July 7, 2009

July 7, 2009

Well, I began the day with Jesse, who drove me and Ramsey to the RAPP (Rwandans Allied for Peace and Progress) office to meet with Laura Hanson and Rosalia to begin our orientations. We’re basically interns here for the next two weeks, Ramsey working with Rwanda Knits and microfinancing, and myself working with Rosalia, Philippe, and Matthew (per Yale University) on their newest theatre project. The auditions are at 2.00 today, but I will be missing them, because of—surprise, surprise—the government!

Yesterday, we were supposed to meet with the Human Rights Commission after LIPRODHOR, but the HRC, being government-run, left Silas hanging for a while before flaking out and rescheduling for today at 2.45. We’ll see how that goes. I’ll be very unhappy if the same happens again, as I’d really like to be at the auditions, and it’s really not fair to Silas at all.

Apparently, we’re not sure whether or not we’re going to have a script at all for this show. In the past, they’ve not been used, and most plays have been improvised off of a set plot. Matthew and I were under the impression that at least parts of this script would be written, though we do not know who would be doing the writing, as neither of us speak Kinyarwanda.

In general, I would agree with the power of good improvisation. In my experience, I have learned the most about my characters in improv exercises (Shout out to Lisa Canto and Tammy Harper!) than anything else. This seems to be because pressure is off (lack of audience) as well as the fact that you can really ease into character and learn what they would do in certain situations.

Anyway, I guess they’ve made good use of forum theatre in the past, and plan to incorporate audience participation and music into this show, as well. They’re still working on the logistics. The show’s target groups are barmaids, moto drivers, domestic workers, and their bosses. It tackles the difficult subjects of family planning, HIV/AIDS, and sexual favours. In fact, I’m writing now, because I’m in the back of a classroom where Rosalia is teaching about HIV/AIDS and family planning. She is such a beautiful, vibrant teacher who simply commands the attention of the whole room when she speaks. The children, who are in their late teens, I think, really listen to her, speak back, and laugh when appropriate. You can see her love for teaching as she looks into everyone’s eyes when she speaks, gestures, and walks around the classroom. Even though I do not understand the language, I can feel her passion and power, and very much enjoy watching her do her thing. She says she doesn’t want to teach, but I’m not so sure.

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So we met with this woman, Hope, from the Human Rights Commission, and she was pretty much the most uninformed commissioner I’ve ever met. First, she said the HRC is not government run and that their only job is to “advise” the lawmakers, and inform them of human rights law—then the lawmakers can do what they wish with the info.

We asked about the phone tapping law passed in December, and she didn’t know, we asked her about the law concerning AIDS testing and mandatory sterilization of the mentally handicapped and she didn’t know, we asked about the law in the works to criminalize homosexuality and she didn’t know. Seems to me like the HRC is just a façade, used so the world thinks they’re moving forward.

Government run or not? You tell me.

In Peace,

Mac