End of the UCBC School Year

Preparing the grounds

It's a cool morning here in Beni. The city is just beginning to wake up. But there are workers, cooks, students, staff and family members of the UCBC community who have already been up for some time. Some have stayed up all night. Today is UCBC's 2nd graduation. UCBC has been a busy place these last weeks. Exams and deliberations, preparations for the General Assembly (Congolese board),and preparations for graduation for graduation have consumed time and focus.

And more preparations

UCBC is like any other school when it comes to graduation preparations. Grounds people have been busy cutting, trimming, and weeding, painting and cleaning. Faculty and staff have been correcting exams, organizing logistics, writing and practicing speeches, assembling awards and diplomas, and confirming invitations and seating arrangements. At 8:00 pm last evening, people were still the setting up sound equipment and chairs. Remember…there is no exterior campus lighting. Cooks worked through the night preparing food for the celebration. 

The General Assembly (GA) concluded its work yesterday afternoon. We met for three very productive days. The primary order of business was working through the CI-UCBC 5-year strategic plan. There was excellent discussion, learning, some adjustments and additions, and all-in-all a thoughtful process with God's hand at work.

GA members at work

One of the questions the leadership asked the GA to consider during its review of the strategic plan was, "Do the objectives and activities take into account the protection of the environment, protection of children, and equality of gender." As a result of that question, we decided to specifically articulate two new objectives (not the correct language, but here's the essence): (1) to be intentional in seeking out qualified women to fill teaching and administrative positions; (2) to employ universal design techniques in our building and landscaping to allow full accessibility to all people, regardless of age or ability; (3) to demonstrate environmental stewardship in our building and landscaping. These are important and unique intentions for this context. Men dominate the landscapes of teaching and leadership in Congo. Men hold the positions of pastors, administrators, mayors, parliamentarians, university personnel. Yet, CI-UCBC is a holistic answer to the challenges and opportunities of Congo. We have a 40/60 female/male student ratio. We are eager to bring more women into the classroom as teachers and into the offices as administrators, not only as examples to our students, but to encourage the creativity that comes from diversity. There is more to say about this topic, of course...but, I was glad we had this conversation!

The General Assembly

Articulating commitments to accessibility and environmental stewardship is also significant and unique to CI-UCBC. For the most part, people who are not able-bodied are stigmatized in this region. People with physical disabilities are shunned from the community, excluded from education opportunities, ignored for leadership positions, and often left without any means for their own support and care. Sadly, many people suffer physical disabilities simply because of lack of medical care that would otherwise prevent or correct matters that become life-long burdens. One of our own beloved GA members, Pastor Peter Amani, a wise, joyful, bright, compassionate elder, suffered the amputation of his leg after an otherwise minor and treatable wound resulted in infection and nerve damage. That CI-UCBC proclaims all as members of the body, and that CI-UCBC is going to be intentional in all of its practices to include, invite, make accessible its facilities and programs is yet another beacon of light in the region and the nation.

DRC is rich in natural resources. But those resources are being exploited in ways that damage communities, individuals, and the environment. From the beginning, CI-UCBC has envisioned as fully-sustainable and green a campus as possible. Now we have articulated that in our strategic plan. We recently received the full report and plans from eMi that will direct our campus development. In that plan are recommendations for a hybrid power system that includes solar, hydro, and biogas. There are also recommendations regarding building orientations to take advantage of sunlight (of which we have plenty) and natural breezes. But what makes this unique is that these practices are not part of local culture. In an area with seemingly endless supplies of water and trees, people use without consideration of future needs. These practices are no different from what the majority world has modeled over the last couple of centuries. We decimated forests in the name of progress and polluted our watercourses because there were plenty of streams and rivers and lakes. The same occurs here. That CI-UCBC is making a stand and setting a different example is yet another light.

But back to graduation...It's today. And there's great excitement. "To God be the glory."

Morning

This morning was cool and grey. A lilting fog hung in the air. Women and children filed along the roadside, bundles on their heads, loads heavy on their backs. Men pushed bicycles with loads of charcoal and wood. Moto drivers bundled up in winter coats.

The UCBC campus was quiet when I arrived.  John and Kapitula were the only people to greet me when I came through the gate. Kapitula, with his glowing smile, sang to the radio while he filled a bucket with water from the spigot.

The doors to the Academic Building were open. The tile floors, freshly washed, reflected the light. Jacques, one of the workers, hummed gently as he wiped the floor. At the end of the other hallway, Musiande sang another song. Someone outside whistled an arpeggio.

"God's mercies are new every morning."

