Power ON/OFF: 2008 – 2017
POWER ON/OFF 2017: Felicien Ntahinyurwa and Liliane Akayezu Mahirwe
Auch in diesem Jahr gelang es uns wieder mit Unterstützung von ENGAGEMENT GLOBAL, zwei ruandische Studierende nach Deutschland einzuladen. Wir erlebten Felicien und Liliane als äußerst aufgeschlossene und wissbegierige Gäste, so dass es auch für uns eine große Freude war, ihnen verschiedene Aspekte des Lebens in einem Industrieland wie Deutschland zu zeigen. Bei ihren Vorträgen über das Leben in Ruanda, die sie an fünf verschiedenen Schulen für Schüler und an einem Studienseminar für Referendare hielten, nahmen auch wir estaunt zur Kenntnis, wie sehr sich Ruanda, vor allem in den Städten, in den letzten Jahren gewandelt hat. Vielen Dank, Felicien und Liliane, für diesen spannenden Austausch und die schöne gemeinsame Zeit!
We participated in the POWER ON/OFF project in 2017. We kindly appreciate the work of the organizing committee and the funders. We like the idea of the project to invite Rwandan university students who participate in the “Rwanda Village Concept Project” to Germany so that they can get to know many aspects lif in Germany. On the same time, we had the possilibty to give presentations about life in Rwanda to broaden the ideas German school children have about “Africa”. We had a wonderful stay of 40 days in which we participated in many activities such as visits of historical sites in Germany and internships in some hospitals and medical ambulances (as we are both medical students). We also experienced social integration into the families we stayed with. All of those activities contributed a lot not only to improving our organization and Rwandan community in turn but also to our professional growth of our career and openness to cultural differences.
POWER ON/OFF 2015: Eric Rucogoza und Sandrine Benimana
In diesem Jahr konnten uns danke aufgestockter Mittel des Aktionsgruppenprogramms erstmals zwei Studierende aus Ruanda gleichzeitig besuchen. Sandrine und Eric lebten sich schnell in Deutschland ein und hielten spannende Vorträge an vier Schulen, einem Jugendzentrum und einer Universität. Außerdem veranstalteten sie eine Ruanda-Party, bei der sie die Gäste mit einem Buffet von typischen ruandischen Speisen und Musik und Tänzen aus Ruanda begeisterten. Daneben hatten Sie die Möglichkeit, Verwandte und Freunde in Belgien, Paris, Freiburg und Berlin zu besuchen und – entsprechend ihres Studienfachs Pharmazie – in Apotheken und pharmazeutischen Abteilungen der Universität Heidelberg und Mainz zu hospitieren. Wir danken Eric und Sandrine für die bereichernde gemeinsame Zeit!
Participating in the project Power ON/OFF in Germany was the best opportunity of experiencing a totally different life from what I had been living I ever had till now. I not only had opportunity of sharing my life and my commitment to social justice and development through Rwanda Village Concept Project- RVCP in a developing country like Rwanda but also learn a lot from the people I met in Germany, a greatly developed country. I was struck on the first day on how hard people were working and rushing in everything in order not to lose time, what I found was the basis of the great development I saw. Secondly, I was overwhelmed by the friendly spirit and a willing need to help that I found from people I met in Germany, a fact that I didn’t expect to meet there. Lastly, I had opportunity of meeting students from different schools we visited, different universities and different families with whom we shared different opinions on how society like ours can be developed. However, I regretfully realized a widespread misconception on the life in Africa, where everything is thought as being horrible. I really praise the idea behind the Power ON/OFF project and wish it could happen so often as it helps change that conception and increase the awareness about Rwanda and Africa in general. Apart from that, we had love, we had fun and we had seasons in the sun as sang the West Life. Danke schön!
Eric Rucogoza
Through the project Power ON/OFF I went to Germany, it was a first and amazing experience and memorable time. I conducted educative presentations both in high schools and universities about life in Rwanda and in Africa as well and I have also been involved into activities related to my profession. Power ON/OFF opened my eyes. I realized how busy Germans are, working and rushing, which is one of the reasons of their growing economy. I also saw the importance of diversity. I had the chance to experience things different to what I was accustomed to and I learnt to respect and appreciate others ideas. During my stay in Germany I also realized that children and youths have a one-sided image of Africa and as well of Rwanda: deserts, lions, poverty and wars. As the Nigerian novelist Chimamanda says: “The single story creates stereotypes and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story “. Power ON/OFF is a great project to address this issue and to show students another image of Africa by our testimony and by sharing our life with them.
