Study abroad classes gear up for trip to Rwanda

Assistant chair of the UCA biology department, Leah Horton, said the idea for a study abroad trip to Rwanda came from sophomore Aloys Nsereko.
Nsereko, a Rwandan native, is at UCA on a presidential scholarship from the Rwandan government. Students are required to return to Rwanda every two years to do a type of internship.
Horton said Nsereko participated in some of the Science Technology Engineering and Math activities at UCA during his freshman year that included science nights and teaching elementary classrooms science lessons.
“[Nsereko] saw how much the kids enjoy that and realized that the kids in Rwanda would benefit from that as well,” Horton said. “When he said he wanted to do that, I thought ‘you know that’s amazing. We need to take some UCA students and go and do that with them.’”
Horton and colleague Jayme Stone, director of learning communities, went through UCA’s study abroad process, writing a proposal called Science and Society in Rwanda. They developed two different courses, one is a biology course, which Horton teaches, and the other is a world and cultural traditions course, which Stone teaches.
The 11 students going to Rwanda were required to take at least one of the classes. Freshman Brynn McBride is one of a few students who are enrolled in both classes. She said both classes are interesting and have allowed her to learn a lot about the culture of Africa.
The biology class has worked a lot with genetics, and has tied that with the history of Rwanda, including the genocide in 1994, between the Hutu and the Tutsi.
Freshman Emily Baird said they have investigated the difference in the genetics of the two groups.
The biology class has also learned about diseases that are present in Rwanda, such as HIV, Malaria and Yellow Fever. The class has also learned the three different science lessons they will teach in the schools of Rwanda. The lessons will be in life science, physical science and earth science.
Horton said the three Rwandan students who are accompanying the eight Americans on the trip, have been invaluable in preparing for the trip.
“Not just to the students, but to myself and Dr. Stone,” Horton said. “From a language perspective, from a culture perspective, just what to expect and the fact that the Rwandan UCA students are so excited that we are going with them. They’ll tell you they never thought in a million years that would happen. They love their country so much and they can’t wait for us to experience that with them.”
Junior Dipali Patel said the class has been a different than any of her other classes this semester, because of the discussions involved.
“It’s more of a hands-on type of class and you get to be very interactive with group discussions,” Patel said. “It’s really easy going, but at the same time I’ve learned a lot of stuff about HIV and different diseases that are over there and a lot of stuff I wouldn’t have known otherwise.”
Horton said while in Rwanda, the students would go into many schools in different parts of the country to teach their lessons. The students will be divided into three groups to teach in a separate classroom.
The students will also put together science kits to leave for the teachers, so they will be able to do the lessons after they leave.
“We’re going to be doing some work with the teachers of these schools, sort of a pre-teaching session, where we talk to the teachers about what we’re doing, what our methods are going to be,” Horton said.  “After the lesson we’ll get back with the teachers and answer their questions.”
The students will also be visiting some of the genocide memorials in Rwanda, along with going on a gorilla trek.
“We’ll hopefully get to do it with some field scientists that are working with the gorillas on a daily basis, because I want my students to get to talk to real-life scientists,” Horton said. “We do all this stuff in class and we talk about field science, but we never get to talk to anybody who does this full-time.”
Horton said some concerns were brought up from the families and parents of the students about the safety of Rwanda.
Patel said she experienced that when she told her parents of her planned trip to Rwanda.
“They were excited about the service part. They were nervous about it being Rwanda, because they knew [about the genocide],” Patel said. “But they were also supportive of it.”
Baird also said her parents and friends were concerned about the trip.
“The first thing they thought was that it would be dangerous and that it’s not a stable country, and it is,” Baird said. “It’s completely stable. They were nervous, they’re still nervous.”
Sophomore Allie Elyahb said while the genocide happened; it is a thing of the past.
“The genocide was 18 years ago,” Elyahb said. “Now we are all like brothers and sisters. That’s what I love.”
Baird said the Rwandan students are excited for the American students to go to Rwanda.
“They can’t wait for us to meet their families and they can’t wait to see what we think about Rwanda,” Baird said. “They’re just excited for us to be there.”
Nsekero said he is in contact with his family once a week and said and he is able to go back home after two years away.
“It’s going to be amazing,” Nsekero said. “I can’t even imagine what it’s going to be like. It’s going to be an amazing trip.”
Both Nsekero and Elyahb said they would like this to become a trip that UCA makes every year.
Horton said she also hopes this is something that continues every year.
“We are planning on submitting a study-abroad proposal to go again next year, because we want to take what we learned this year,” Horton said. “Because this is our first trip we know there will be things that we want to tweak and make better, and we want to do that while it’s still fresh and while we still have some momentum.”
The group will leave for Rwanda on May 8. Horton said the group would be “on the ground” in Rwanda from May 10 to May 27.