ASYV.

Family Time is another important component of our household that begins from the first year they join ASYV. They arrive at the Village with shyness, complex pasts, and having no hope for their future. It doesn’t take long for them to open up with their family during this special hour every night.

They joke together, play funny games, and share their opinions and experiences. Our Family Time is always interesting, where even the quietest kids feel comfortable speaking up.

Despite these achievements, a family with 16 teenagers is bound to have conflict from time to time. This is where DNA comes into play. Our kids learn to speak and tell the truth without having to force them. They are given the opportunity to decide by themselves. They always have access to talk with their educators fearlessly, as equals. We do not believe in lecturing or punishment, but instead work together to come up with implementable solutions. This philosophy encourages our students to grow into responsible people who can make positive decisions once and for all, whether they are at ASYV or after they have graduated.

Support, respect, and encouragement are reinforced through the Mama, Big Brother/Sister*, and Cousin** role. ASYV is a place where our kids’ hope is restored. It doesn’t take long to see that they have been born again.”

Mama Betty of the Golda Meir Family

“In the beginning it was very hard for one of the kids in my family to call me mom, because he had never known his mother. The transformation takes a long time. It is a process to educate vulnerable teenagers who come from different areas with different characters and cultures. It is not easy, but you must be patient, you must be humble, and you must have perseverance. The same boy now knows ASYV as his home and knows me as his mama. The boys in my family have self-confidence. They trust each other and they trust me” - Mama Emerthe of Steve Jobs Family

18*A Rwandan mentor who serves as a counselor to first and second year kids **A year-long International Volunteer (Village Fellow)

Cousins &Almost everyone working on the ground at ASYV is Rwandan, or from the East African region. The only exceptions are the 8 - 10 international Fellows that are placed at the Village for twelve months each year.

Known in the Village as “Cousins,” Fellows balance a professional role, as well as serving as a mentor to a family household of 1st year students. While students stay with their Mama for all four years, Cousins and the Big Brother/Sister offer additional support for first year students, as they adjust to life in the Village.

The Cousins become an integral part of the ASYV family, providing a world perspective, sharing ideas and discussions, and preparing students for an education that will be taught entirely in English.

“To be able to work along side such dedicated and hardworking people has led to an incredible amount of personal and professional growth. I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to explore this beautiful country and to be able to call Rwanda my home, if only for a short time”

Shelby Sullivan, 2015 Cousin (Village Fellow)  

If you're interested in learning more about volunteering as a Cousin, visit www.asyv.org/volunteer/long-term

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Natan : the Hebrew word “to give” is a palindrome, meaning it is the same both forwards & backwards

Agahozo-Shalom welcomes some of the best Universities and dynamic professionals to our campus for service learning trips throughout the year.

While our kids cannot afford to travel around the world, these programs bring the world to them, as our students meet people from all different walks of life, of different ages, and of different cultures.

Like the Hebrew word Natan, these groups are not simply volunteering, but instead embarking in a cross-cultural exchange, in which everyone involved is giving and gaining invaluable insight. Every two-way dialogue is an educational opportunity for our students; but also an opportunity for our guests to achieve a deeper understanding of the complexity of Rwanda. The authentic experiences and relationships that take place at ASYV help chip away at the stigmas surrounding Africa and Rwanda.

& Visitors

Liquidnet

University of Pennsylvania

Salem State

ASYV Inter- generational Family Trip

Young Judaea

Tufts University

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Family Naming is one of the initiatives in place at the Village that empowers students to define their family dynamic for themselves.

To represent the students’ capacity for social impact, during the 1st year, each grade decides on a word that will best characterize what they want their class to exemplify.

Additionally, the eight families individually conduct research and debate in order to choose a "family name" in honor of a historical role model.

This role model will be the name of the family for the entire duration at ASYV and encourages the students to pursue comparable achievements and characteristics that defined these very heroes.

The kids at Agahozo-Shalom have the commitment to transform into the leaders of tomorrow, so they follow in the footsteps of legendary trailblazers before them.

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Learning Community in Professional Skills: An after-school vocational training program divided into 3 main groups for 3rd and 4th year students

Modern Agriculture: Not only does the Village Farm provide fresh food for the Village, but it also serves as a great hands-on, experiential classroom. Gervais, the Farm Manager, teaches students about modern farming practices and the science behind agriculture.

The class began with eight rabbits at the beginning of this academic year so that they could learn how to generate income with inexpensive, accessible livestock. Needless to say, there are now 41 rabbits! Another project that the students have spearheaded is creating a small mushroom harvest.

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Hospitality: Hospitality is a sector that will always have jobs available, especially as Rwanda continues to grow as a tourist destination.

Hospitality Professional Skills classes teach students how to provide exceptional customer service, and how to manage a work environment. They learn proper dining etiquette in restaurants and hotels, and gain an invaluable set of skills that will set them apart from other applicants in the hospitality industry should they choose it as a vocation after they graduate.

IT: This Professional Skills class teaches computer hardware and maintenance, the basics of troubleshooting, as well as how to set up networking.

