Getting away from Rwamagana

Neighbours

We’ve had quite a lot of visitors but to date we haven’t been anywhere else apart from Kigali to get provisions. So we were invited this weekend to visit Joan in Byumba. She is setting up a Resource Centre in the Teacher Training College there. It’s the highest town in Rwanda near the volcanoes in the North. The shorter version across country would involve maybe an hour and a half on a moto up and down hill, risking life and limb. Not a chance on earth! So we set off early and went into Kigali and changed to go north on the bus. Much better buses go up that way, thank goodness and we delighted in the amazing views. Every bit of land seems to be cultivated no matter how remote. The panorama was breathtaking even if a little misty. It took four hours to get there from door to door. Joan was waiting for us. We were a little jealous of the supermarket were we met up with its local Gouda cheese, yogurt and chocolate but we resisted apart from the yogurt. More of the women there were wearing traditional dress than were we lived and the feel was quite different.

 

View from the house

Joan treated us to a lovely home cooked lunch but the thunder and the storm stopped us from going out until it was time to go to the B&B where all three of us were staying the night and having dinner. A lovely place by the name of Hospitality Hotel with a charming host called Elijah who had just got married and his younger wife was now expecting a baby. Dinner was enough for ten and there were only three of us. Lots of stories were exchanged and we had a great time. After a comfortable but cold night with blankets, it was still raining with continuous thunder. We feared we would get very wet so got a rare car taxi to the bus park and then the bus to Kigali. By the time we arrived in the capital it was dry and hot. We spent a couple of hours shopping for things we can’t get in Rwamagana e.g. chopped ham and pork, tuna, tinned tomatoes etc. and this time treated ourselves to some German bread, local cheese and two slices of ham. What a treat for the evening. We don’t have a fridge but our house is quite cool so it will be alright for a day or two. We are trying to resist the treats that can be bought in the Kigali supermarkets until we are absolutely desperate.

Just as we were about to eat, our landlord who lives in the big house next door rang up and invited us on the spot to visit him. We went round a few minutes later to find about twenty people having a great time with their very generous host. Meal and plenty of drink was provided. It was a celebration because the landlord had presented a cow to someone in his family. There were many speeches in Kinyarwanda and much jollity. We were made really welcome. At around 9pm everyone stood and prayed and departed. There’s a first time for everything. So we had the special treats for breakfast and lunch today. Tonight I’m going to experiment with my first spaghetti bolognaise and roti (chapatti) made with the best cuts from a tin of corned beef!

To see the pictures of Byumba, click on the picture below……

Byumba

One last thing, we invested in a plate rack for the washing up. What luxury! Mary has just tried to convince the domestique that it is for drying and not for storing plates etc. I’m not sure she managed but time will tell!

Work eventually taking off!

Looking at resources Room

This week has been an eventful and interesting week which has kept us busy with a few frustrations and also satisfaction of a job well done. In principal, we should only spend a short  time each week in the office and the rest should be in the field visiting schools, advising and training etc. It’s taken a while but we finally managed to get started doing this during this week.

Primary 6

We have to have foreigner’s ID card – Green Card – so the week started with getting all the bits and pieces and copying passports to arrange that. Mary went off to Kibungo, about two hours away by bus, near the Tanzanian border to meet up with two other VSOs who were doing the same job as her. She shadowed them for the day and came back in the evening. The next day, she went to a school to observe a couple of lessons but found all the teachers but two were not there because of elections. The children were there though. So she arranged to come back the next day when she managed to do the observations. She observed two lessons both of which were of a good standard and one was very good – impressive considering the class size of 45 and the lack of resources and conditions.

Heads' Exam

I started off the week having been asked to prepare an exam for prospective HTs who would be appointed to the 9 Year basic education schools which had been extended from primary schools – P1 – P6 + S1 – S3 (years 1 to 9). This would necessitate a lot of moving around of HTs in the District. The exam was one hour long with two questions on Leadership and Management and Monitoring and Evaluation. The next day was the exam. There were 101 applicants and all were examined. Security was very good and, although the exam was in their 2nd or 3^rd language English, the standard for many was quite high. A group of us marked the papers and selected the 45 candidates who would go on to the next round, That evening we tried our first local restaurant which was a great success except for the violent thunder storm when we were going home. We almost waited until it finished but made a wise decision because it was still raging at 2am!

