Women are great, by Caitlyn G.

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Caitlyn GriffithEducation 2 -- Kayonza District, Eastern Province




Women are great.
I mean come on, its just true.
When I look into the shockingly beautiful faces of the womenhere I just know in my core that it’s true. When I see a thin woman carrying a50 L Jerrycan of water on her head with a baby on her back and a sack ofpotatoes at her side I know that strength comes from a different place thanmuscles. When I listen to my friend talk about how, after being impregnated byher teacher in her first year of high school, she never wants to marry butrather to continue raise her child herself and get a job in business, all thewhile smiling and laughing, I know that joy can come from a place other thanyour circumstances. Women are the embodiment of paradoxes, of strength and joyand sadness and passion and exhaustion all mingling together in an encasementof beauty.
Rwandan women are amazing. In the village, they literally doeverything. They cook, clean, farm, bear, birth and raise children, they runinformal businesses, and see their children through school. They are amazing.
Rwanda, like many developing countries (and developed onestoo) has a long history of unequal gender roles. Girls education, women’sinvolvement in politics, in formal business and as leaders with a voice are allstill fairly new ideas. These ideas take time to reach out to the village whereold habits, customs and cultures die hard and men are reluctant to relinquishtheir power.
This can be hard to watch at times. Especially becauseoftentimes Rwandans don’t see it. The government talks about gender equality alot and so many people just assume that now they have it. They see girls inschool (though fewer than boys with lower scores on average) and women on TV orthe radio and assume there is equality. But even though there is great progressbeing made there are still some frustratingly entrenched ideas persisting here.For example a girl is not a woman until she is married while there is a specialword for young man and also a boy can become a man by virtue of age while agirl’s womanhood is directly connected to her husband. People here call myfiancé Joe my boss, which is completely normal. Many of my friends call theirhusbands “Boss.” Also, women are often called upon to be the servants at people’sparties so that the men never have to get up but can have a woman continuallyrefill their beer. And in the home women are distinctly below their husbands’rule.
Needless to say, things need to change. And things arechanging, just very very slowly. The tricky thing about change is that youcan’t just run out in front of a man sitting and drinking beer while his wifecleans, cooks, cares for kids and refills his cup and wave your arms to say “STOPSTOP! ARE YOU CRAZY!? Things have to CHANGE!” No. You have to be patient, askpointed questions, plant seeds, draw people’s attention to the inconsistenciesand injustices, and ENCOURAGE people to greatness. You can’t tell people theyare wrong with aggression. You have to help them see that and come to their ownconclusions. You have to encourage them to be better, to think larger, to actconsciously.  If you make people angryand defensive the change will not be positive.
I love to do this exercise with my students. I ask them todraw a table with two parts: one for gender equality and one for inequality.Then I ask them to consider some places in their communities that they canidentify equality and where they can identify inequality. Often, even with allthe rhetoric regarding gender balance that you hear here, no one has everthought about their communities critically. That is a perfect place to start.And not just in Rwanda. Change will not happen naturally. All of us need to beconstantly looking at our lives and our communities identifying areas of injustice.I never, however, leave the exercise at that. I ask the students to make a listof practical things THEY CAN DO to address the inequalities on their table.Then we make and action plan. Because change can’t happen without actions-thousandsmall actions slowly chipping away at a structure of oppression until equality,freedom and unity is birthed forth in its place. This may sound overlyoptimistic but I live it out every day. And so to dozens of women and men in mycommunity. 
So optimistic yes, but overly….never.
In the name of change,
In the name of women everywhere,
cg

Three hopes, by Sarah E.

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Sarah EpplinEducation 3 -- Kirehe District, Eastern Province


