In many ways, UT sophomore Juliet Carrillo is a walking contradiction. At a towering 4’11, she mentions that even automated doors rarely detect her presence. However, the power and pace at which she walks can part any collegiate crowd. Her bed, topped with various stuffed animals, is perfectly made while her desk reeks havoc on the left side of her room. Perhaps the most striking contradiction in her dorm is the bright turquoise blue flag that hangs on a very dull dormitory wall. A flag that not even the most qualified student in an 8th grade geography class could recognize. The country to which the flag belongs is much like Juliet herself; small but strong, unassuming but an anomaly in every way.
The country of Rwanda is dwarfed in size by it’s two very big, neighboring African countries of Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The Rwandan Orphanage, Rafiki, where Juliet has been working ever since she was 15, is a little easier to find; the coordinates are permanently inked on her side.
“2° 12′ 18.0000” S 30° 8′ 42.0000” E”
When asked the first question about the Rafiki Orphanage (“How does the orphanage run?”), Juliet’s words per minute go from ten to sixty in two seconds. There are around ten cottages, ten kids per each cottage, ten Mamas (women who look after the children, almost like a hybrid between a motherly figure and a teacher). There are three meals a day and total of ten Rafiki Orphanages spanning over Africa. The curriculum includes all the basics like math, grammar, English, science, and, to my surprise, art.
“Art?” I ask. Juliet smiles as if the question comes up all the time.
“You don’t want them to just get the basics. The kids, and the entire country as a whole, are untapped. Why would I give them the basics when there is potential for so much more?”
Rwanda’s potential is continually proving itself on the world front. This past July, the UN Human Development report recorded that Rwanda’s economy grew faster than any other African nation between 2010 and 2013. The Rwandan parliament is comprised of nearly 50% women, meaning the Rwandan Government has the highest female representation of any country in the world. And if Rafiki (or Juliet) has anything to say about it, Rwanda will continue to break ground. According to Juliet, the main concern of the Rafiki Organization is to keep the Rwandan orphanage inherently Rwandan.
“The teachers are Rwandan, the cooks, the builders. It’s not just a group of Americans coming in and having their own way.”
In an effort to keep the Rafiki kids in Rwanda, once they finish their schooling, Rafiki sends them wherever they want to go. Teaching school, University, they call it and Rafiki does everything they can to get them there.
“[Rafiki is] not just going to let them drop off their Radar.”
Neither will Juliet. She tells me a story about Sam. Like many kids in the orphanage, Sam was severely abused before the organization took him in. He is quiet, often goes to the restroom during class and falls behind in the majority of his courses.
“But he is sweet,” She says. “So sweet.”
Sam is a runner, she tells me. He’s very good at running. Alice, a girl just a little older than Sam, wants to be a ballerina, and Faustin? A gymnast. She talks to me about the street boys she met. Between the ages of ten and seventeen, these boys live, eat and sleep on the street. A organization, African New Life, in the country’s capital provides them with meals while missionaries, like Juliet, keep them company.
“It was so funny,” She says fondly. “They were just like any other boys, they all wanted to talk to the girl in the room.”
The street boys teased each other in front of Juliet, one boy telling Juliet that the other was a janitor (“He cleans here! He cleans here!”).
“As Americans, we see Africans with their hands outstretched…it’s a world so stereotyped.” However, she tells me that these street boys’ hands were not begging, but rather throwing up peace signs at every chance they got.
“That’s how I knew [the street boys] weren’t my Rafiki kids. They don’t know hand signs like that.” She laughs.
Just like Juliet, Rwanda is comprised of paradoxes. It is filled with poverty but serves as a role model for even the most developed countries. It’s small size has big potential and it’s past, plagued by a horrific genocide, is in stark contrast to Africa’s brightest future. When asked what her greatest struggle was when going to Rwanda, Juliet said it is coming to terms with the fact that she can’t save everyone.
“I can’t fix every hole, but I can make a difference in one life.”
But to Sam, or Alice, or to Faustin, and to Juliet, that one life is the only difference that matters.
Juliet has kept two blogs during her visits to Rwanda. They are linked here:
2013: http://missionrwanda2013.wordpress.com
2014: http://missionrwanda2014.blogspot.com
If you are interested in sponsoring a child in Rafiki, the link can be found here