Week 2

Two weeks of school visits and an office re-organisation later I am still here and still enjoying the country. 

The old man's teeth volcanoe.

The top of Karisimbe

The three volcanoes in a line

A beautiful garden bird.

The scenery is breathtaking.  This morning we were up at 5.20 and saw the most amazing sunrise.  The volcanoes were so clear today that you could see every bump and crevice in them.  You could even see the top!  All the schools are pretty similar in construction and in methodology but the ones Roisin has been working with are beginning to use more child centred methods.  The teachers are more than happy to have you observe them and feed back to them and the Head teachers seem very willing to accept change and to want to improve.  There is a lot of new building going on in almost every school. 

First School Visit

Hi everyone.  Just had the most amazing first school visit ever!  Took the moto taxi for 40 minutes at 6.45 in the morning up the mountainside.  We passed, piglets, goats, cows, children and many agricultural workers.  Many more were already beavering away in the well tended and heavily cultivated fields.  We passed two spectacular waterfalls and eventually rose higher and higher until we had good views of Lake Ruhondo.  There was a mist over the landscape.

When we reached top we came across Group Scholaire Remera – a primary school and first three years of secondary school with approx. 2,900 pupils.  We met with the Head and Deputy Head and then observed two lessons .  One maths lesson with P3 pupils (aged around 8 or 9) and then

a science lesson with pupils in P5 (aged around 11 or 12). 

After the school visit the Deputy Head invited us to lunch at the retreat where she lives.  She is a nun.  We walked for about 10 minutes to the retreat which has its own gardens and is situated in a beautiful position on the top of the mountain with wonderful views of the Lake and volcanoes below. 

Wow what a day.

The first week!

Arrived to a cloudy day in Kigali.  Here is our first view of Kigali airport.

Met at the airport by Jean Claude, Ruth and Bosco all smiles and with a lovely gift of flowers.

We are staying at the Amani Guest house until next Wed 14^th September.  The people are extremely friendly and very nice.  Rooms are great and have power and running water.  The food is also good.
We have fresh pineapple every morning and omlette.  For lunch we usually have a Rwandan dish called melange which is a little of everything!  Usually beans, onions, cucumber, tomatoes, rice, fried potatoes, fried banana, spinach and a very small portion of a stew and/or fish.  Desert is bananas, tree tomatoes or passion fruit.  For evening meal it’s the same!

This is a typical Rwandan street near where the guest house is.

Despite it still being the dry season until the end of September it has rained for a while on most days and we had a serious thunder storm on two of the days so far.

Last night we had a get together with all the volunteers who are already in Rwanda which was nice and I met Roisin my flatmate.  We saw some dancers – they were great.

The men were good too.  Unfortunately it was so dark that the pictures have not come out very well.

Going to the market today which should be interesting. I haven’t tried out my skills on the moto taxis yet but hope to have my first expedition this afternoon. 

The Kinyargwanda is coming on but slowly or buhoro in Rwandan!  More to follow but for now murabeho – goodbye.