<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Rugo]]></title><description><![CDATA[Reflections. Stories. Inner Worlds Finding a Voice!]]></description><link>https://www.rugospace.com/my-blog</link><generator>RSS for Node</generator><lastBuildDate>Sat, 30 May 2026 04:28:00 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://www.rugospace.com/blog-feed.xml" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><item><title><![CDATA[What the Work Did to Me.]]></title><description><![CDATA[A four-part series on gender equality work, the lens it gave me, and the woman it made me become. That’s what working in gender equality did to me. Not all at once. Not dramatically. But slowly - through the stories I heard, the rooms I sat in, the things I started noticing that I couldn’t un-notice - something in me shifted. And when a shift goes that deep, it doesn’t just change how you see the world. It changes how you see yourself in it. How you love. How you listen. What you’re willing...]]></description><link>https://www.rugospace.com/post/what-the-work-did-to-me</link><guid isPermaLink="false">690e3424e124b778611a279c</guid><pubDate>Wed, 15 Apr 2026 06:00:11 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2a1dc5_8fae096790294528ad6ea0b68b22bc6a~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_736,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Rugo</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[What Pain Taught Me About Gentleness]]></title><description><![CDATA[When pain brings you to your knees, something quietly shifts, not into strength, but into a different kind of seeing.
]]></description><link>https://www.rugospace.com/post/what-pain-taught-me-about-gentleness</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69ecf58817d7e96ee46f9f91</guid><category><![CDATA[Rugo Space]]></category><category><![CDATA[Blogs]]></category><category><![CDATA[Healing and Growth]]></category><pubDate>Wed, 20 May 2026 22:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2a1dc5_fd0aed97792c498793f36327b1c48fb3~mv2.jpeg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_697,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Rugo</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Part 4 - The Becoming: I'm Still Learning What to Do with What I Know.]]></title><description><![CDATA[Part 4 of 4 in the series "What the Work Did to Me " The most revolutionary thing a woman can do is not explain herself."   Glennon Doyle I used to think becoming was a destination. That you would arrive somewhere - wiser, steadier, more whole - and stay there. That the work of growing would eventually be done, and you could put it down and just live from that completed place. I know better now. There was a morning, not long ago, when I sat with my spicy tea and thought about who I was when I...]]></description><link>https://www.rugospace.com/post/im-still-learning-what-to-do-with-what-i-know</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69d2601e8b297b54b736d8d6</guid><pubDate>Thu, 07 May 2026 06:00:15 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2a1dc5_36174469330944ebab95ec6bc0b37912~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_736,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Rugo</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Part 3 - The weight: Some Days I Wished I Could Go Back to Not Knowing]]></title><description><![CDATA[Part 3 of 4 in the series "What the Work Did to Me" " Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor."  James Baldwin I will tell you about a specific kind of tired. Not the kind that sleep fixes. Not the kind that a weekend away resolves. The kind that lives somewhere deeper - behind your eyes, inside your chest - the kind that follows you into rooms where you're supposed to be relaxed and won't let you fully arrive. That tired has a name in this...]]></description><link>https://www.rugospace.com/post/some-days-i-wished-i-could-go-back-to-not-knowing</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69d255cf8b297b54b736d463</guid><pubDate>Thu, 30 Apr 2026 06:00:08 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2a1dc5_4341817c03fc4a869a3227a9307b8bf7~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_736,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Rugo</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Part 2 - The Gift: It Made Me Softer in the Right Places.]]></title><description><![CDATA[Part 2 of 4 in the series "What the Work Did to Me" The most common form of despair is not being who you are."  Søren Kierkegaard There was a woman I used to dismiss . Not out loud. Never out loud. But in my head - in the quiet, private part of me that made quick judgments before I could catch them - I used to hear her talk and think: she's too much. Too loud. Too angry. Why can't she just say it calmly? She was fighting for something real. I just didn't have the eyes for it yet. I think...]]></description><link>https://www.rugospace.com/post/it-made-me-softer-in-the-right-places</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69d249a28b297b54b736ceec</guid><pubDate>Thu, 23 Apr 2026 06:00:08 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2a1dc5_5e30f619cc8b483ab1c7de44f38a6d28~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_736,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Rugo</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Part 1 - The Awakening: The Day I Couldn't Stop Seeing It.]]></title><description><![CDATA[Part 1 of 4 in the series "What the Work Did to Me" " You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending. " C.S. Lewis I wasn't in a protest. I wasn't in a crisis. I was just sitting in a room, listening to someone explain something I had lived my entire life. And something cracked open inside me. Not broke. Cracked open. There's a difference. Before the work found me, I had feelings I didn't have words for. I knew something felt wrong when a man...]]