Global Grassroots 2011 Year-End Magazine Global Grassroots 2011 Year-End Magazine | Page 12

A Teaching Moment*

Evariste Ngarukiye sees all of life as a teaching moment. Often, in the thick of a private discussion, he’ll turn and project his voice to Community Vocational Training School (CVTS) students sewing nearby. “We are talking about fundraising strategies,” he will say. “Let me explain to all of you why this is important.”

Evariste, founder of CVTS, has strong beliefs about education and its goals. He does not study in order to land a good job. He sees learning as a process of gathering “information I can give to different peoples and help them in their life.”

Evariste shines most when working with groups or lecturing to a large audience. But part of the reason he loves public lectures, he says, is that “[after] I explain [to] them publicly, all of them come later to ask me [about] what they didn’t understand well.” Local authorities often ask Evariste to give workshops on HIV/AIDs and family planning during assembly meetings. “Then, all people enjoy to listen,” Evariste says. He leans forward to demonstrate, his hands cupped behind his ears. “It is like the first information they understand.”

photo by Laya Madsen

photo by Gretchen Wallace

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Global Grassroots 2011