By Catherine Reiland
July 17, 2009, Part 2
Sitting at the helm of our Toyota Land Cruiser was James, one of the most sought-after guides at Akagera Park. There was not a creature or plant that he could not name. His keen eyes even led us to the elusive Mutware, or “Crazy Elephant” as James introduced him.
The [...]
Continue reading about Teachers Peek into Life of Rwandan Elephant
By Catherine Reiland
July 17, 2009, Part I
Based at the tranquil Hotel Dereva on the main highway that runs through the sleepy town of Rwamagana we were about an hour’s drive to Rwanda’s Akagera National Park.
As the sun rose we piled into three Toyota Land Cruisers with all the fixings to have an al fresco lunch [...]
Continue reading about Giraffes: Rwanda’s Akagera National Park
By Catherine Reiland
July 10, 2009
After about a week in the capital city of Kigali we headed southwest to the university town of Butare. Butare’s main street bustles with activity as motorcycle taxis, matatus, and bicycles rumble by.
Maneuvering through pedestrian and wheel traffic past the ever-popular Matar Supermarket (a go-to place for fresh popcorn, Nutella, flashlights, [...]
By Catherine Reiland
July 9, 2009
Our travels across Rwanda would not be possible without the expert help and knowledgeable advice from Jeremiah and Giome, two guides from the Kigali-based Bizidanny Tours and Safaris. With a group of 15 people there is a lot of luggage, so before heading for a long journey Jeremiah and Giome lend [...]
By Catherine Reiland
July 8, 2009: Part Two
A few hours after our chance meeting with Senator Beatrice Mukabaranga, we made our way to FAWE Girls’ School, a boarding school located in one of Kigali’s suburbs.
The school, founded in 1999, is managed by its namesake, the Forum for African Women Educationalists-Rwanda Chapter. The secondary school represents a [...]
Continue reading about Visiting the FAWE Girls’ School, Kigali
By Catherine Reiland
July 8, 2009
Hanging out in the lobby of Kigali’s Hotel Chez Lando can be a good way to meet Rwanda’s movers-and-shakers.
Some of us had the pleasure of meeting Senator Beatrice Mukabaranga in the wood-paneled reception area the hotel. It was a chance meeting that turned into an informative discussion about Rwanda’s educational goals.
Senator [...]
By Catherine Reiland
July 7, 2009
The Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad (GPA) group is keenly interested in schooling in Rwanda, and in particular the role of education in national development.
While some members of the group visited the Lycée de Kigali, I joined others to meet students and faculty at Riviera High School. The private school founded in [...]
Continue reading about WI High School Teachers Visit Schools in Rwanda
By Catherine Reiland
July 5, 2009
The Kigali Memorial Center opened on the 10th Anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide in 2004. Set above terraces overlooking Kigali the Memorial Center sits on a site where 250,000 are buried.
Inside the crisp white building visitors walk through darkened spaces to learn about pre-colonial Rwanda and the historical steps that led [...]
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By Catherine Reiland
July, 3, 2009
Following a restorative horizontal sleep after more than 24 hours of travel, the Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad (GPA) participants awoke to the sounds of roosters and other aviary activity in the Remera neighborhood of Rwanda’s capital city of Kigali.
Our first group meeting was held at the Hotel Bloom’s spacious back garden. [...]
Catherine Reiland
“This is a unique opportunity to develop curriculum that will be integrated into classrooms across the United States. I am especially excited to work on the topic of “Youth on the Move” because of its engagement with senses of place, mapping, and intersections between art and movement.”
– Catherine Reiland, assistant director of UW-Madison’s African [...]
Continue reading about WI High School Teachers Leave for Rwanda
In April 2009, recent UW graduates Marissa Lee Mommaerts and Farha Fatima Tahir had breakfast with Jean Wilkowski. Wilkowski, who was in town to receive the Wisconsin Alumni Association’s Distinguished Alumni Award, later spoke with UW students about her experiences. Wilkowski graduated with a masters degree in journalism in 1944.
By Marissa Lee Mommaerts and Farha [...]
Continue reading about Ahead of Her Time: Ambassador Jean Wilkowski, MA ‘44
Matt Landis received a Global Health Certificate while earning is Master of Population Health at UW-Madison. He spent five weeks in Uganda working with the AIDS Support Organization as part of his education. After earning his degree in 2005, Matt worked for two years as a population health fellow in the Wisconsin Department [...]
By Masarah Van Eyck, Division of International Studies
Trucks, cabs, and horse-drawn carts compete for space with pedestrians and even goats below the skyscrapers of downtown Dakar, Senegal. But passing through the iron gates into the Pasteur Institute’s garden courtyard, one is greeted by a bust of Louis Pasteur himself and the air settles into a [...]
Matt Landis noticed the dust right away. As soon as he got off the airplane in Uganda, he was confronted with a gritty, rust-colored film that covered everything, from the thatch roofs of the houses to the gravel paths that constitute 80 percent of the public roads. For Landis, a UW-Madison graduate student, who spent [...]
Continue reading about Population Health Graduate Applies Lessons Learned Abroad to Local Population
Ben Hesprich, originally from Byron, Wisconsin, is a fifth-year senior majoring in Business Management and Human Resources. Ben spent the 2006-2007 academic year in Varnasi, India, and won a U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship in summer 2008 for the Advanced Hindi Language Program in Jaipur, India. He also completed a Business Internship in [...]
Continue reading about Q & A: Preparing for an International Business Career
