This is Yorkshire!

Unspoiled nature with my Welt Shedron

Often nicknamed, “God’s Own County”, Yorkshire is best known for its Roman and Viking heritage. By far the largest county in the UK, Yorkshire also boasts well-maintained Norman castles, medieval abbeys and two stunning national parks (The Yorkshire Dales and The North York Moors). Widely considered to be among the greenest areas in England, due to the vast stretches of unspoiled countryside, this trip presented the perfect opportunity for breaking into my Shedron with a spot of hiking and general exploring.

Haworth

I first stopped in Haworth – a small village situated at the edge of the Pennine moors. The area is also known as Brontë country since it served as the home of the Brontë sisters during their most prolific period of novel writing. Among the tea rooms, souvenir and antiquarian bookshops are attractions including the heritage railway and the Brontë Parsonage Museum. A picturesque pub and hotel named The Black Bull also sits proudly in the Village centre and is allegedly the place where Branwell Brontë’s (brother to the famous sisters) decline into alcoholism and opium addiction began.

No matter where you go in Yorkshire, the county is bursting with beautiful countryside walks. Once a thriving tourist resort, the beauty spot of Goit stock is now considered by many to be a well-kept local secret. With my yellow lab Alfie to keep me company, I headed toward the main attraction of this particular walk – the Goit Stock Waterfall. The rocky and wet terrain proved to be of little inconvenience whilst wearing the Shedron. Following my hike through the deciduous woodland, stone wall bordered fields and winding streams, I stopped off at Dick Hudson’s Country Pub for one of Yorkshire’s famous Black Sheep ales.

Knaresborough

The next day, I headed off to Knaresborough – a historic market and spa town located in the borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire. ­Sights in the charming riverside town centre include Knaresborough Castle – a Norman structure dated back to around 1100, the House in the Rock, the railway viaduct over the river Nidd, and St Robert’s Cave. Knaresborough makes a great place to visit for a half-day with its scenic views, homemade ice cream parlours and riverside cafes. Visitors can also hire rowing boats from the small jetties situated beneath the lofty viaduct to enjoy an alternative vista of the town.

Malham Cove

I spent my final day in Yorkshire visiting Malham Cove – a large curving amphitheatre shaped cliff formation of limestone rock situated deep within the Yorkshire Dales. The cove’s peculiar shape was formed by an enormous waterfall carrying meltwater from glaciers at the end of the last Ice Age. The cove also features an intricate system of caves estimated to be around 50,000 years old. Standing at a whopping 80 metres high, the cove serves as an ideal habitat for platform nesting birds such as Peregrine Falcons and the summit affords spectacular views of the surrounding landscape.

Geology of Malham Cove

The geology of Malham Cove is relatively unique in England with many clints and grykes forming a limestone pavement at the top of the cove and nearby areas. This has encouraged an abundance of flora and fauna to thrive there, including rare wild flowers and ferns such as wood sorrel and green spleenwort. The area has been a popular tourist attraction for centuries and subject to much media attention. In fact, the Cove was featured in a scene of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows where the famous wizard trio can be seen camping! Other scenes from the film franchise were filmed at different venues within the vicinity including Malham Tarn and Gordale Scar.

Compared with Great White Shark diving and mountain climbing, a trip to Yorkshire might not be the most swashbuckling of my adventures in my Shedron boots, but it was an enjoyable one nonetheless.

Thanks to OZAPATO for the amazing adventure boots and for inspiring this post!

12 British Habits I Lost When Moving To Rwanda

1. Travelling everywhere by car

Rwanda is fairly easy to get around via public transport – as long as you don’t mind getting a little uncomfortable every now and again. For longer journeys, Rwanda offers reliable and somewhat character building bus links to all major towns and cities. For shorter journeys, motorbike taxis are a quick and affordable method for getting from A to B. Aaaah the moto taxi. The nimble, traffic weaving bane of the male reproductive system. My own experiences ranged from leisurely drives through the Rwandan capital to ball-crushing off-road hell rides of death.

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2. Handshake greetings

In Blighty, nothing is more proper than greeting fellow citizens with a good old-fashioned knuckle-crippling handshake. Indeed, many of us might judge the strength of one’s character by the rigidity of their shake or the firmness of their grip. In Rwanda, however, a simple strong handshake just will not do. Expect to be embraced by Rwandans with a warm hug followed by three quick kisses and the prolonged holding of hands.

