New trainers ABCD training Wilberforce Lake2Lake RENCP
September 2012
Registration Closes On September 20th!
Wellspring’s 3rd Annual Lake2Lake Ride for Rwanda will be on September 29+30, 2012. Team Wellspring is excited for the 3rd edition of the Lake2Lake Ride for Rwanda. Last year saw the number of riders double and over $75,000 raised to empower the next generation through education that transforms lives. This year we are hoping once again to expand our rider base and raise more awareness for the need of quality education in Rwandan Schools. If you rode last year, encourage your friends to join you this September. New this year will be the opportunity to purchase a first edition Lake2Lake Rider Jersey. We will be posting a design on the blog and will be giving riders the opportunity to pre-order their official Lake2Lake Rider Jersey in the coming months. If you’d like to be informed of when the design is ready, sign up for email notifications.
www.lake2lake.org
Welcoming New Trainers
On August 2nd, Wellspring welcomed seven new Rwandan staff members to our training team. The day included a morning orientation and fun team building activities. The new trainers will help Wellspring deepen its engagement in 48 Rwandan schools where it currently serves and expand our successful School Development Program through strategic partnerships like the one we are currently implementing in the northern Anglican Diocese of Byumba. We look forward to introducing you to each of our new trainers throughout the Fall.
Reflections on ABCD Training By Richard Taylor
“Once we put our efforts together we can achieve so much. We have lost a lot by not working together.” —Adelphine Uwasu, Deputy Director, Rwandan District of Gasabo
“I recognized that a vibrant school involves the entire community working together.” —Sylvain Bikorimana, Wellspring Administrator
Helping Rwandan schools become vibrant places where children can truly succeed requires involvementfrom the entire community. This is why Wellspring recently invited Cormac Russell from the ABCD Institute and Brian Nugent from Nurture Development Africa to train our entire team as facilitators in Asset-Based Community Development. As its essence ABCD is about helping communities use what they already have to secure what they truly need. It challenges leaders to transition from a needs-based approach to a strengths-based approach that truly sees the members of a community as citizens. For the five days from August 6th to 10th, Wellspring and its key partners from other non-profits, churches, and government (75+ participants) became a learning community so we could learn how to integrate ABCD principles into our work in various communities. Our goal was to improve our own practice and learn how to help the schools where we work take greater ownership over their own improvement. The training far exceeded our expectations. As we learned together we also built our own community and formed a foundation for future success, reflecting Cormac’s maxim that “You can’t think your way into ABCD. You can only act your way into ABCD.” We began to truly grasp the power of being citizens and wrestled with ways we had treated the Rwandans we worked alongside as clients. We look forward to seeing the impact ABCD will have as we seek to help Rwandan schools become truly vibrant communities!
Wilberforce Is a driver with a calling for ministry
by Richard Taylor
On his last day with The Wellspring Foundation I had a chance to sit down with Wilberforce and hear his incredible story and how his time with Wellspring has prepared him for the next stage of his journey. Wilberforce was born in the Eastern Province of Uganda to a Rwandan mother and a Ugandan father. He had eight siblings and his parents could not afford to keep him in schools past Primary 7 (Grade 7). After he dropped out, he worked at a local taxi park, and eventually became a driver. In 1997, he moved to Rwanda to find better opportunities, and worked for several different organizations while also doing night classes to complete his high school diploma and finish an undergraduate degree in business management. In early 2011, Wilberforce applied as a driver for the School Development Program (SDP) with Wellspring after working for five years with a Christian microfinance organization called Opportunity International. When he first joined Wellspring, his attitude towards the teaching profession was very negative. “I did not like teaching. I did not think it was a good profession,” he says, with his trademark grin, recognizing the irony of driving for an organization focused on training and equipping teachers. “This had a lot to do with my background where teachers were always poor and did not take their job seriously. They also had a habit of strict discipline and harsh treatment of students.” “But Wellspring changed my mind about being a teacher. As a driver, I had the opportunity to observe and attend training and I tried to follow and learn. I began to realize that teaching is not supposed to be just a job but it is a calling to serve and help children. I began to love the profession. It changed me a lot and I even applied to be a teacher trainer (even though I didn’t have the necessary qualifications) because I felt I could serve and gain much of the skills tohelp others. I joined a group of Sunday School teachers at the church for the skills I have learned.” Wilberforce loved working for Wellspring and especially the working conditions and leadership environment. “I love the relationship between the workers and the leaders of the organization”, he says. “Servant leadership is
