March 2012

One Rainy Day by Kirsten Lake

As we enter March the rains in Rwanda begin again after the hot, dry months of December and January. Rain is a blessing in Africa; a sign that there will be enough water and hope of a good harvest. It brings refreshing to the dry and dusty soil of Rwanda, as well as her people.

One morning as we were driving out to Sha Primary School with Jeanne and Wellars, our Parent Teacher Committe (PTC) trainers, the first rain clouds of the season were rolling in. The darkening sky signalled the impending thunderstorm. We arrived at Sha just as the first drops of rain began falling on the dry ground. The heavens opened and the thunderstorm began; starting the new rains, the first since December.

The smell of months of dust settled as the sound of heavy rainfall pounded on the tin roof. The waiting game had begun! Sha’s teachers joked that Wellspring must have brought this blessing of rain as we waited for the storm to pass so parents could make their way to school.

By the time the rain had reduced to a drizzle we had enough parents gathered to begin the meeting. The PTC leaders began to teach the material about fruitful and unfruitful communities and the importance of raising our children in a holistic and positive environment. As parents began to realise the different areas of brokenness or even negativity that were present in their homes and community they began to share their need for change. They started to articulate a desire to have positive and fruitful communities in which their children can thrive.

Perhaps Wellspring cannot take the credit for bringing the blessing of rain but we can promise to bring the blessing of refreshing truth. This truth brings life to dry places in these school communities, refreshing them with transforming knowledge, hope and a future.

About the School Development ProgramSchool Development is an innovative approach to school improvement crafted in response to the needs of the Rwandan education sector. Our training team walks alongside entire school communities—school leaders, teachers, parents, and children—to bring sustainable transformation and measurable results.

Wellspring is currently working is 41 Rwandan public schools in Gasabo district, impacting over 50,000 children. We are improving school quality and teacher motivation through training in servant leadership, peace and reconciliation, quality education, worldview, parenting, and the integration of values into the curriculum.

by Richard TaylorCanadian businessman Brad Malchuk was exuberant as our van wound its way up a dusty dirt road to Gasabo Primary School. The one hour trip to this hilltop school—one of forty schools currently partnering with The Wellspring Foundation—was full of scenic vistas and dynamic rural life.

Brad and his family—including wife Rene, daughters Rachel and Brittanny, and brother Terry—came to Rwanda as part of a unique Donor Insight trip for Canadian business people. The trip was run in partnership with Opportunity International Canada (majority stakeholders in Rwanda’s leading microfinance institution) and on this particular day we were taking a busload of business people to see Wellspring’s work firsthand.

We entered the gates of Gasabo Primary and were greeted by hundreds of children singing and dancing. I was as surprised as anyone. We had not arranged this in advance. Cultural barriers dissipated. Our Canadian guests joined in and soaked in their unadulterated joy, the joy of children unaffected by their long walk to a small school dealing with seemingly overwhelming circumstance.

I would much ratherspend a day like this than visit

Kruger National Park

The tone for the day was set. Teachers at Gasabo explained that their entire attitude towards teaching and success in the classroom had changed through working together with Wellspring. This was only partly true. It was equally true that the school leadership and staff had chosen to take ownership for their school community and the children entrusted to them. Their clear success and improvement in a short time frame was their own.

The day was particularly sweet for Brad Malchuk because his company—Fastik Label and Supply—had invested thousands of dollars in partnership with Wellspring, to empower a new generation of Rwandan leaders. He was witnessing the difference that investment was making for hundreds of children at school like Gasabo. He was forming his own Rwandan story to take back to his family, friends, and employees—a story that was changing his life. And he realized that even a day in the world’s best game park could not compare to that.

I would much ratherspend a day like this than visit

Kruger National Park

By Richard TaylorWhen was the last time two non profit organizations shared their donors?

Let’s face it. You would probably have more success getting the government to admit it was wrong, or convincing banks to share their profits, than getting two non profits to work together in fundraising. It just doesn’t make sense.

That’s how I used to think too, until I experienced a joint donor trip in which two organizations openly encouraged their donors to support each other, and were strengthened in the process. The Wellspring Foundation was one of those organizations.

In February, The Wellspring Foundation partnered with Opportunity International Canada and hosted a joint donor insight trip to Rwanda. Canadian business people who supported both organizations were invited to see Rwanda for themselves and participate in the first Made in Rwanda Leadership Summit.

Wellspring and Opportunity Canada worked together with local partners to expose our donors to Rwanda’s incredible story, show them our work on the ground, and engage meaningfully with Rwandan business people.

The two organizations formed one team to pull off the trip—with the support of ten private Canadian Foundations from the Stronger Together initiative—and the joint effort paid great dividends.The donors weren’t the only ones who benefited. It was so enriching for me personally to learn more about Urwego Opportunity Bank and its incredible impact on the lives of 120,000+ clients who are working their way out of poverty. There were so many hopeful stories and Urwego’s CEO, Jeffery Lee, is an inspiring man who is truly Christ-centered and client-focused.

At the final team dinner I was blown away when Doris Olafsen from Opportunity Canada used half of her final appeal to encourage support for The Wellspring Foundation. She was constantly encouraging our team on the ground and openly enthusiastic about our work.

This is not like any donor strategy I have read about. Aren’t organizations supposed to distinguish themselves from “the competition” and “protect their donors”? Made in Rwanda showed clearly that there is a better way, that we have much to learn from each other, and that donors appreciate it when we treat them like adults and trust them to make their own decisions... it confirmed for Wellspring and Opportunity that we truly are...stronger together!