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3. Whinging about the weather

Let’s face it, most of us Brits love a good old moan and there’s nothing more reliable than the consistently inconsistent British weather to get us all grumbling. I had to find something else to grouch about in Rwanda, however, as the country boasts spectacular weather pretty much all year round.

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4. Eating junk food

Rice, beans and potatoes comprised more or less my entire diet during the two years I spent living in a rural village in Rwanda. Every fortnight I’d have the chance to grab some western style food in Kigali, but I slowly started to enjoy eating a simpler, healthier diet.

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5. Taking water for granted

Lack of sanitised water and numerous outages made me really appreciate how good we have it in the UK and across most of the western world. As Monty Python’s four Yorkshire men might have said, showers were, “luxury”, as was the opportunity to flush the toilet or wash the dishes during periods with little rainfall. Sterilising each glass of water before drinking became routine and hand washing my clothes in rainwater was fairly commonplace.

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6. Keeping up with the football

Alright, so I didn’t totally lose the plot. I managed to locate a bar in Kigali that showed Premier League matches, but I had to make do with catching games every other weekend. Before moving to Rwanda, I could more or less state the dates, times and opponents of at least the next three matches that involved my team. But within a few months it got to the point where I was checking results a few days after each game took place.

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 7. Strict time keeping

During the first few months I spent in Rwanda, I found myself getting overly frustrated with the cultural differences regarding time management. Slowly but surely I adapted and came to peace with the fact that most events would start 1-2 hours after the scheduled time.

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8. Feeling like I’ll be deemed insane for greeting random strangers

While the people of smaller towns and villages in Britain seem to have retained their tendencies toward random “how-do-you-dos?”, it would be fair to say that one might be considered an oddball if they were to start chatting to random folk in larger towns and cities. In Rwanda’s capital – Kigali, no such judgement would be made.

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9. Watching TV

Due to the abundance of power outages, and perhaps more significantly the fact that I didn’t own a television, I spent my free time more productively by reading books, photographing wildlife and cooking meals from scratch.

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10. Expecting to find everything I need at the supermarket

Understandably, it would often be difficult to get hold of certain items in any of Rwanda’s supermarkets. After my first proper shopping trip, I really began to appreciate the variety of options available in British stores. It was from that day forth that I vowed never to take caramelised onion flavoured houmous for granted.

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11. Unnecessary worrying

We all worry about things from time to time, but in reality most issues we allow ourselves to become stressed or anxious over aren’t really worth it. The year I spent in Rwanda entailed living and working with some of the poorest people in the country, yet they were also some of the happiest, care-free people I’ve ever met. The wonderful and inspirational people of Rwanda taught me so much about letting go of unnecessary worries.

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12. Disconnection from the natural environment

In Britain, most of us are far too busy pottering about our days to pay any attention to the wildlife that surrounds us. In Rwanda, however, the biodiversity is so rich and colourful that it’s almost impossible not to get distracted by the enchanting array of flora and fauna that inhabits the beautiful green landscapes.

Witness to Amazing Transformations

Click image to view full ASYV Gallery

When applying to serve as a year-long fellow back in 2013, I was relatively clueless to the power of the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village.

On a snowy mid December day, I joined my cohort of fellows for orientation in New York and clearly remember conversations with past cousins who spoke excitedly of the "magical vibe" within the Village. I can recall listening to founder Anne Heyman talk with unreserved passion and enthusiasm about the inspiring stories that were already unfolding since its inception five years previously.

To be entirely truthful, I wondered if such a place could really exist. Being a typically sceptical Brit, surely the journey I was about to embark on was being embellished. The Village was portrayed as a pioneering, almost utopian society and it was tough for me to believe the hype.

The day after arriving in Rwanda, my cohort received a warm welcome from then HR Director, Celine Uwineza, and Grade Coordinator,  Longin Kubwimana. We were later introduced to ASYV Senior 5 students Jacky Tuyisenge and Eunice Umubyeyi. It was after meeting the two girls that my initial doubts began to diminish.

I'd obviously never met either of these young women before they arrived at Agahozo-Shalom, but I was genuinely staggered by their alacrity, confidence, and humility. I recall thinking Jacky was humouring me when she asked if I'd like her to sing me a song whilst being transported around Kigali. When I dubiously replied, "sure, why not?", she preceded to belt out a Whitney Houston classic without a care in the world.