exemplified there. He has now gained a broader range of experience. When we joined we had leadership training and training in school management.” My perspective of leadership changed from seeing a leader as a ‘big boss’ to realizing you can lead people well without putting a gap between you and them.” I came to know Wellspring as I was joining it. My attitude toward the education sector was negative. I did not like teaching. I did not think it was a good profession. This had a lot to do with my background where teachers were always poor and did not take their job seriously. They have the habit of strict discipline and harsh treatment of students. Wellspring changes my mind about being a teacher. I joined the group of SS teachers at the church from the skills I have learned. I attended classes and tried to follow and learn. Teaching is not a job but it is a calling to serve and help children. I began to love the profession. He saw the importance of the training teachers were receiving. It changed me a lot and I even applied to be a teacher trainer because he felt he could serve and gain much of those skills to help. When we joined we had leadership training and training in school management. I learnt so much and especially about servant leadership. I love the working conditions at Wellspring and the relationships between the workers and the leaders of the organization. Servant leadership is exemplified there. He has now gained a broader range of experience. His perspective of leadership changed from a leader as a “big boss (Bwana Mkubwa)” Now I realize you can lead people without putting a gap between you and them. We wrap up with a warm hug and then join a lunch celebration and going away party for Wilberforce. It feels more like a commissioning than a goodbye—and that is really what it is. We were privileged to invest in this man of faith for a season and now offer him our support and prayers as he moves on to the next adventure.
R-E-N-C-P… find out what it means to me by Jeff Komant Who doesn’t sing along with Aretha Franklin when they hear “R E S P E C T” on the radio? I always smile when I hear her voice confidently belt out “All I’m askin… is for a little respect”. If just remembering the song isn’t enough to make you smile you can listen to it here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FOUqQt3Kg0 Depending on the press you read, you may hear quite a bit of good about non-profit organizations, or quite a bit of bad. Having been directly involved within the sector for almost a decade I can safely say that I’ve seen quite a bit of both. At their best, NGO’s can be creative, focused and disciplined, making a great difference in the communities where they serve. At their worst they can be self-perpetuating, territorial, and self-interested businesses whose ambition seems to be chasing any source of funding. One thing that both good and bad NGO’s share in common is a reputation for using copious quantities of acronyms. RENCP is one of my favorites thus far. The Rwanda Education Non Governmental Organization Coordination Platform is a place for organizations like Wellspring to collaborate with, learn from, teach, and find partnership opportunities with others working in Rwanda’s education sector . Wellspring has been a part of the RENCP since its inception 2 years ago and currently serves as the CoChair and communications focal point of the 30 member-organization platform. It has been exciting to be part of creating an environment where NGOs can genuinely learn to appreciate each other and foster an attitude of partnership instead of competition. By voluntarily being part of RENCP working groups, NGOs in Rwanda’s education sector are able to learn about and from other agencies while trying to address issues such as Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD), Community Involvement, Special Needs Education (SNE), In service teacher training (INSET) etc. Not only can NGOs learn from and share with each other through the RENCP and its various working groups, there is also the opportunity to jointly feed into Education Sector policy dialogue at the national level through representation. Wellspring is currently providing leadership of the platform together with PLAN Rwanda, and we have regular dialogue with the development partners (such as the British Department for International Development (DFID), UNICEF and other International government donors, as well as the Ministry of Education senior management. For Wellspring, RENCP is an opportunity to enhance the R-E-S-P-E-C-T-ABILITY of NGOs in Rwanda’s education sector by calling all of us to be more accountable to one another as well as to the Ministry of Education. Through the RENCP we are jointly learning how to work more effectively to serve the people of Rwanda by enhancing access to a quality education that is capable of empowering the next generation of Rwandan leaders. We spend a lot of time and energy trying to foster collaboration and learning amongst NGO’s in Rwanda’s education sector, but it is an important way we can earn just a little…
The Wellspring Foundation for Education is working with Rwandans to empower a new generation of leaders through education that transforms lives. Since 2004, we have offered training to hundreds of teachers, established a Professional Development Center, developed a model Christian school called the Wellspring Academy, supported the growth of the Association of Committed Teachers (ACT) Rwanda, and launched an innovative new community-focused solution for school transformation called the School Development Program.
www.thewellspringfoundation.com
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