June 13 at UCBC

Announcement

June 13 is now marked as a special day for UCBC. It is the day of tree planting. It is a day that, as Noé Kasali proclaims, “We will commemorate!” It is the day that 324 faculty, students, and staff each planted a tree on the UCBC property. Sadly, DRC is losing its forests to international interests and greed. It is also losing its forests to survival needs. UCBC’s own neighbors come onto the property to cut trees for firewood and slash and burn to plant vegetables. So we planted trees yesterday.

But June 13, 2012 marks more than just planting trees. It marks the spirit and ethic of Congo Initiative and UCBC.

Noé (L) instructs faculty about planting

The initiative began a couple of months ago when James, president of the UCBC chapter of Youth With a Mission (YWAM), approached Noé Kasali, Manager of the Student Work Program and Personnel Services. Through YWAM James and his peers had met a local man who was interested in donating 200 seedlings to UCBC. Within two weeks, James and the other YWAM members had made arrangements for the seedlings to be transported to UCBC. At the same time Student Council President Isaiah suggested a way for the wider student body to participate in a tree-planting project. Isaiah knew of a women’s organization in Beni that promotes environmental protection and raises tree seedlings. Isaiah negotiated and secured a donation of another 100 seedlings from this local group. “These groups were interested to participate because they knew we had a plan for our property,” explained Noé.

A tree planting event was coming together.

Tools at ready

To make the event truly memorable, it was important that everyone—students, staff, and faculty—be involved. The project needed close to 500 trees. Through other contacts and with a small budget, UCBC's Work Program and Land Management Committee purchased the remaining 200 seedlings from local sources.

So yesterday the planting began. Three hundred twenty-four students, faculty, and staff members were handed a seedling and tools and instructed where to plant. Students planted eucalyptus varieties around the property perimeter, to serve as boundary markers. Faculty and staff planted a variety of species, including acacia and croton, for shade and landscape on the developed portion of campus. Those who didn't plant yesterday will do so today. 

Everyone built barriers around their seedlings, as goats and chickens would otherwise enjoy easy snacking. Each planter also wrote her or his name, domain/discipline of study, and year here at UCBC on a piece of paper, and attached it to the tree. A method of permanently marking each tree is underway so that as the years progress, people can recall, “I planted this tree on June 13, 2012.”

Yup, I planted, too!

Sure, planting trees is a valuable ecological initiative. That was the beginning point of Wangari Maathai’s work and the initiation of the Green Belt Movement. But, as Noé pointed out, yesterday’s event marked even more. It marked student initiative and leadership. Students were the ones with the ideas. Students developed the plans and made logistical arrangements. The event also illustrated the power of community relationships and the role that UCBC students play in the local community. It was because of the collaboration and service that students have engaged that the various individuals and organizations were interested to donate to the initiative. The event reminded everyone that at UCBC manual work is part of our ethic. Faculty and administrators were out digging and planting.

And then there was another unexpected, added benefit. All six of Beni’s local radio stations broadcast stories about the event. The stations reported on the importance of planting trees and that UCBC and its students were setting an example for the community. The reports also noted that the people in the offices planted trees (a notable item in a professional culture that esteems one’s ability to sit behind a desk and tell other people what work to do).  Given that radio is the chief form of information exchange and communication, and that Beni’s radio stations cover a 50-60km radius and reach close to 1 million listeners, this is the kind of broadcast coverage that most PR executives would envy.

Yes, June 13 is a special day in UCBC’s history.

Chickens stay away!

Goats too!

For more photos, check out the photo album on Congo Initiative's Facebook pages.

Communications Classes at UCBC: Doing Education Differently

Last month communications students studying multimedia at UCBC had a unique opportunity. It was unique for university students of DRC, that is. Visiting teacher and photojournalist Anne Medley taught the class, Multimedia and Photojournalism.  Over the course of three weeks, students learned how to photograph, conduct interviews, write and edit a script, and tell a story from their community. The students worked in teams of 3 to develop a proposal and put it into action. One group of students told the story of Beni’s only woman taxi/moto driver. Another group of students produced a piece on an ironworker. The metal workers who forge charcoal braziers and pans—the local cooking appliances—were subjects of other stories. There was a piece on the pushcart drivers.

Students interview pushcart drivers

So, why was this unique? Because education in DRC universities is completely didactic and theoretical. Students listen to their teachers read lectures, and copy those lectures verbatim. Students memorize the notes then quote directly back to the teacher on an exam. The first opportunity students have to practice what they learn or to see theory in action is if they have an internship experience at the end of their studies. 

