by Jeremy Solomons | 17 Aug 2023 | Africa, Educators' Catalog, Health and Wellness, Personal Reflections, Religion
We carry complicated identities inside us. But others see only the outside and they carry their own biases. That can result in privilege or prejudice. A man holds a placard. Photo illustration by News Decoder. This article was produced exclusively for News Decoder’s...
The way we perceive others and ourselves shapes our lived experiences and may result in privilege or prejudice. In this article, correspondent Jeremy Solomons reflects on his own identity as a Jewish man who grew up in England with Lebanese and Persian heritage.
Exercise: Read the article with your class. Then, introduce the Big 8 Identities as a framework for understanding the complexities of identity. Independently, students should identify their Big 8, then discuss the implications of these identities in small groups of three or four. Which elements of your students’ “Big 8” may grant them privilege or subject them to prejudice? How might this change given various cultural contexts? Note: A level of trust and comfort is required for this activity to run effectively.
by Aline Itege | 1 Dec 2022 | Education, Health and Wellness, Kepler, Personal Reflections, Student Posts, Youth Voices
When the language of instruction in Rwanda shifted from French to English, I stumbled academically. My father taught me to ask for help when in a jam. The author with her father in Kigali, Rwanda, in 2008. “That was my first time in Kigali. My father had...
by Vedaste Nsengiyumva | 21 Jan 2022 | Africa, Culture, Kepler, Personal Reflections
People living in cities can have trouble valuing peasants from the countryside. But not all that is nice is made in cities! We depend on each other. Peasants carrying ‘matokes,’ a type of banana, to Kayonza market in eastern Rwanda (all photos by Vedaste...
by Jean Bosco Sibomana | 5 Nov 2021 | Africa, Culture, Kepler, Personal Reflections
“Working hard should matter. Do not be afraid of hardships.” A Rwandan reflects on being challenged and on change. (Photo by: SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY via AP Images) Below is a poem by Jean Bosco Sibomana, who works at News Decoder partner Kepler in Rwanda....
by Ange Theonastine Ashimwe | 3 Nov 2021 | Africa, Culture, Educators' Catalog, Kepler, Personal Reflections, Student Posts, Youth Voices
We are made of molecules, stardust and comets — small matter. I am 21, and I just want to love and be loved — because love is all there is. (Photo collage courtesy of Ange Theonastine Ashimwe) 1. I guess, now, I am twenty-one, and I still wonder what it means to be...
In many parts of the world, turning 21 years old is a milestone that signals a transition into adulthood. For Ange Theonastine Ashimwe, a student at Kepler in Rwanda, 21 is a “green-light number.” In her prose poem, she uses memory and metaphor to reflect on her lived experiences, contemplate our smallness in the universe and consider how much more there still is to learn.
Exercise: Ask students to reflect on a birthday that felt significant. What was happening in their lives? Why did it feel like a milestone? Then make a creative piece that explores those feelings.