Three hopes.
Every Peace Corps Volunteerencounters social differences that rock to their core. Many of my fellow femalevolunteers comment on difficult conversations and situations they are involvedin due to their sex. All of us try to put a positive spin on them, out of thehope that a few words or an action will put a new idea into the minds of ourneighbors, friends, and coworkers at site. Planting a seed, you could say. Iwill tell the stories of three difficult conversations I’ve had and the hopesthat follow them.
During the first three monthsin Rwanda, I lived with a host family. I lived with a mom, dad, two sisters (11and 17), and a brother (12). I won’t go into details, but toward the end of mystay, my host brother did something to me that was disrespectful and wrong. Iwas told that for his punishment, he would be beaten and taken to the church togive his confession. I told the family that I didn’t want him to be beaten. Iwanted to talk with him. I sat in the sitting room with my Kinyarwandadictionary in my lap. When he came into the room, he knelt on the floor (thisis typical punishment as someone in Rwanda is giving you a “talking to”). Itold him that I wanted to know his reason for disrespecting me. He said, “Satanis evil.” I told him that wasn’t his reason – that he must understand he hashis own mind and brain. Over and over again, his only response was “Satan isevil.” That, to me, was not acceptable. So I told him how I felt. I had livedwith them for nearly three months. I tried my best to me a good Rwandan – todress like a Rwandan because I wanted to respect the culture, to speak inKinyarwanda, and so on. And then he decides to make his own decision thataffects me, that disrespects me. I told him that it wasn’t okay and that “Satanis evil” is not his reason, that his own mind made the decision. I ended thescolding when he started to cry. I noticed, then, the look on Deanne’s face.She was my 11 year old host sister. She was polite and did everything she wastold. She was the most loyal and sweet girl I’d ever met. But the look on herface after I’d just scolded her brother was priceless. She looked as though awhole new world had been opened up. That she learned she could speak her mindand say how she felt. I’ve never regreted scolding her brother out of the hopethat she’ll always stand up for herself and ask for the reasons.
During my first few weeks atsite, I spent a lot of time in cafes, talking with people and eating keke. Mostof the conversations centered around my marital status – people just couldn’tget how a 23-year-old girl was single…and wanted to be single. During one ofthese conversations, a man in his 40s walked into the café, sat down, andlistened. He interrupted the conversation and asked me, “When do you want toget married?” I told him I didn’t know. Everyone laughed, as I’d expected. Hethen asked how old I was. I told him. Then he said in a super matter-of-facttone, “When a Rwandan girl is 21, she wants a husband.” So then I said, “I’mAmerican. In America, we think you should get married when you have love. Godlikes love, so it is good. If you are 18, 20, 30, 50, not a problem. You canget married when you have love.” And to that, he shut up. When I glancedaround, hoping I hadn’t offended anyone terribly, I made eye contact with anold lady (who holds the epitome of Rwandan culture and respect), who had beenquiet the entire time. She smiled at me and nodded her head. If the old ladyagrees with me, I thought, then I guess I’m not so crazy in this cultureafterall! My hope was that little seeds had been planted in all their minds,especially the man’s, to slowly begin to think that marriage isn’t the onlyoption for a girl who is 21.
A fellow teacher at my school asked me questions aboutAmerican culture that interested him. He asked me about the relationshipbetween husbands and wives in America. (Generally, I try to paint the pictureas accurate as possible – like saying, “Some Americans think…but otherAmericans think…and so on.”) I said that Americans believe that women and menare equal, so in a home, for example, the wife may cook dinner one night butthe husband may cook dinner the next night. Then he said, “Americans think thatwomen and men are the same. What about with strength? Women are not stronger thanmen. Women cannot build. Women cannot farm.” I laughed at this and told himthat I think some Rwandan women are stronger than men, as I see many womenevery day working on their fields for maybe 12 hours and then I see theirhusbands drinking all day. He seemed startled by my response, but then he askedme how to become a western man. I said that all he needs to do is say to hiswife, “Wife, I love you. I want to help you. Teach me how to cook boiledbananas.” And then once he learns, he can cook them for her. I was frustratedby this conversation for a few days, but now I’m glad it happened out of thehope that maybe he asked his wife how to cook boiled bananas.

HPV Vaccinations and Women and Girls' Health by Tashiya G.

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Tashiya GunesekeraEducation 2 -- Rubavu District, Western District



