Art and other practical skills

It's the time of year when students in Senior 5 at ASYV and students at the vocational school down the road are thinking about what and where they want to be when they grow up.

Mark, the student who is living in Rubona, originally from Kigali, is excited about starting his internship in catering. He didn't quite make it into the Serena, the coveted fancy shmantzy hotel that expats go to all over the developing world because they can afford to stay there, or because they want to drink a beer near the pool and feel like they're in LA. He is starting an internship at a smaller hotel in Kigali, where he will be able to get experience in the hotel business outside of the kitchen, something that might not have been the case at Serena.

Florence, who is studying masonry at the same VTC, and who is sort of friends with Mark, is working hard to pay her school fees. She worked in the VTC's kiosk three weeks during the break, and made a sad 10,000 francs (less than $20). Florence walks over ten kilometers a day to study at the VTC, and she also walked this to work during the vacation. The kiosk, during the vacation, was frequented by elementary school students whose parents pay for them to get extra classes taught by teachers. Summer school. I drank some tea with her, and politely finished the whole cup, despite the insane amount of sugar she, like all Rwandans, put in their tea. How do they make all the sugar melt? Isn't there some limit to the percentage of sugar in the water that will still dissolve? This super-sugary taste is fine in spicy Masala tea, but that hasn't quite made it to the rural areas, though is common is swankier places in Kigali. Like in Serena. After the first sip of Florence's tea I exclaimed, "Wow! A lot of sugar!" and she nodded and said, "Thankyou."

There are three students at ASYV who want to become artists and they are improving freakishly fast in their skills. One young student, Jacky, has such a creative writing and art mind, that I am just blown away whenever she comes up with anything new. She has never been the best at realistic art, but what she comes up with is so insanely creative and interesting and also just makes sense - the way that really good art does. I can't really write about it, so I will put up some of her art and writing before I leave Rwanda. You can see one already on this post, but there are more to come.

The other two students are very good at realistic drawing and are also creative. Interestingly, they are working as a team.

They don't sign their art with their personal signatures, but just write "N.C." I am not quite sure what I feel about this. It intuitively feels wrong - I can't put a finger on why, though. I was always taught that what you draw is your own, that the whole point of a good piece is that it expresses something very personal that no other human can quite express, but that everyone else is supposed to somehow understand. But I suppose two people can work together. Rwanda is full of co-ops, and so working with another artist makes sense, a little - though the art galleries in Kigali still exhibit individual signatures. I can't think of anything wrong with the idea, so power to them. They may get more exposure, because combined they can produce more pieces, and they do bring different skills, both in the art itself and in the marketing. You can see their artwork at http://ncdreams.multiply.com/ There is a bit to much plagiarism in the text for my taste - you can copy and past into google and see for yourself. But the text is nothing special compared to what they drew, so have a look and enjoy.