Walking for Rwanda
By Colleen Pettie, contributing writer
Posted on April 27, 2006

Since the end of the 90-day Rwandan genocide that claimed the lives of some 800,000 people, the country has been rebuilding itself — particularly its schools. That effort has crossed the Atlantic Ocean and one Harrisonburg resident is trying to make a difference.

Robin Strickler is walking the distance Rwandan children walk to school and back in a week, in order to raise money to build a junior-senior high school in Rwanda, which is supposed to open for classes in September. 

“In Rwanda, you see dozens of people walking along the roadside just like this,” Strickler said while motioning to Route 11’s narrow two-lane highway and pastoral surroundings. It inspired her to walk for Rwanda. “My husband told me how he used to walk twelve miles to school and back every day and it got me interested.”

Strickler’s husband’s experience, if not his position, has inspired her to take action. John Rutsindintwarane, general secretary of the Lutheran Church of Rwanda, will reunite with Strickler in July to begin work on the planned school.

Strickler is a substitute teacher for Harrisonburg middle and high schools and says she wants to prove to her students that if you set a goal, you can achieve it.

“I thought, ‘what can I do in Rwanda when I go there?’” Strickler said. “I’m an educator, and education is a big need in Rwanda.” She decided a high school would be an important thing to start there.  The level of elementary education is relatively high at 93 percent, but the secondary education level is near zero.    

The goal for the walk for Rwanda is $20,000, almost two-thirds of which has already been raised. 

“It seemed impossible,” Strickler said. “But we’ve already raised. Everyone’s been helping out in the most exciting, surprising ways.  It’s the importance of community building, and the way forward is through cooperating.”

But goals alone do not build a school. Funds for the new school are coming from by-the-mile donations and also lump-sum donations.  Participants can donate 50 cents per mile for the purchase of a school kit with supplies, $1 per mile to help with the purchase of 1 to 3 textbooks, $2 for 500 bricks or $5 per mile for the cost of one sun tube for lighting in the classrooms.

“It will cost about $250,000 to build the school and get the computers and staff,” Strickler said. “We need to build it on land with water, and solar power.”

Even one JMU student is getting involved. Senior ISAT major David Frenkel wrote his thesis and presented on the design of the school after Strickler contacted his professor Wayne Teel. Frenkel designed the gardens, solar panels, electric heat and energy for the school apparatuses. Strickler approached Teel because she was interested in making an environmentally friendly school.

“The focus is on sustainable energy,” Frenkel said. “The purpose is to have interaction with students, faculty and the community, to be a model for the community as to how to make farming sustainable.”

The school will start out teaching classes in English with about 20 students per class and eventually growing to a total of 400 students. For more information or to make a donation, visit the Web site rwandaschoolproject.org.