Made in Rwanda Inisght Trip participant Betty Dahl with our Richard Taylor and

Opportunity International Canada’s Executive Vice President Doris Olafsen

Communities have a choice between scarcity and abundance. Their leaders have a key role in helping them make this choice. This series of blog entries has argued that the challenging path of abundance brings the rich reward of a Vibrant School Community with the capability to provide long term sustained success for its students.

For me, the word vibrant instantly produces the image of an alive, healthy, and energized community with confidence to overcome the challenges it faces. Mathie & Cunningham (2008) say “the Vibrant Community is the engine of its own success and has overcome its dependence on its external environ-ment.”

The Abundant Leader does not create the community. It already exists. But the Abundant Leader can work with the community to help them identify the assets and create the bonds, associations, and di-rection that will lead to success. So how does the Abundant Leader know when a more Vibrant School Community is actually being achieved? It will demonstrate many of the following characteristics:

1. The Community has Collective Ownership for its own Future.Collective ownership is how change is sustained. A sign of a Vibrant School Community is that a vast majority of individuals have chosen to put their time, effort, and energy towards a cause bigger than themselves.

2. Parents & Guardians have assumed Primary Responsibility for their Children“Today it is clear,” say McKnight & Block (2010), “that the most effective local communities have re-claimed their youth and assumed primary responsibility for their upbringing. The research on this point is decisive. Where there are “thick” community connections, both child development and school perfor-mance improve (McKnight &Block, p. 21).” In the Rwandan context, this means recognizing that parents have primary responsibility for their children, and this responsibility includes building thick community connections in their education and upbringing, together with teachers and other community members.

3. Education is a Sacred Obligation for Service.Education in the African (and Rwandan) context is often seen as a golden ticket to escape poverty and lead a better life. This seems reasonable. The problem is that too often the brightest and best leave their community, their country, and even their continent, depriving the very community that sacrificed for their success, and needs them most, of the fruits of their investment. EF Schumacher puts it this way: “Is education to be a “passport to privilege” or is it something which people take upon themselves like a monastic vow, a sacred obligation to serve the people (p. 219)?” Vibrant School Communities produce students who recognize their education provides them with a sacred obligation for service.

4. Teachers work Collaboratively as a Team and Share Best Practices.Motivated and committed teachers are absolutely essential to a Vibrant School Community. In many Rwandan schools, teachers are only responsible for the results in their own classroom. Best practices are seldom shared and other teachers are often seen as potential rivals for promotion or recognition. A Vibrant School Community sees teachers as a professional learning community with an ultimate com-mitment not to personal success, but to collective success, and especially to students and their learn-ing.

5. Community Members have an Abundance Mentality.A direct result of bringing community members together in order to discover shared values, create a common vision, and identify and leverage community assets is helping make an abundance mentality the default switch whenever the community has challenges it needs to overcome. If these expressions dominate community discussion about its future there is a good indication that an abundance mental-ity is taking root. This is so important to a Vibrant School Community because it means the community (and not just the leader) has taken ownership over its own development.

6. There is a Commitment to Continuous ImprovementIn a Vibrant School Community, there is always room for improvement, always a motivation to become more effective. “A commitment to continuous improvement,” say DuFour and Eaker (1998), “is evident in an environment in which innovation and experimentation are viewed not as tasks to accomplish or projects to complete, but as ways of conducting day-to-day business, forever (p. 28).”

7. The School Community is Characterised by Thick Bonds and High Trust.Vibrant School Communities are characterised by a high level of trust. People feel safe with one an-other and this makes it easier to work together. According to Covey (2006),high trust results in high col-laboration, effortless communication, positive and transparent relationships, and strong engagement, confidence, and loyalty (p. 24). In this environment, the truth is able to be spoken in love. Hurt still hap-pens in a Vibrant School Community, but the thick bonds, commitment to forgiveness, and high level of trust make sure hurt does not stick itself to the heart of the community permanently.

The Wellspring Foundation to start using Abundant Leadership in its own approach to leadership de-velopment and school transformation, in hopes the leaders and educators we work alongside will increasingly embrace it as their own. Leadership proves to make a difference in the 40+ schools where Wellspring currently works, it may influence others within the public and private sector to embrace it as well. The ideas presented here will hopefully contribute to an ongoing conversation about leadership in Rwandan schools.

One thing is for certain: Transformation and lasting change in Rwandan schools cannot come primarily through outside intervention. It will not be fuelled by big infrastructure programs or millions of dollars in foreign aid. No fancy program or well devised strategy or formula can take the place of a visionary school leader and an empowered community with strong bonds and a compelling vision to transform their circumstances.

There really can be a day when educators across Rwanda embrace abundance and no longer define themselves by their circumstances. Think about little Pauline and the dreams she has for her future, dreams that seem outsized for a girl from such a challenging and humble background. Consider Fred Buyinza and his growing band of Abundant Leaders who are permeating schools across the country. Think about Dr. Nicholas Hitimana and his fellow Rwandans who turned a dream for a different kind ofschool into a reality. If we look hard enough we can find individuals in every school community who reject scarcity and embrace abundance. All we really need to do is work alongside them to help their abundance spread.

The Radical Shift from Scarcity to Abundance —

Part

4 of

4

By Richard Taylor

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.

Registration Open!$180 Earlybird until August 3rd

www.lake2lake.org

www.thewellspringfoundation.com

Wellspring is a Christian development organization working with Rwandans to empower a new generation of leaders through an education that transforms lives.

We believe education is a nation’s greatest resource, teachers are like gold to a nation, and that true empowerment requires far more than teaching people to fish. It means helping them gain the creativity, principles, and capability necessary to positively impact their own communities and adapt to a changing world.