Upon meeting my new family, I began to realise the full impact of ASYV. On December 28th, fifteen timid, scared looking teenage boys (plus Oscar Murwanashyaka who was anything but) waved goodbye to their guardians and officially became students and residents of the Agahozo-Shalom Youth Village. The demeanour of these boys in contrast with that of the two Senior 5 girls I'd met a couple of days earlier was striking.

The first few weeks with the family were a little awkward. You could literally hear the night chorus of frogs and crickets with most of the boys lacking the confidence to speak during Family Time. Some began to emerge from their shells, but others remained mostly silent unless prompted to speak about their thoughts and feelings. When asked to talk about their day, the general answer would be something along the lines of, "For me, my day was so good. Thank you." Others would refer to their day as, "somehow" (meaning it was okay), and Oscar would spend around half an hour meticulously going over every small event from brushing his teeth to tying his shoelaces.

With time, I began to witness amazing transformations. The healing combination of formal and informal education within a stable and loving environment contributes immensely toward the development of each and every child in the Village. I observed an astronomical rise in many individuals’ confidence over a relatively short period of time. The students who were too self-conscious to utter a single word during family time later went on to become frequent performers at the weekly talent show, bringing crowds of over 500 people to their feet in applause.

I watched Theoneste Niyomushumba - an incredibly shy boy who was initially only interested in developing himself as a musician - rise from one of the lowest scoring school students right the way to the top. I witnessed Marie-Rose Mushimiyimana, one of my mentees and an absolute wallflower in Senior 4 - grow into a strong and inspiring leader for the Female Solidarity Group. I saw Maxim Iryumugaba - who by his own account knew next to no English before arriving at the ASYV - blow everyone away with his valedictorian speech at the Ingenzi graduation. I clearly recall Dr. Stephen Smith (Executive Director of USC Shoah Foundation ) playfully declare, "I can't believe I've been asked to make remarks after Maxim. How am I supposed to follow that?"

Perhaps the best indicator of change comes when learning each student's goals and aspirations now in comparison with when they arrived. One evening whilst leading family time, I asked each of the boys what they wanted to do for a living. Among sixteen, there were five different answers. Soldier, taxi driver, president (Oscar), bar owner, and "businessman", the latter of which they couldn't explain. If I were to ask the very same question to any student from Senior 4 upward, the most common responses would be doctor, engineer, and teacher. Moise Gasana wants to be a astronaut! Gotta dream right?

But the mission of ASYV is not solely to transform the lives of the students. Tikkun Halev is the cornerstone for healing the kids of their emotional wounds and preparing them to be self-sufficient adults. ASYV's vision is much bigger, however, with the philosophy of Tikkun Olam. One of the things I admired most about Anne Heyman was her humility. The kids would shower her with praise and endlessly thank her for the immense efforts she made in order to restore hope and happiness in their lives. During the Imbuto graduation, she responded with, "Don't thank me, pay it forward". The Village encourages its students to always act philanthropically and teaches the importance of giving back to society. When ASYV invests in one child, they are potentially investing in the welfare of entire communities.

Last year I interviewed Merci Uwimbabazi, a Senior 4 student who serves as Health Minister in the Student Government, Miss Core Values of the Imena grade, and Vice President of the Female Solidarity group. Merci told me that when she arrived in the Village, she felt unable to express her thoughts, beliefs, and opinions. Looking at this strong, confident young lady, it was somewhat hard to believe she hadn't always been that way. But what struck me the most was her empathy and compassion. She spoke of how her professional goal is to become a doctor, not for money or status, but simply because she felt it was her duty to help the sick. Merci also expressed that she had a responsibility to use her voice to promote gender equality worldwide, and I honestly believe she'll go on to do just that.

To learn more, I joined the management team as they travelled to meet ASYV alumni in Musanze, northern province. Eric Tuyisenge, head of Monitoring and Evaluation collected information related to their progress since leaving the Village's blue steel gates. Aside from success stories of their own, including obtaining university degrees and starting new businesses, some had initiated their own charities and many volunteered their skills to surrounding communities. It was clear that Anne's legacy and the spirit of ASYV lived on in these young men and women long after graduating.

Three-and-a-half years since joining ASYV, it's plain to see the enormous impact ASYV's holistic model has had on the lives of so many since the dream began in 2007. Perhaps the most encouraging thought is that ASYV's very first students, the Urumuli Grade, have only just graduated from university, and the greatest achievements and success stories are still yet to come. And with so many more ASYV students to follow in their footsteps, I can only see a bright future for Rwanda, and, dare I say, the world.