The Power of ASYV

Just before the vacation, I was talking with one of the staff members about my plans for the vacation. He told me that I should think about just visiting my kids in Kigali because it’s going to be too expensive to see all of them. I thought about what he said…just then I realized that others are paying to go on safari and this is how I want to spend my vacation. I’m so glad that I didn’t listen to him. Through my visits, I was truly able to witness the positive affect that ASYV is having on these girls. As these girls are having positive experiences, the affect is extending to everyone around them. I’d like to share 2 stores from my adventures visiting the girls that demonstrate this fact.

As I sat with one of my girls in her house, I immediately noticed a change. When she arrived at ASYV, she exhibited little confidence, barely spoke, and usually sat/walked with her head down. I asked her family that was sitting in the room with us if they have noticed a change since she began to live at ASYV. The 2 people that were sitting in the room back got big grins on their faces as they told me that before she was at ASYV, she never talked to them. When she returned home from vacation, they said that she could stop talking about everything that she did and learned. After listening to what her family had to say, she began to talk about tikkun lev (repairing the heart) and tikkun olam (repairing the world). These are both Hebrew words that all the kids in the village have learned about. She began to explain what they mean. She talked about how now she’s working on tikkun lev…working on making herself strong and soon she explained that she would get the opportunity to go into the community and help others. She was excited as she talked about her excitement for these concepts. I was shocked; even better, her family was shocked to hear all this come out of her mouth. Not just for her confidence as she spoke but what she was saying were extraordinary concepts for her. This experience has stayed with me as a true success for what we’re trying to do at ASYV.

The second girl that I want to talk about was similar to the first for they both show how much self confidence that the village as instilled in the kids. This girl’s family is poor and there are many kids living in one home. I think that I counted 10 kids total…that’s a lot of mouths to feed. The parents were both very nice and happy that I visited. I couldn’t get over the difference between the girl from my family and the other kids. The confidence that we was exhibiting was amazing. I asked her a question about the village. She then began to tell me about how she has begun to hold family time for her family many nights (we have family time every night in the village where we talked about issues in the family, school, life in the village, thoughts on the future, and many other topics). All I could think about was the incredible impact that ASYV is having on this entire family. She continued to tell me that in family time, she encourages all her sibling to think about the future. For those of you who know Rwanda, this is not normal talk in a rural Rwandan home. I was so proud to be there.

I’m so sad to say that in the vacation one of the kids who has been battling with heart problems died in South Africa from surgery that was performed to save her life. I was so sad to learn this. She was such a beautiful girl that was battling for so long. It was hard for our entire community. I went to the ceremony for her on the Sunday that we returned from vacation. I sat next to 3 girls from my family. I asked one of the girls if the girl that died had any family outside of ASYV. She replied ASYV was her family. I continued to be touched by this statement as I sat emotional through the service.

I realized something through these 3 stories…ASYV is a family and the role models for many Rwandan youth looking for a brighter future.