Additionally, they team up with the organization One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) and train local teachers and students in computer literacy. OLPC provides primary schools with computers, and utilizes ASYV students to provide support to the recipient schools. ASYV received 50 laptops in recognition of this work.

Before our students can focus on developing their future, they must first understand their past.

In the Village, they have access to an on-sight Health and Wellness Center (HWC), and the support and stability necessary to begin rebuilding their sense of identity.

Our social workers work one-on-one with students, providing them with trained guidance and encouragement to work through their personal problems.

Through formal and informal therapy, students learn that facing their difficult history does not mean that they will be defined by their circumstance, but that their past is a vital part of the journey towards becoming who they want to be.

Health & Wellness Center

HWC by the numbers in 2015…

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128new children assessed by medical doctor & psychosocial workers

4 awareness campaigns addressing

HIV/Aids Teenage Pregnancy Malaria

100%of students are tested for HIV

600 mosquito nets donated by Rwanda Biomedical Center and Malaria Division for every single child and staff member

86Students participated in Blood Drive

Learning Community in Life Skills Seminar: four classes that are designed and taught through the Health and Wellness Center. Each week our students participate in a two-hour discussion led by each grade’s social worker in…

Knowing & Living with Oneself During these lessons, our Health and Wellness

staff teach various methods for coping with difficult emotions and stress. Teenage years can be an overwhelming time for anyone, but they are especially challenging for our students who are trying to heal from a traumatic past. While one-on-one counseling is available for anyone interested, these seminars offer a more casual and anonymous opportunity to learn about

psychological health.

Healthy Living Students are taught how to take care of themselves on a physical level. They learn about nutrition

and the importance of exercise, are taught basic first aid skills, and

learn about the dangers of drug abuse. Considering that most habits are formed during teenage years, it

is essential that our students understand the importance of

physical health, and start developing good nutrition and

exercise routines.

Skills of Knowing & Living with Others

Students engage in conversations about empathy, effective communication

techniques, and non-violent resolutions

Making Effective Decisions During this session, the students

participate in discussions about how to promote critical and creative

thinking, and problem solving. As young adults they are constantly being faced with challenging decisions, and these classes help prepare each child to act and develop as independent

and responsible citizens.

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Learning Community with ASYV EmployeesIn order to provide students with the best possible education, the educators themselves must be committed to continuously expanding their own knowledge and ability.

ASYV encourages this development through a “Learning Community” Seminar every Wednesday with the entire Informal Education staff department.

“The Informal Education Department’s Learning Community initiative is an inclusive learning and development opportunity where administrators, grade coordinators, Mamas, Big Brothers and Sisters, and Cousins come together.

Our goal is to learn as a community in order

to build a stronger community.

We aim to achieve this by meeting weekly to discuss topics that help us establish our communal values and gain an understanding of how to share those values through our work at ASYV; to share our knowledge and skills with one another in order to build a stronger and more capable staff overall; to know each other better and thereby work together more effectively; and, to support one another and promote a low-stress work environment.

The weekly sessions are staff-led and cover topics that the staff proposes would benefit them in their work. Twice a month we have a seminar on topics ranging from the ASYV recruitment process, to DNA (discussion-negotiation-agreement), to addiction prevention.

The other two times we meet each month we gather to do a communal sport. A fan-favorite is gym-tonic (aerobics) but we have also done activities like traditional dance, zumba and yoga.

Essentially, I think of Learning Community as a cross between ongoing professional development trainings and a forum for staff to express their vision for the Village. While there is a facilitator each week, that person is not there as an instructor; they are there to draw out the many and, sometimes, varied opinions that coexist here and help us to broaden our viewpoints. We come together to support one another by capitalizing on our different skill sets and backgrounds. We meet to gain a deeper knowledge of the Village, its philosophy, and how we fit into that. We benefit from the experience and insight of our colleagues and hope to maximize our impact through deeper understanding of our goals, broader knowledge, more refined skills, and strong relationships with colleagues on whom we can rely.”

Katherine Kolios, 2015 Village Fellow and Learning Community Planner

Learning Community is one of the seven core values at ASYV. As the holder of this philosophy, the Department of Informal Education aims at creating a transformative model that allows our students the opportunity to develop openness, confidence, trust, and hope in their future.

We de-institutionalize the education system by creating a Village and a family that provides much needed support to the most vulnerable youth in the country.

The idea of a Learning Community is a vital thread woven between our staff that enables every employee to contribute to this initiative to the utmost of their ability.

We believe that everyone at the Village is an educator. As such, the staff trainings and seminars focus on strengthening our understanding of the core values. For staff, learning community means maximizing every opportunity to work towards our professional and personal best.

Our aim is to be able to help our kids reflect upon positive universal values and the practical implications of expressing them in relation to themselves, others, the community and the world; and to inspire individual kids to choose their own positive personal, social, moral, and spiritual values and be aware of ways to develop and deepen these values as world citizens

Issa Sikubwabo, Director of Informal Education, Training, and Philosophy

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The Village Times Term II 2015

See you next term….