May 7, 2013

Last year, I met Claude Ibishaka.  He had been living on the streets and doing drugs every day.  Through the BCSM (Behavior Change and Social Marketing) campaign that was run, in part, by Johns Hopkins University (and about 65 other Rwandan organizations), he was able to find help and get his life on track.  He is now a gardener at the local health clinic, has a goat at home and is raising funds to purchase a cow.  A goat and a cow, in Rwanda, are clear signs of success.   Below the photographs posted here, I've shared the article I wrote about Claude for the BCSM project I was helping to document.

Claude wears his orange gardeners smock with pride; shoulders erect, head up, eyes wide.  He wields his shears with loose confidence as they hang from his hand by his side.  He is surrounded by children and families at the local health center where he works.  The sun beats down on him as he toils in the health center gardens.  But, his life was not always on this path.

“I had lived on the street for six years.  I was not able to go home and, after awhile, I just gave into the street life and smoked marijuana every single day of my life.”  Claude shifts his weight from one foot to the other. “Because of the drugs, I became alienated from my family and my parents.  Sister Leocadie found me and she and BCSM gave me information to help me to change my life, if I wanted to.”  Sister Leocadie is one of the Coaches in the BCSM Coach/Captain model.  She sensitizes and educates marginalized and high risk youth and they, in turn, can become Captains for future generations.  She spoke very fondly of Claude.  “One of the greatest results of all our hard work is now I don’t have to work so hard because all the children who are coaches and striving to become coaches, like Claude, are working so hard for each other.  It is truly wonderful.”

Claude continues, “At first, we were just trained, and I did not really know what, if anything, could change.  For two days, I just sat there, not knowing why I was there, really.  I went through the training--how to prevent HIV, how to prevent pregnancy, how to become a good member of society and contribute.  It was a slow process.  Very slow, really, for me to change.  The first step I took was to stop smoking pot.   After I stopped doing drugs, I was able to learn how to live well with my parents again.”

Claude snips away at a bush nearby.  “BCSM helped me to change myself and helped me to get my job.  They helped to heal me when I felt like I had nothing left to live for.  I often reflect on that time.  Things have changed so much. I thought I had no future, I felt like I only had drugs.”  Claude finds a stray branch jutting from a nearby bush and prunes it.  “But now, now I have a plan.  I have a job and I have a goat at home.  In October, I will buy a cow!  I am planning for the future.”

Claude removes a few more leaves from the bush he has been working on.  He steps back and assesses his work, nodding.  As he turns to walk back up the drive to his next task, he smiles at the two little girls next to him.

He watches the two children--one carrying the other on her back--and then turns back. “The advice I give to street children, as a Captain, now, but, really, as a former street child, myself, is that I was once just like them.  And now I am happier, healthier.  We can all change, with hope and help.  And I help them.”