Sandrine Benimana
POWER ON/OFF 2013: Emmanuel Muhire Karake
Im Jahr 2013 durften wir Emmanuel Muhire Karake nach Deutschland einladen. Der damals 24-jährige Agrarwissenschaftsstudent hielt Unterrichtseinheiten an verschiedenen Schulen und begeisterte die Schüler durch seine herzliche Art. Wir freuen uns, dass die Teilnahme an POWER ON/OFF ein so wichtiger Impuls für seinen weiteren Werdegang war und wünschen ihm viel Erfolg bei seinem Traum, selbstständiger Unternehmer zu werden!
” The project taught me to think big and change my mind, increased my confidence and reduced my fears to take action and to express my abilities and potentials. I learend to accept new technologie and to educate myself by new experiences and, most importantly, to plan my day the day before and to plan a week the week before. That change was the main driver for my career development and for becoming successful, since all those aspects are needed at the labor market. When the project ended up, I returned back home and graduated from school two months later. From then, I was hired by a multinational research organization and collecting and analyzing data for different developmental research topics. Few months later, I was recruited to work for a government project of farmer promoters which fit directly my educational background as well as experience gained from the German farmers. I worked there effectively building capacity of small holder farmers on adopting improved agricultural techniques. By now I returned to a multinational company doing inspections and quality checks for goods that are being shipped to Rwanda, coordinating quality. I reached all this not only because I was a good student at school, but also because of the lessons learnt during my participation in POWER ON/OFF.
I consider being participant in the project a life time opportunity for youth in developing countries“
Emmanuel Muhire Karake
POWER ON/OFF 2010: Alphonse Karenzi
Im Jahr 2010 besuchte uns Alphonse Karenzi. Der damals 22-jährige studierte “Stadtentwicklung” und beeindruckte uns tief durch sein soziales Engagement in seinem Heimatland und durch den Enthusiasmus, mit dem er Schülern aller Altersklassen von seinem Land berichtete. Nach seiner Rückkehr nach Rwanda setzte er sein soziales Engagement mit noch größerem Einsatz fort. So gewann er im Jahr 2011 den “Connection4Change World Bank Award” mit einem Projekt zur Implementierung effizienterer Kochstellen zum Kampf gegen die Entwaldung. Im Jahr 2012 repräsentierte er Ruanda während des UNESCO WORLD SUMMIT in Paris mit einem Projekt zur Integration ruandischer Jugendlicher. Aktuell arbeitet er in dem Projekt “Bye-Bye Street” mit dem Ziel, Straßenkindern und Bettlerinnen eine Zukunftsperspektive zu schaffen. Wir wünschen Dir, Alphonse, alles Gute für deine persönliche Zukunft und deine Projekte!
Mehr lesen: Zeitungsartikel zu Power ON/OFF
“Coming to Germany and participating in Power On/Off enabled me to experience a completely different
side of life and compare both my country/community and the German one in terms of social and economic development.
When I got back to Rwanda, I could realize and enjoy different positive things about my country that
I hadn’t seen before, including nature and greener landscape, as well as the social connection between Rwandans.
I also became more responsible and resourceful concerning my own projects for community development, as I realised how far behind my community is in terms of development compared to what I had seen in Germany. Coming back to Rwanda I registered my NGO called “Sustaining Rwanda youth organization” and designed and implemented different social projects”
Alphonse Karenzi
POWER ON/OFF 2008: Ephrem Rukundo
Unser erster Gast im Jahr 2008 war Ephrem Rukundo. Der damals 28-jährige Agrarwissenschaftsstudent beeindruckte die Schüler einer Grund- und Hauptschule mit seinen anschaulichen Schilderungen über sein Leben in Ruanda. Zudem hielt er Vorträge bei Versammlungen der IPPNW, an der Universität Birkenfeld im Studiengang “Material Flow Management”, an der Hochschule für Gestaltung in Karlsruhe sowie im “Club Voltaire” in Frankfurt. Mittlerweile lebt und arbeitet Ephrem Rukundo in den USA.
