How much danger does this person seem to be in?

I suspect that it will be very hard for someone who has no past credentialed teaching experience to be brought to the US to teach in a regualr public school. People with relevant life experience have been placed in school with hard to fill positions like science and math teachers, but there are probably enough French teachers. You might have a shot with private schools, such as those run by a church. Any connections with the numerous mission groups or the Catholic Church in Rwanda?

The ability in Swahili and Kinyerwanda might present a possibility with the George P. Schultz Foreign Affairs Center in Arlington, Vierginia. This is the training branch of the US Department of State, and the language training section also provides services for other agencies of the government. The class size ranges from one to six, very small. The instructors are not licensed but they do work from schedules developed by State. They don't have much flexibility in how the languages are taught. The content and the method are prescribed and supervised. At times it is more like tutoring than a conventional classroom. Since the students are under orders for duty in the country of the target language, the teacher is frequently the first person they meet from the country. The cultural experiences of the teachers are valued for the insights they provide to the students.

Dutch_Uncle, Thank you for the suggestions in #30. In answer to your question, my friend has no church connections. It's beside the point of this discussion, but given the role of the Catholic church during the genocide, and the spread-the-word-pie-in-the-sky-when-you-die orientation of the various evangelical churches drawn to Rwanda, I have a great deal of respect for his choice in this regard.

I phoned the Schultz institute, but they tell me they have never had a request from anyone wanting to learn Kinyerwanda, since the Rwandan government does not use this language to conduct any type of official business.

My friend does have experience teaching French on a secondary-school level in Rwanda, although I don't believe he has anything that would pass for teacher certification in the West. Since he'd be happy to go anywhere in the U.S. and Canada, I'm wondering whether there is some way to find out if there is a school in some remote community that is having trouble attracting a French teacher and would consider hiring him.

Any other reasonably plausible suggestions, however far-fetched, would be much appreciated.

Did you ask the Schultz people about Swahili? I know that they teach that one.

Since education in the US is not run by a centralized Ministry of Education it is hard to get one size fits all answers. However, this decentralization does present possibilites. Whatever state or school districts have the hardest time finding, or paying, French teachers would be the ones to look for. Some type of exception to credentials might be possible for a teacher willing to do classroom combat duty at a remote location. New Mexico? West Virginia? Montana?

Where to start? I would start with the state level Departments of Education at those three states, with heavy emphasis that he has taught at the secondary level in Rwanda.

Remember the phrase "Paris is worth a mass" from your French history lessons? His Protestant faith took one candidate off the list to become king of France, so he switched to the Catholic Church. Since churches seem to be major players in Rwanda, it is probably not a good career idea for your man to refuse to associate with them. Any port in a storm, right?

I really feel pity that you are still hanging on the “issue”! However, if you genuinely feel honest with yourself about your pledge, figure rather out how to constructively approach international bodies and agencies in the domain on your friend’s behalf. Nonetheless, just to position myself momentarily on your side, have you tried to get in touch with Rwandans elsewhere expressing similar pledge to substantively prepare your friend’s case!

Doesn't South Africa need French teachers? Or the anglophone countries in East Africa?

Dutch_Uncle, I didn't ask the Schultz institute about teaching Swahili--I'm sure there are enough native speakers of Swahili with U.S. citizenship or green cards that the institute couldn't claim that they need to hire my friend to do work that there is no one available in either of these categories to do.

In addition to the three states you mention, the Dakotas and parts of Kansas and Nebraska come to mind. It would certainly be convenient if state education departments maintain lists of job openings advertised by the local districts, but I'm not sure if they do. This could make locating such positions quite a time-consuming task, but it's something I will try. The idea is constructive and sound.

I would never question my friend's decision not to join a church. Apart from the roles of numerous priests and bishops in facilitating the genocide, and the overall refusal of the Vatican, even after the fact, to defrock these priests (as per the child molestation scandals), my friend lived through enough "history" to have every reason to feel that "God" is absent, dead, or on the wrong side. I think his refusal to join a church on what might be a self-serving and hypocritical basis is an example of his integrity. It's also an example of why I respect him and value his friendship as I do.

African Explorer--please save your "pity" for yourself. For reasons made clear by Voyager_2002 early on in this thread, and by the monitor's deletion of your two previous "contributions" here, you'll be needing it.