Anne shares student work as Honoré translates

Academic Dean Honoré Bunduki Kwany reminded the UCBC communications students how fortunate they were to have had this “hands-on” learning experience during chapel on Monday, June 4. Later that afternoon when I asked Honoré about his comments to the students, he confirmed, “Yes, journalism students in other universities never have a chance to photograph or develop pieces like this.” And then he told a story that one of UCBC’s communications teachers had shared.

Kaza, the teacher, was a communications student in one of DRC’s larger, national universities. His multimedia professor instructed the students how to film. He picked up a piece of notebook paper and formed a paper cylinder with it. Holding the cylinder to his eye, as if it were a telephoto lens, the professor explained, “When you use a camera, you hold it carefully up to your eye and look through it like this.” The professor slowly turned his head, scanning an imaginary scene before him.  He continued, “You have to move slowly while your camera is running. You don’t want to move too fast.”

“And this is not unusual!” Honoré lamented. “What our students have here, at UCBC, to use cameras, to use recording equipment, to work on computers, is unique to DRC." 

Students share their experiences

Yes, we're doing things differently here at UCBC, not just in communications, but in applied sciences, theology, and economics. As I write, for example, students in Wilfred Mushagalusa's Applied Informations class are creating databases. Students from DRC Realities worked with local community agencies last week to directly engage with their work. Yesterday, faculty, staff, and students planted trees on the UCBC campus. All of these experiences for learning, service, and work are unique in DRC's educational landscape. But they are distinctives that don't just make UCBC stand apart. They are distinctives that are cultivating the kind of ethical leadership and creative problem-solving that my Congolese sisters and brothers remind me is critical to DRC's present and future.

Telecentre

Telecentre: A “public place of access to the Internet and other digital technologies that help promote personal and social development” (www.telecentre.org).

Throughout Africa, Asia, and South America, telecentres serve as places for teaching, business development, business services, and internet hubs. Some specifically promote services for women. Some provide services for small-holding farmers. Others serve as clearinghouses for health care information. In every case, a telecentre is about leveraging ICT (information, communication, and technology) for the benefit of the community.

Thanks to a generous grant from Elmbrook Church (Brookfield, WI), Congo Initiative is in the process of researching local needs and telecentre models in preparation for developing a business plan. The goal is to establish an income-generating telecentre that also serves as a business incubator for UCBC graduates. The telecentre “will leverage graduates’ expertise and appropriate information, communication, and technology (ICT) services of UCBC and the Center for Professional Development and Vocational Training to benefit the community.” It will also “facilitate expansion of UCBC’s Economics Department to include entrepeneurship and business development education” (Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development Telecentre: Proposal, November, 2011).

At their core, telecentres serve the community and support community development initiatives. In addition to serving the community, we are looking to develop a telecentre that will provide employment for UCBC graduates or serve as a business incubator specifically for them. The telecentre will also be a vehicle to support some of CI-UCBC's own ICT needs here on campus. This could include supporting robust internet services or provide printing services (a desperate need, as 3 desktop printers are the tired workhorses for a faculty/staff of over 40 and a student body of 450+).

L-R: Wilfred, Victor, Guy

So, for the past 4 months, the team of Wilfred Mushagalusa (UCBC Applied Sciences teacher), Guy Komanda (UCBC Economics teacher), Victor Bangewa (UCBC IT Manager), and me have been reading, researching, and learning together. We’ve relied on information and contacts we’ve made through the Telecentre Foundation. These individuals have been very helpful. For example, Amparo Preethika M. De Asis, Capacity Building Manager of the Telecentre.org Foundation, put us in touch with telecentre experts in Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, and Rwanda. Ampy is in the Philippines. Rita Mijumbi Epodoi, from Uganda, has offered training assistance and advised on telecentres to visit in Uganda. Dean Mulozi, Regional Facilitator of the Southern Africa Telecentre Network (SATNET), has forwarded telecentre management training modules. Dean is in Zambia.  The Community Telecentre Cookbook for Africa: Recipes for Self-Sustainability (UNESCO, 2001) has provided a helpful framework for our work.

It’s great fun to work with Wilfred, Guy, and Victor. Even though each of these men has been on staff at UCBC for a year or less, each one has a deep commitment to CI and UCBC.

If passion had only one face, it would be Victor. Victor began at UCBC as a student 3 years ago. Eager to develop his IT skills, he made the difficult decision to move to Uganda for additional training. He returned to UCBC last year to assume responsibility for the computer network and labs, and gave up the potential to establish a successful business in Goma, the provincial capital 300 kms (and a long day's drive) to the south of Beni. Wilfred turned down a lucrative job offer in Kinshasa to teach at UCBC. As he tells it, it took 3 months of prayer to discern what God would have him do. Guy served as a temporary teacher at UCBC for more than a year before we were able to offer him a permanent position.