></description><link>https://www.rugospace.com/post/the-day-i-couldnt-stop-seeing-it</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69d23dd98b297b54b736c91a</guid><pubDate>Thu, 16 Apr 2026 06:00:08 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2a1dc5_e2a025976e264aa79f379c9a528f5d6a~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_736,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Rugo</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The People Left Behind When He Couldn't Handle "No"]]></title><description><![CDATA[And why they also needed to cry. I have been carrying two stories for about three weeks now. I don't know why they stayed. I see things every day, things that are heavy, things that are cruel, things that make you close your phone and stare at the ceiling for a while. But these two stayed. They moved into me and haven't left. The first one : a young man, somewhere between nineteen and twenty-one. He took his own life. And the letter he left behind said that the girl he liked didn't want to be...]]></description><link>https://www.rugospace.com/post/people-left-behind-when-he-couldnt-handle-no</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69c8f52b4b5dfe0bfdb1d463</guid><pubDate>Wed, 01 Apr 2026 22:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2a1dc5_da70e657ff344076a0e643b0898a6257~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_768,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Rugo</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[PART IV. After the Harm: What Healing, Accountability, and Justice Actually Ask of Us]]></title><description><![CDATA[Naming harm is powerful — but it is not the end. Healing, accountability, and justice ask us to imagine more than silence.]]></description><link>https://www.rugospace.com/post/healing-accountability-and-justice-after-violence</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6957d122f9d5149d20a3c5cb</guid><category><![CDATA[Violence & GBV Series]]></category><pubDate>Wed, 25 Mar 2026 22:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2a1dc5_4962d5ac6b4f4321a3edd11d7cd5ea51~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_752,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Rugo</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[PART III. Violence Doesn't Wait for Adulthood]]></title><description><![CDATA[Violence does not wait for adulthood. It grows with us, from childhood, through relationships, into marriage and family life.]]></description><link>https://www.rugospace.com/post/violence-and-gbv-across-life-stages</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6957d0b3f9d5149d20a3c57a</guid><category><![CDATA[Violence & GBV Series]]></category><category><![CDATA[Blogs]]></category><pubDate>Wed, 18 Mar 2026 22:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2a1dc5_bba4b652acfc44a5b472618dbdb23db4~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_768,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Rugo</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[PART II. Why Confusing Violence and GBV Makes Everything Worse]]></title><description><![CDATA[Violence and GBV can feel the same to the body but confusing them makes our responses weaker and our silences louder.]]></description><link>https://www.rugospace.com/post/violence-and-gbv-why-confusing-them-is-harmful</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6957d06af9d5149d20a3c52f</guid><category><![CDATA[Violence & GBV Series]]></category><pubDate>Wed, 11 Mar 2026 22:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2a1dc5_915abc2f8b8444eb81e74e456a2432bc~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_752,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Rugo</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Letter to My Son: Character, Integrity, Love, and Masculinities]]></title><description><![CDATA[A heartfelt letter to my son about character, integrity, love, and healthy masculinities — guidance for growing into a good man."]]></description><link>https://www.rugospace.com/post/16-may-a-letter-to-my-son-character-integrity-love-and-masculinities</link><guid isPermaLink="false">699950ee7f260c376566c042</guid><pubDate>Sun, 08 Mar 2026 14:44:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2a1dc5_13aa374d5d9542e3b615687892553440~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_768,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Rugo</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Give to Gain: An Investment with Generational Impact]]></title><description><![CDATA[Gender Equality is an investment that benefits generations. "Give to Gain" shows how fairness and opportunity create lasting impact.]]></description><link>https://www.rugospace.com/post/give-to-gain-gender-equality-generational-impact</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69ad2a389df7b5aa9b4f68f6</guid><category><![CDATA[Blogs]]></category><category><![CDATA[Rugo Space]]></category><pubDate>Sun, 08 Mar 2026 12:11:59 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2a1dc5_7ab86bc54b1344448817ede38ee538fd~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_768,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Rugo</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Part I. Before GBV Had a Name: Understanding Violence.]]></title><description><![CDATA[Violence existed before we learned the word GBV. Naming harm clearly is not academic, it shapes who we protect and how we respond.]]></description><link>https://www.rugospace.com/post/before-gbv-had-a-name-understanding-violence</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6957b289f9d5149d20a3b74a</guid><category><![CDATA[Violence & GBV Series]]></category><category><![CDATA[Blogs]]></category><category><![CDATA[Gender and Power]]></category><category><![CDATA[Rugo Space]]></category><pubDate>Thu, 05 Mar 2026 22:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2a1dc5_d7d613c736d048c3944d741076350f97~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_752,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Rugo</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Weight We Call Normal]]></title><description><![CDATA[A four part reflective series exploring violence and gender-based violence in Rwanda and East Africa  from naming harm to imagining healing.]]