During the examination period last term, I noticed therewere a group of my female students in a classroom listening to the Animatriceand another woman who was talking very seriously. The boys were sitting outsideon that rare sunny day. Out of curiosity, I asked one of my male teachers as towhat was going on.             
“They are checking the girls over 16 to see who has SIDA,”he replied. I nodded and went along my way. By SIDA, he meant AIDS. I was a bitconfused and questioned myself as to why only the female students were beingchecked for HIV/ AIDS, but thought it was more likely they were checking to seewhich girls were pregnant. I had heard of this being done from other PCVs.Later, I saw female students coming out of the classroom applying cotton swabs totheir upper arms, meaning a Vaccine. Weeks later, I brought it up with myAnimatrice, Veronique. After I refreshed her memory, I asked her what themeeting and vaccine was for.
            “It’s atype of vaccination,” She said trying to find the name of it, “for Cancer.”         
“For what type of cancer?” I asked,surprised thinking the only type of Cancer that I knew of that women gotvaccines for was HPV, Cervical Cancer. Veronique couldn’t remember and referredme to Vestine and Immacule, two nuns at my site, who were nurses at the HealthCenter.
Later that evening, after some debate as to the actual name,I came to the understanding the vaccine was indeed the HPV vaccine, whichprevents infection of certain species of human papillomavirus. This virus isassociated with the development of cervical cancer, genital warts, and someless common cancers. Many women in the developing world that get cancer do notreceive proper medical care. Therefore, this vaccine can contribute greatly tostronger women’s health in the developing world. 
All female students over the age of 16 at my school weregiven the first dose of the vaccine in March of 2012, and they were told thenext dose was to follow around the time I was asking questions, in May of 2012,two months later.
I found this news compelling as this vaccine in the UnitedStates has not been made compulsory due to the high cost of the vaccine ($120/dose for a total of $360), and also due to some conservative groups who arguedthat the vaccine would cause girls to start engaging in sexual activity at ayounger age following the vaccine. There is also some discussion about howeffective the vaccine is because it does not protect against all the virusesthat can cause Cervical Cancer. For all these reasons, I found it interestingto know that my school in Rwanda, which even for Rwanda is under-developed, waschoosing to vaccinate many of their female students.
Later on, I found out through one of my students, that eachstudent was also given a small booklet in Kinyarwanda that explained thevaccine, the purpose for it, and what it protected against. This was from theMinistry of Health and it was complete with diagrams of the women’sreproductive system and photographs of smiling Rwandan girls.
Coming from the United States, I have seen many differencesin regards to the way women are treated in Rwandan culture. For example, I knowthat many female students have to do a lot of housework after school, whichprevents them from being able to study and attend clubs. This is not always thecase for boys. In my classes, overall the better performing students are boys.It’s almost impossible to get the majority of girls to talk loud enough to beheard because they’re taught to be quiet. There are obvious GenderInequalities, even though Rwanda is considered by some to be an Africa successstory for Gender Equality (See Note at end of post). Yet, to me this is a signthat the Government of Rwanda is trying seriously to promote women’s healthissues and roles in society.
Note: A good article that looks at the discussion of GenderEquality in Rwanda, both how far it’s come and how far it has to go: http://thinkafricapress.com/rwanda/women-gender-equality

We're hard at work!

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This weekend, we had our quaterly meeting at the Peace Corps Office in Kigali, the capitol of Rwanda and most beautiful and cleanest city on the continent of Africa.
_______________________________________________________

Past Successes:*Creating the committee and writing the by laws*The GAD Blog and regular SOMA contributions*Having GAD represented at all Peace Corps trainings and writing lesson plans for each training *Creating the GLOW/BE Committee to support GLOW/BE Camps*Creating the GLOW/BE VAST Grant Workbook*Conducting and analyzing the results of the all volunteer GAD survey*Coordinating the field testing of the translated Life Skills Manual
Current Projects:*Creating a GAD Manual focused on project ideas for adults*Forging a partnership between Peace Corps and Ni Nyampinga magazine*Promoting and updating the GAD blog*Collecting stories from volunteers to make senior staff aware of the prevalence of sexual harassment*Working with PSN to support volunteer who experience sexual harassment by designing a yearly retreat
Future Project Ideas:*Working with PC GAD committees in other countries to create an international PC GAD forum*Making GAD resources more accessible to volunteers through an online forum*Creating ways to help volunteers celebrate International Women's Day in their communities*Creating discussion questions for volunteers to discuss monthly at their regional meetings.  Encouraging inter-regional dialogues once or twice a year to discuss GAD related issues.

mackenzie's eyes are naturally that piercing (L to R: Alma, Lucy, Mackenzie, Chinelo, Gelsey)

resident jokesters (Zach and Chinelo)

awkward candid (L to R: Zach, Joel, Tashiya, Hope, Sarah D, Sarah E.)

all good! 

pamela's happy face, very happy face :)

Gelsey gets down to business

we are serious (L to R: Joel, Pamela, Tashiya)

Muraho! -- by Zach S.

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Zach SiddallED3 -- Muhanga District, Southern Province