L-R: Victor, me, Guy, Wilfred

We are learning together, learning how to work together across our cultural experiences and styles and navigating the challenges of language. I’m the deficient one, of course, with an insufficient French vocabulary. Thankfully, Wilfred and Victor are fluent English speakers and Guy has solid competency in English. Wilfred and Victor have IT knowledge, of course, and some exposure to telecentres. Guy brings business planning and development knowledge. I have been reading about telecentres for a couple of years, but have never visited one. And, of course, Guy, Victor, and Wilfred understand the community context here in Beni.

There are two major activities on the immediate horizon. One is to visit well-established and successful telecentres in Rwanda and Uganda. The opportunity to see telecentres in action and talk to the managers will assist in our planning. The second activity is to have a series of public meetings here in Beni to determine the nature of the telecentre. The meetings are a combination data gathering, marketing, and relationship-building.

Thunderstorm

It's Sunday afternoon. A thunderstorm has just washed through Beni. The sounds of the neighborhood have sprung back to life. Motos roar along the roads. Roosters rename the day. Songbirds renew their chirping. From the surrounding compounds I hear the voices of women and children punctuated by the clanging of aluminum pans as they tend to cooking and washing.

I love the thunderstorms here. Swaths of black clouds gather from across the sky, and convene in ever-expanding battalions of black and grey. The clouds are giants of grace and power. The remind me of Tolkien’s Ents.

Then suddenly, the clouds break wide open and spill torrents of water that race across rooftops and roads.

Teaching an English class

“Creation Care and the Common Good” began last week. It’s an English class for UCBC students who have completed the English curriculum. The purpose of the class is to help students “strengthen reading, writing, discourse, and critical thinking” within their disciplines. The course “looks at creation care and the common good from a Judeo-Christian perspective, and in the context of personal experience.” The class is intended to help students improve their English. It is also intended to provoke students’ thinking about the created world and the common good. If students wrestle with their assumptions, ideas, and beliefs about the created world and about the common good and leave the class with some new perspectives, questions, and ideas, then it will have succeeded.

The course objectives and outcomes are ambitious, for a class that meets 4 hours/week for 8 weeks. But there is considerable more focus in the course today then when I first began developing it back in April. And the course will look different next time, if there is a next time.

It’s good to be back in an English class. It’s been a long time. The teaching and facilitating I’ve been doing over the past several years has been in curriculum development, instruction, and assessment—professional development content for teachers here at UCBC. It was time to get back into the classroom, have my own experience as a teacher here at UCBC, and put my own advice and coaching into action.

There are 18 students in the class—good number. They are from the four faculties/disciplines here at UCBC: communications, economics, applied sciences, theology. There is a range of English ability among the students, and, most likely, a range of interest and academic ability. But that will be part of the fun (translate, challenge!).

Our first day focused on the syllabus—purpose, outcomes, evidence, assessment. Rather than talk through each section as a class, students read in pairs, helping each other understand and clarify. One of the questions was, “What do you mean ‘Judeo-Christian’?” This question was a reminder that my own assumptions, vocabulary, and perspectives will be challenged consistently during this time with students.

One of the assignments that the students have over the class is a set of 4 reflections, each based on a personal experience with the created world. Each reflection has two parts: (1) an experience, and (2) a written reflection. For the experience students are to sit alone and quietly in a natural setting to simply observe and experience that environment for 20 minutes. They are to be quiet—no cell phone, no music, no friends. Just sit and experience and observe. They may take notes or sketch, but not analyze or explain. For part 2, the written reflection, students are to take 30 minutes to write their reflections on that experience. They are to do that writing within 48 hours of the experience itself. Each of the 4 experiences is to have a specific focus: water, flora, fauna, night.

The assignment is intended to encourage students to see things from a different, new, or unfamiliar perspective. I’ve introduced the language of “lenses”—that we wear lenses to the world based on our personal experiences, culture, family. And this course is to challenge students to use different lenses to see the created world and consider what it means to serve the “common good.” Another purpose of the assignment is to provide content from which to address metacognitive practices—thinking about thinking. I suspect that students’ reflections will be of different types. I’m expecting some students to describe what they saw in factual terms, others to describe their thoughts during the experience, and others to write about what they did during the time. My hope is that there will be sufficient range of reflection types and foci to talk about metacognition and its role in facilitating our own learning.

We shall see…

By the way...a huge "thank you" to my sister, Ann Shaw. She's my instructional coach and researcher!