Voyager_2002, I honestly don't know a thing about South Africa in this regard. Any information you might be in a position to share with me as to how to find out about positions teaching French in South Africa or elsewhere in Africa, would be very much welcomed.

I doubt if the states have lists of vacancies, but there is hope for word of mouth information.

The Foreign Affairs Training Center language training center wants a range of accents within the target language. For example, both Latin American Spanish and Spanish from Iberia.

Your friend might have to make a faustian bargain. For the sake of his wife, children, and himself he may have to reach some type of accommodation with the organizations which have staying power in Rwanda- the church groups. Even if he finds it distasteful or even against his moral standards, if his situation is a dire as described he should seek and accept help where it is available. Is he really willing to sacrifce the future of his wife and children because of past crimes by some church groups? If he has to play with the cards he has, rather than the ones he would like to have, surely he must exhaust every opportunity, rather than picking and choosing only from the ones that do not require him to compromise.

Who is the victor if he continues to have a marginal and fearful life in Rwanda, with prospects for his children limited? Perhaps it is time for him to swallow some pride and do what is best for his family, rather than that which gives him the emotional tranquility of being superior in a moral sense.

The preceding post (#37) is one of the most uninformed and unfortunate I've encountered on the TT. It seems similarly cruel and insulting in spirit to Pat Robertson blaming the earthquake in Haiti on some bargain with the devil that Haitians made by not joining churches.

1. Having done a fair amount of reading on Rwanda, and spent two months doing numerous interviews there, I have never encountered any reason to think that church affilitions somehow keep Rwandans safe. Perhaps Dutch_Uncle is still focused on his Idyllic visit to Rwanda in the 1980s, the "French-Belgian-Tutsi-Hutu vibe" and the wonderful gorilla trek he enjoys recalling. Googling "Rwanda," "genocide," and "church" or "churches" might provide a good update. 2. The blame-the-victim logic and tone of this post would suggest that Jews who died in the Holocoust, or Bosnians killed in that genocide, are partly to blame for their misfortunes, since they, too, when they came under threat, didn't join churches.

Andrew_K- This is in the spirit of getting your friend OUT of a place he feels is not safe for him`and his family. Of course church association did not protect people during the slaughter, but now, in the living present of 2010, religious organizations do have influence and just might help your man and his family. Encourage him to widen the possibile sources of assistance for what he wants, rather than restrict them. I don't think Athiests United have much pull with international organizations.

The only blame that would attach to the victim would be if he is so marked by events that he will only accept help from those he considers pure past any taint. He should be guided by the response of Polish, Jewish, and other victims of Nazi criminality who did accept help and compensation from the Federal Republic of Germany after WWII. Doubtless there must have been people at that time who refused "blood money" and help from the successor state of the Nazis, but the reconstruction and building was done by those who were able to overcome their hatred for the benefit of themselves, their families, and their communities.

I was in Sarajevo for about ten weeks over a two year period, and I suggest that your man can also learn from how Bosnia-Hercegovinia has come to terms with the very recent history in that area. By the way, my 8 1/2 years in Africa served me very well in the Balkans, because I was accustomed to dealing with tribal societies. White European tribal societies turned out to have much in common with black African tribal societies.

The path your friend wants to take is difficult, but not impossible. I suggest that your contribution can be to encourage him to think and act outside the trauma of his painful experience. Examination and acceptance of all possible sources of aid is absolutely required for him to benefit. It will be painful, but it can be done.

So, I think that this exchange has served to avoid spending energy on dead ends such as illegal immigration or refugee status, and to point out other ways, such as student or teacher, that may be possible. I encourage you to keep turning over the rocks in your search for a way to help him, but I also admonish you not to encourage any inclination he might have to rule out or decline sources of assistance because of past crimes or even a well-founded hatred, based on past events. Try to guide his focus to the present and the future, and bluntly tell him that he will have to mask his emotions to get what he wants for himself and his family. Every tribe has rules and customs, to include the bureaucratic tribes that grant visas and arrange overseas placements.

I respect you for trying to help this man, and I wish you good luck. All of this might not be the information you wanted to hear, but I am convinced that it is the information you need about this area in which you acknowledge not having much experience.