By Matthew Matola | Grant Writer
We recently shared the wonderful news of our Enrichment Year's arrival at Agahozo-Shalom. In the weeks and months that followed, our Enrichment Year students have continued to bond, building the relationships that breathe life into ASYV. In celebration of those relationships and their newfound family, our Enrichment Year students recently came together to name their grade and their student families. We hope you enjoy this brief report on our students' naming ceremony, which, in the words of our Enrichment Year Coordinator, spoke to "who we are as a family, and what it means to be a family.”
Each of our grades chooses a Kinyarwanda word to represent itself, with past grade names including Urumuli (Light), Icyizere (Hope), and Imena (Bravery). These names speak to our students’ highest ideals and give them a shared sense of pride in their identity and community. Recently, we invited our Enrichment Year students to carry on this tradition by choosing a name for their own grade. Every student was welcome to participate, with the most popular suggestions being Ishyaka (Enthusiasm/Determination) and Inganji (Victory). Once a name was chosen, they organized a special Village Time to share their decision with the community. Including music, dance, and modeling, this Village Time concluded with the naming ceremony. Comparable to a traditional Rwandan naming ceremony, or Kwita Izina, the ceremony began with some of our Enrichment Year students, the “children,” sharing a meal on stage while the “parents,” Village staff members, sat apart chatting and drinking banana juice. After the kids had finished eating, they lined up and began proposing names for the new grade, beginning their suggestions with the phrase, “I name this child…”. When they were done, the “parents” consulted with our Enrichment Year’s Mr. and Ms. Core Values, who played the part of our students’ “older siblings,” and announced that a name had been chosen – Ishyaka! Now known as Ishyaka Grade, our Enrichment Year students have decided who they are and what they will strive to represent at ASYV and beyond – determination and enthusiasm.
In addition to their grade name, our Enrichment Year students also chose names for their student families. Each of our students is placed in a family of 16-24 students each, and each family is named after a heroic historical figure. In their first couple of months at ASYV, our Enrichment Year students worked together to research and discuss historical figures whose example could serve as meaningful inspiration. When the naming ceremony arrived, our Enrichment Year students were ready to announce their new family names. Moved by the beliefs and achievements of several African and African-American historical figures, our Enrichment Year students announced that they had chosen the following names for their families: Josina Muthemba Machel, who fought for Mozambique’s independence and girls’ education; Booker T. Washington, leader of the Tuskegee Institute; Albertina Sisulu, anti-apartheid activist and South African parliamentarian; W.E.B. Du Bois, professor of sociology and founder of the NAACP; Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia; and Mary Kenner, inventor of the sanitary belt. With their family names announced, our Enrichment Year students concluded Village Time with a celebratory cake and dance party.
A key part of ASYV’s program is to provide our students with a sense of family, a place where they can feel loved and supported. These names will help us achieve that by giving our Enrichment Year grade and each of our Enrichment Year families a unique, personal identity. These identities speak to our Enrichment Year students’ values, what they believe is right, and what they believe they can achieve for themselves and others. It is a belief that we will strive to nurture over the next four years as our Enrichment Year students, our Ishyaka Grade, continue to recover from the traumas of the past and work towards a brighter, more compassionate future.
We hope you enjoyed this brief report on our Enrichment Year students’ naming ceremony. If you would like to learn more about this special event, we invite you to follow the link below to our “Enrichment Year’s New Name Is…” blog post. More pictures and information can also be found on our social media pages, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. It is thanks to your steadfast support that our Enrichment Year students have been given this opportunity, and we could not be more grateful. Murakoze cyane (thank you very much)!
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