When I leave here to go back to Israel on Wednesday, what in the Village will change? Who will miss me? Will the kitchen workers have to work harder? I think for a little while people will notice that our group of fourteen is no longer at Agahozo-Shalom, but what long-lasting impact have we made?
As a group we ask ourselves the question “are we making a difference” all the time, and debate it ferociously. It can be tough finding something that the Village really needs, especially as a one month volunteer.
Many social justice and government aid programs such as Peace Core and USAID are widely criticized for doing more bad then good to developing countries, and often use foreign aid as a way to influence power.
This really is a legitimate problem. You can’t just throw yourself into a society without any prior knowledge, and expect to save the world. I would say this mostly doesn’t apply to my group, because we had countless meetings to prepare for the trip, in which we learned about culture, language, mannerisms, etiquette etc. Nonetheless there is a culture barrier, which can be challenging.
This week I have been peeling, chopping, and cutting hundreds of vegetables as part of my volunteering in the kitchen. This can be hard but also fun work. I don’t know if peeling bananas is going to help send a Rwandan kid to college, but the mere effort of being in Rwanda and making people food does have something special about it. We may not have built a school or adopted a child to bring back to Israel, but we did find great meaning in the little things.
peel away my friends! The kitchen staff is very nice.
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