></description><link>https://www.rugospace.com/post/the-weight-we-call-normal</link><guid isPermaLink="false">697fbd9be90da4b752299159</guid><category><![CDATA[Violence & GBV Series]]></category><category><![CDATA[Healing and Growth]]></category><category><![CDATA[Accountability]]></category><category><![CDATA[Gender and Power]]></category><category><![CDATA[Rugo Space]]></category><category><![CDATA[Blogs]]></category><pubDate>Sun, 01 Mar 2026 11:50:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2a1dc5_455ce80589744f0bbee4142e33312280~mv2.png/v1/fit/w_1000,h_768,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Rugo</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Most Honest Valentine: Loving From Self-Knowledge]]></title><description><![CDATA[Valentine’s Day makes us look outward — who loves me, who chose me, who showed up. But what if the most honest Valentine begins within? ]]></description><link>https://www.rugospace.com/post/the-most-honest-valentine-loving-from-self-knowledge</link><guid isPermaLink="false">699069ac335cec65f8977897</guid><category><![CDATA[Blogs]]></category><category><![CDATA[Personal Reflection]]></category><category><![CDATA[Healing and Growth]]></category><category><![CDATA[Self-Awareness]]></category><category><![CDATA[Rugo Space]]></category><pubDate>Sat, 14 Feb 2026 13:59:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2a1dc5_db127c73802d4d49a4220e4c04301f0d~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Rugo</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Love Isn’t Where Unhealed Pain Belongs]]></title><description><![CDATA[Love doesn’t heal what someone refuses to face. A poetic reflection on emotional trauma, unhealed wounds, and why empathy should never become a burden.]]></description><link>https://www.rugospace.com/post/love-isnt-where-unhealed-pain-belongs</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6985073f0b2d097f708e8417</guid><category><![CDATA[Poems]]></category><category><![CDATA[Healing and Growth]]></category><category><![CDATA[Rugo Space]]></category><pubDate>Thu, 05 Feb 2026 21:23:29 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2a1dc5_03a2493389a847b694671d9d1701a420~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Rugo</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[A Quiet Blessing for 2026.]]></title><description><![CDATA[We enter this year
not as finished people,
but as becoming ones.
Welcome, 2026.
Be gentle with us.]]></description><link>https://www.rugospace.com/post/a-quiet-blessing-for-2026</link><guid isPermaLink="false">69559868821fa75b5e774c66</guid><category><![CDATA[Poems]]></category><pubDate>Wed, 31 Dec 2025 22:17:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2a1dc5_23ab2d81ef74461aa333654577894c39~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_499,h_749,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Rugo</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Is It Toxic Masculinity or Weaponized Victimhood?]]></title><description><![CDATA[“Pain explains behavior, but it does not excuse it.  A reflection on masculinity, victimhood, and the gray space in between.]]></description><link>https://www.rugospace.com/post/is-it-toxic-masculinity-or-weaponized-victimhood</link><guid isPermaLink="false">6947dac1278ff96e54eacaf6</guid><category><![CDATA[Blogs]]></category><category><![CDATA[Healing and Growth]]></category><category><![CDATA[Personal Reflection]]></category><pubDate>Fri, 19 Dec 2025 22:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2a1dc5_7ea599418a9b40d7a426a004d53e84f0~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_1000,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Rugo</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[When You Feel Alone in a World Full of People.]]></title><description><![CDATA[Sometimes we don’t need answers; we just need a space where our feelings don’t sound dramatic, confusing, or “too much.” This piece is that space. A quiet corner of the internet where you can breathe, rethink the pressure you carry, and remember that it’s okay to come home to yourself, slowly and honestly . Someone once said, “We are in this world alone.” I didn’t fully believe them at first. How can we be alone when we have family, friends, coworkers, neighbors, and people everywhere you...]]></description><link>https://www.rugospace.com/post/when-you-feel-alone-in-a-world-full-of-people</link><guid isPermaLink="false">65982717239e3b3485284748</guid><category><![CDATA[Blogs]]></category><pubDate>Thu, 04 Dec 2025 11:42:29 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2a1dc5_1335e5515744451aaa1f4deae7fbbaea~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_288,h_360,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Rugo</dc:creator></item><item><title><![CDATA[Teen Pregnancy vs. Contraceptives: Why Are We More Afraid of One of the Protections Than Reality?”]]></title><description><![CDATA[Here’s something I don’t get: why do we panic when a 15-year-old girl uses contraceptives but stay almost silent when that same 15-year-old gets pregnant? It’s almost like people suddenly “remember” that teenagers have sex only when contraception is mentioned, as if pregnancies happen by the Holy Spirit. The Reality of Teen Pregnancy In Rwanda teen pregnancy is not new. It’s been around for generations, and it continues to affect families and communities everywhere. The consequences are huge:...]]></description><link>https://www.rugospace.com/post/teen-pregnancy-vs-contraceptives-why-are-we-more-afraid-of-one-of-the-protections-than-reality</link><guid isPermaLink="false">68b18e7fdc9557e39fe153b4</guid><category><![CDATA[Blogs]]></category><pubDate>Thu, 07 Aug 2025 22:00:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://static.wixstatic.com/media/2a1dc5_7519f7f4f6094d5886cf2ac89ce6bf53~mv2.jpg/v1/fit/w_1000,h_896,al_c,q_80/file.png" length="0" type="image/png"/><dc:creator>Rugo</dc:creator></item></channel></rss>