Sarah and Jarod Ring were Peace Corps volunteers who spent two years in Banda partnered with Kageno as Health and Community Development Volunteers. The article that follows is adapted from their speech at the 2012 Harambee.
Most of our work was health related. We taught things such as the importance of nutrition, a balanced diet, water sanitation, hygiene, family planning and HIV/AIDS awareness.
Brushing Teeth
When teaching subjects contradictory to cultural norms and behaviors, we fought an uphill battle. For example, teaching the importance of not having ten children when parents can only afford to care for two was difficult. Our hope was that one person would grab hold of something we said, make a life change and then educate others around them. This could allow a single change to work its way through the community impacting and touching one life at a time.
Who knows if we will ever see the fruits of our labor but we trust something we did will make a lasting impact. Mother Teresa once said, “We can do no great things, only small things with great love.”
Towards the end of our stay in Banda, I was walking down the mountain toward the village with Jean Pierre, a Rwandan I’d become very close to. I told him that I would be leaving soon and that I would miss him and his family very much. He said that I had been an example to him by how I treated my wife with respect and love. Very often in African culture, women are not treated well by their husbands. He proceeded to tell me he also now knows the importance of having one wife. Multiple wives are still a common practice in Rwanda even though polygamy is now prohibited. I stifled my laughter as he was being completely sincere, but I was thinking: Thank God. Who could handle more than one wife?
Jean Pierre and Jarod Jean Pierre’s statement was probably the single best compliment I received during my time in Banda, to know that the way in which I lived my life and treated my wife left a lasting impact on him.
Jean Pierre and Jarod
My father once said, “There is no change if there is no change.” We can talk all we want, but until we let our passion for humanity and justice move us to action, things will simply remain the same. If you don’t like it that nearly 25,000 people die each day from hunger and hunger-related illnesses—feed somebody. If you don’t like it that there are naked and dirty children begging in streets around the world—clothe and bathe a child. If you can’t do it yourself, then support an organization, such as Kageno, that is doing these things and so much more.
The truth is that we have the means, the resources, and the capacity to be the change. When we stop talking and start acting, stop pointing fingers and start loving and serving, stop turning a deaf ear and start opening a passionate heart, then the world will experience a change it has been waiting on for a long time. It is up to us to make those changes so that we can truly be the change we want to see in the world.
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