Muraho! My name is Zack Siddall and I am one of the threenew GAD representatives from the most recent Peace Corps group Education 3. I,along with my fellow ED3’ers Chinelo Nwosu and Sarah Epplin, are very excitedto join the already sterling line up of PCVs on the GAD committee. We lookforward to bringing an onslaught of new ideas and fresh energy to thenationwide GAD meeting this month in Kigali. 
Before working with the Peace Corps here in Rwanda I wasblessed to have amble opportunity to do gender equality work with my previousemployer Habitat for Humanity. Through Habitat I worked with a program calledWomen’s Build which focused on breaking down the stereotypical gender roles sooften associated with the construction field of work. With the exception of afew males, such as myself, providing moderate amounts of technical support theentire Habitat house was built by women. The comradely and confidence thatblossomed between the women I had the opportunity to work with over that 2-3month window of time it would take to build each house was amazing. At firstthese female volunteers would hang on my every word. By week two I was demotedto the coffee and donuts errand boy. Then I recall one time while working on ahouse (about a month in) I reached down to grab my hammer only to find it hadbeen stealthy stolen from my tool belt by a female volunteer who not a monthearlier confessed she had never touched a hammer let alone even thought ofbuilding an entire house. Now she was swinging away, knocking 8 penny nailsinto hard pine like it was a hot knife through butter.
I hope to bring some of that Habitat mentality here toRwanda. Rwanda is a beautiful country and now, here in 2012, is the best timeto be doing gender work in this rapidly developing country. Every day women arebreaking down the traditional gender roles in Rwanda. You see more and morewomen entering the work force and obtaining higher degrees of education. However,Rwanda (and the rest of the world for that matter) still has a long way to gobefore everyone is truly treated equally. That’s where we come in. During myservice I intend to focus my GAD work on building partnerships. Whether that beon a nationwide scale by building relationships between Peace Corps Rwanda andother NGOs/the Rwandan Government. Or simply working on the village to villagelevel by connecting people through cooperatives and creating gender equalitydialog sessions. I’m very excited to join this wonderful project and I lookforward to the good work that will happen in the weeks to come.  

Bringing Out Your Company's Soul At a Trade Show

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 Have you ever been bedazzled by a theatrical trailer only to find out it completely misrepresented what the movie was about? False expectations can ruin a great movie. The same is true about what your trade show display tells visitors. If your trade show booth design doesn't embody the soul of your business, you're not doing your product justice.
So here are a few tips to help you imbue your custom trade show displays with the essence of your business.
Be true to yourself. You may have the most versatile vegetable peeler in the world, but fight the urge to try to be all things to all people. Focus your collateral material, your demos, and your talking points on what you do better than anyone. You'll be surprised how many people are willing to change their demand around a well presented product with a clear purpose. In fact, people love learning about novel ways to solve familiar problems, which leads us to our next tip.
Show off something fresh and unique. No one peruses custom trade show displays looking for the coolest thing from last year. Your brand is a living thing and people want to see life and progression. This doesn't mean you have to sit out the trade show just because you haven't invented a new product in awhile. Repackage what you have. Show what else is so unique about it. Make a minor design change. Little Giant Ladders revitalized sales for their ladder systems by adding a couple little wheels to move their ladder more easily. You can reinvent your product in the visitor's mind while maintaining your brands identity.
Sell a lifestyle, not just a product. This can be a challenge for a 10' by 6' trade show booth design. But why is there such a big market for high powered blenders right now? Not because the concept of a blender is new. It's because people love the idea of getting their nasty healthy leafy vegetables hidden in a delicious fruit smoothie. This idea is revolutionary. You're not selling a blender, you're pouring a refreshing 3-minute fitness smoothie down your customer's throat -- literally. Live demos are Blendtec's bread and butter. The best way to tell about the greatness of your product is to show it in action. Your customers will identify your brand with how it changes their lives, not just your product. So make sure your booth staff has the pitch or demo down well enough that your product can sell itself.
Insight Exhibits

1367 South 7th West

Salt Lake City, UT 84104

(801) 978-9000

Women's Health And Dizziness During Pregnancy

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A notable number of women experience dizziness during pregnancy. The scientific explanation for this is that, during that period, the body of a woman's body undergoes a lot of cardiovascular changes. The body is supposed to undergo self-initiating adaptive changes in its cardiovascular and nervous systems to enable normal functioning, especially in maintaining continuous supply of blood to the brain. The consequences of failure of such adaptive mechanisms include fainting and giddiness.

One of the significant changes that occur to women during gestation is an increase in the rate of heart beat. This is accompanied by increment in blood volumes by about 45%. They also undergo dilation of blood vessels, resulting in low blood pressure. A woman experiences the lowest blood pressure levels at around mid-pregnancy. This drop is only restored to normal close to the end of gestation period.

Medical experts have identified a number of ways that can help in handling dizziness. It is critical that a woman lies down if she experiences vertigo. This prevents her from suffering injury by falling. She should also stop doing any activity that may bring harm to her or others, for instance operating machinery or driving.

The basic cause of dizziness and fainting is an inadequate supply of blood to the brain. First aid measures, hence, should aim to restore this supply. One way of achieving this is by resting the victim in a horizontal position, but with the head slightly lower than the rest of the body. Where there is no space to lie, it is advisable that the victim sits, then put her head between her knees. The woman may also lie on her left side, since this increases blood flow to both the heart and the brain.

