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(Submitted photo and cutline by Astra NG, communications specialist)

            A group of delegates traveled to Rwanda, Africa, from June 13 to 25 to exchange teaching crafts with African teachers through the People to People Citizen Ambassador Program and Shawnee State University’s Shannon Lawson, assistant professor of English and Humanities, attended the program. In the photo, the delegation group made up of English teachers from across the country are in Rwanda, Africa, with their tour guides.


(Article by Astra NG, communications specialist)
 

            Shawnee State University’s Shannon Lawson, assistant professor of English and Humanities, has returned from her 12-day People to People Citizen Ambassador Program trip in Rwanda, Africa.
            “I had an amazing time and I would recommend any faculty member or student to go on this trip because you learn so much and get a chance to see what Rwanda and Africa is actually like,” Lawson said.
            The delegates traveled all around Rwanda meeting the teachers and sharing their crafts of teaching with each other. They visited nurseries, primary and secondary schools, universities and orphanages.
            “The way we exchanged our teaching strategies was we would ask each other questions over a meal and just discuss the different pieces of literature and techniques we use in our classrooms,” Lawson said. “Although it was an informal setting, the African teachers were able to learn of our techniques and we learned of popular African literature.”
            The group also had the chance to see how Rwanda is rebuilding after the genocide. They visited millennium villages which are designed by the government to build new schools, industries and co-operations to help people make a living after the damages from the genocide. New Dawn Associates organized the group’s local visits.
            “We had a chance to go to an orphanage, Les Enfants de Dieu that houses 130 homeless boys. This man, Rafiki Callixte, supports and funds all of these boys on his own and teaches them to be independent, self-sufficient and obtain jobs when they leave the orphanage,” Lawson said. “He takes donations and the Web site,                   www.enfantsdedieu.org, tells more of what the orphanage is about.”
            Lawson hopes to be able to take a group of students to Africa to teach and let them experience African culture first-hand.