Joey and Allison teaching the ALARM staff. On the 25th and 26th our group trained the ALARM staff. The African Leadership and Reconciliation Ministries has a staff of a few dozen in Rwanda who seek to train church and community leaders on servant leadership while also promoting peaceful reconciliation of tensions lingering from the genocide.
Our group taught nine ALARM staff on leadership, conflict resolution, dealing with trauma, and other topics. On the first day, I facilitated a short discussion regarding leadership. Biblical leaders such as Jesus, Paul, Moses and Job inspired this group. They named a set of traits important to good leadership that was very similar to the set of traits named by the security forces.
On the second day, my role was to give an entrepreneurial perspective on turning strategic goals into action steps. I used books and articles from the Harvard Business School Library to help drive our discussion regarding their many strategic efforts. One of which is to make a school near a coffee plantation they own self-sustaining.
One of our trainers talked about how the ALARM staff—ever understaffed and over-worked—must each find time for take care of themselves. The staff chattered among themselves for a few seconds in response to this comment. Then they informed us that in their culture, “taking care of yourself” literally doesn’t translate to Rwandan. Theirs is a collectivist culture, where the group is placed ahead of the individual, so much so that they don’t even have language for what Americans would call “taking care of yourself:” things like meditation, exercise, and hobbies that can give people a break to stay energized and centered.
One other aspect of the African culture became evident: something we all began calling “Africa Time.” Rwandans, like many Africans, place relationships ahead of schedule. For example, if I’m Rwandan and I’m heading to a meeting, but I run into a friend on the way, I may feel obligated to talk to my friend for an hour or two, disregarding any commitment to punctuality in favor of valuing my friend.
This mentality—neither good nor bad—has led to a culture very lax about timetables. We would be scheduled to come back from lunch at 130p, and they might mosey in at 225p. On one hand, it fosters very strong relationships, and places people ahead of schedules. On the other hand, I could see how it would ultimately impact the efficiency of the entire economy. Not as much gets done.
Rwandans are ceremonial. The ALARM staff, who’d been our guides and our trainees and had become our friends, held a closing ceremony to our training. They clapped, danced and sang a song. Their leader, Ben, a lovable man with a perpetual grin and a high-pitched giggle, gave a speech. We all gathered in the middle of the room to pray together. They gave each of us a gift of traditional Rwandan garb, coffee, and tea.
The leader of the security forces, Raymond, came by that evening to take us out to dinner. He wanted to show his group’s appreciation for the training we had done for them earlier in the week. We ate a very good meal at a high-end Rwandan hotel, and then Raymond presented us with gifts. He had framed a group picture of our team with his staff and gave each of us a copy. He again expressed his gratitude toward our group and told us that Rwanda is now our home, and that his sector, Kinyinya, is now our home within our home. His sincere appreciation and kind words touched us all.
That evening we all packed and prepared for the next phase of our journey. In the morning, we had an early departure to Nairobi, Kenya.
Our group taught nine ALARM staff on leadership, conflict resolution, dealing with trauma, and other topics. On the first day, I facilitated a short discussion regarding leadership. Biblical leaders such as Jesus, Paul, Moses and Job inspired this group. They named a set of traits important to good leadership that was very similar to the set of traits named by the security forces.
On the second day, my role was to give an entrepreneurial perspective on turning strategic goals into action steps. I used books and articles from the Harvard Business School Library to help drive our discussion regarding their many strategic efforts. One of which is to make a school near a coffee plantation they own self-sustaining.
One of our trainers talked about how the ALARM staff—ever understaffed and over-worked—must each find time for take care of themselves. The staff chattered among themselves for a few seconds in response to this comment. Then they informed us that in their culture, “taking care of yourself” literally doesn’t translate to Rwandan. Theirs is a collectivist culture, where the group is placed ahead of the individual, so much so that they don’t even have language for what Americans would call “taking care of yourself:” things like meditation, exercise, and hobbies that can give people a break to stay energized and centered.
One other aspect of the African culture became evident: something we all began calling “Africa Time.” Rwandans, like many Africans, place relationships ahead of schedule. For example, if I’m Rwandan and I’m heading to a meeting, but I run into a friend on the way, I may feel obligated to talk to my friend for an hour or two, disregarding any commitment to punctuality in favor of valuing my friend.
This mentality—neither good nor bad—has led to a culture very lax about timetables. We would be scheduled to come back from lunch at 130p, and they might mosey in at 225p. On one hand, it fosters very strong relationships, and places people ahead of schedules. On the other hand, I could see how it would ultimately impact the efficiency of the entire economy. Not as much gets done.
Rwandans are ceremonial. The ALARM staff, who’d been our guides and our trainees and had become our friends, held a closing ceremony to our training. They clapped, danced and sang a song. Their leader, Ben, a lovable man with a perpetual grin and a high-pitched giggle, gave a speech. We all gathered in the middle of the room to pray together. They gave each of us a gift of traditional Rwandan garb, coffee, and tea.
The leader of the security forces, Raymond, came by that evening to take us out to dinner. He wanted to show his group’s appreciation for the training we had done for them earlier in the week. We ate a very good meal at a high-end Rwandan hotel, and then Raymond presented us with gifts. He had framed a group picture of our team with his staff and gave each of us a copy. He again expressed his gratitude toward our group and told us that Rwanda is now our home, and that his sector, Kinyinya, is now our home within our home. His sincere appreciation and kind words touched us all.
That evening we all packed and prepared for the next phase of our journey. In the morning, we had an early departure to Nairobi, Kenya.
Joey accepting a gift from Raymond on behalf of the Kinyinya Security Forces.
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