A woman's actions may increase the risk of her fainting or experiencing lightheadedness. Top on this list is a quick shift in position from either lying or sitting to standing. Blood pools around the feet and in lower legs during resting periods. The body may not be able to restore blood flow to the heart and brain upon springing from the rest position, hence resulting in dizziness. Therefore, it is advisable for pregnant women not to spring from resting positions to standing.

Blood may also pool around the feet when a person stands at the same position for prolonged periods. Expectant women are advisable to walk around after short periods of being stationary. In case this is not possible, exercising legs could also help improve blood circulation. Wearing support stockings has also been proven to improve circulation.

Pregnant woman should take note of their sleeping positions since how they sleep may increase chances of experiencing lightheadedness. A woman should not lie on their stomachs or backs during their second and third trimesters. This is because such positions cause the uterus to exert extra pressure on inferior vena cava, slowing circulation in the lower abdomen. They should lie of their left side instead.

Vasovagal syncope may also result in dizziness during pregnancy. This is a condition resulting from straining during activities such as urination or coughing, dehydration, pain or anxiety. Symptoms associated with this condition are a feeling of warmth, nausea, yawning, sweating and paleness. It is advisable to lie or sit upon experiencing such symptoms.

Online Newborn Photographer

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Photograph is a form of art, and lately has become an integral part of our life. A single photograph can picture many things, such as human interaction, human condition, poorness, wealthy life, erotic sense, and many more. Within this sense, it is sure that photograph is becoming a form of communication used as a bridge where there are some people connected to it. As a form of communication, surely most people can talk anything through a single photograph, while at the same time we can also regard the photograph as a form of communication that have been integrated fully into the realm of technology. Through some paragraphs below, you will find an online source which able to propose a specialization in photograph, that is, little baby photograph.
You can get enough information about that kind of photograph easily. All you need to do is just click here and start thinking about the offers that already exist in front of your eyes. To be more precise, the source is located at Silverbeephotography.com, and it propose to visitors a field of photograph that in many ways has been regarded as newborn photograph. The site, at the same time, is a blog managed by Hillary. She is definitely a photographer, who is dedicated his profession in picturing any kind of the form of newborn. She has a passion to that kind of photograph, and you can hire her service by way visiting the source. She would happy to help you because in essence she wants it too. 
Looking for newborn to come into this world can deliver the sense of amazing. At least, such utterance is already sprouted by Hillary. In the realm of newborn photograph, a name of photographer has been appeared in front of our eyes. So in the end, all you need to do is just exploring the photo gallery that already available in the site I mentioned above, before you decide to hire her service.

Need Baby Bloomers? Visit Princess Boutique Now!

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            Having a baby might be one of the happiest moments in your life that you will never miss. No wonder why you always want to make your baby looks very amazing and cute. Moreover, there are a lot of accessories for babies that you can choose, such as baby bloomers, baby headbands, and many more. These kinds of accessories will be able to make your babies look very beautiful, pretty, and of course cute. To be able to get these kinds of things, you do not need to go to the stores directly now, because these are available in the internet too these days. So, you do not need to leave the house to order them, and thus you can keep an eye of your baby very well.             Princess Boutique is one of the best stores available online that you can choose to find pretty and cute accessories for your babies. This store will provide you with many kinds of babies’ accessories like baby headbands, baby bloomers, and many more. You do not need to worry about the cost that you have to pay for every accessories offered here, because they are all very affordable for you to buy. You just need to check the information given below to know how much money you have to spend for them.             Not only products that you can find here, but you will also be able to get a lot of helpful information related to your baby. If you want to know how other customers think about all products offered here, you can check the testimonials parts that have been provided in the information section. Besides that, if you have questions about products here or perhaps you do not know how to order them, you just need to contact this store from its website directly for fast respond.

Best Fotoeffekte Provider

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The development of technology to edit photo is fast. You can use software or application to edit your photo. Some professional photographers will edit the photo by using certain system so the photo will look natural and better. How about you? You really want to edit your photo for fun and you don’t need to use difficult system to get new photo.  You just need to access de.picjoke.net. You will find simple solution to get your photo effect.
Some photographers know more about photography terms. You sometime don’t know some terms and you don’t know too how to use the effect. Today when you open the site, you can easy edit your photo because all photo effects are easy to be applied and you can check before and after you give the effect. This site offers you huge collections of fotoeffekte. You can change the background, accessories, effect; and change the colors and much more.
All activities in this site are free. You better open the site now and you will find the detail information about their service. You just find the best place to edit your photo. There is no requirement to install application or other thing. You never wait to become a professional photographer and the edit your photo because you can easy edit your photo with this way.