The next day was the interviews. All arrived on time and there were two interview panels of four and about 10 – 15 minutes each for the candidates to answer questions. Decisions were made the same day and the teachers who were successful informed. They will have a handover period of a couple of days this week and will probably start next week. Things happen fast in Rwanda.

The next day we went to a primary school where the previous volunteer had worked. It’s a UNICEF child friendly school. It necessitated a bus ride to another village and then a 3 km moto ride. I’m not too sure about them yet and “Genda Buhorro” (Drive slowly) is at top of my vocab list. Mary seems to like them but I think it’s something to do with needing to feel “in control” for me. I’m sure it will get better but driving at speed next to the ditch with a 300 ft drop does not fill me with excitement. Cowardly or just holding on to life!!!! I will let you decide. VSO helmets helped though – at least the brain area is protected.

However, back to the school. An interesting and well run place with lots of vibrancy and innovative methods and the children definitely under the thumb. However, yet again, there were very few teachers there because they were doing something relating to elections.

The pictures speak for themselves. Just click on the picture below for a view of the school.

Primary School Visit

On Friday we got wind that the schools were closed for elections and we asked if the office would be open. “Yes” we were told by two different officers. So this morning off we went at the usual time, waited and waited and then texted and were told to go home. We weren’t the only VSOs in this situation. VSO flexibility rules OK! So, hence the writing of the blog during the day on a Monday!

Marking Exams

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Just a little bit about work

Preparing the Timetable

The first two weeks we have been reading, reading reading !!!! meeting people, meeting people, meeting people!!!! It's normally like that at the beginning of a placement until you find your feet. We work in a very small but busy office and the staff have much to do. Things are looking up because now we have a list of schools and we have learned about some of the protocols and have started visiting schools and speaking with Headteachers.

In Rwanda, primary schools do double shifts to reduce class sizes, so there are two cohorts of children - one in the morning and one in the afternoon. There are some new schools with nine years basic education - Groupe Scolaire and the secondary departments work through the day withouit double shifting. We visited a primary school with a headteacher with amazing enthusiasm and such happy children with the biggest smiles you have ever seen. Our spirits have been seriously lifted by starting to do what we came here to do. We have both made appointments to do specific work in certain schools so slowly it is starting to take off.

Next week, Mary will be going to Kibungo to meet with two more experienced volunteers to shadow there work for a day and I will have some work to do with potential Group Scolaire Headteachers.

VSO Programme Office

Map of Rwanda with locations of all the volunteers.
We are on the right, three from the top.
Just to prove we are here!!!!

Every VSO country has a Programme Office with VSO staff mainly from the country. Rwanda's programme Office is a little way outside the capital city centre in Remera. It's a fairly large building with quite a lot of staff. The Programme in Rwanda is bigger than that of our previous placement in Guyana. The staff organise the placements andf look after the welfare of the volunteers. We had to go there last week to collect our work visas so that we could get a Green Card which is the ID for foreiners and so that we could fregister in our local community.

Mary browses for books in the Resources Room

Rwamagana Town Centre

 After the trip to the lake yesterday, two of the volunteers stayed in our house overnight. It's a tight squeeze and the toilet facilities are not good but what the heck, we are VSOs. I've been into town three times so far today - only a few minutes walk from home. Firstly to see thenm both of them off and secondly to do a bit of shopping. So this is what it looks like - the town centre of Rwamagana where we live. It has an indoor market which mainly sells fruit and vegetables and clothes, household things etc and around the edge are dozens of shops selling everything from bicycles, househol;d goods, food etc etc. You generally have to go right into the shop to see what it sells but lots of things are available here and we are thankful that we are in a town which has lots of facilities and plenty of food.

To see some pictures of the town, click on the link below........

Rwamagana Town



Outside our main gate

Day out to Lake Muhazi

Lake Muhazi

A couple of weeks ago, we were in Kigali and we met up with two volunteers who had arrived in September - Louise and Cathy. They suggested going to the lake which is only about half an hour away from us - Lake Muhazi. As a few other voluntees fouind out about the trip, the group grew and in the end there were about ten of us. Two minibuses later we were at the resort - a beautiful large lake which goes from West to East which was slightly North East of Rwamagana. It's a huge lake and we could only see a small part of it. We had a meal and some great chat, catching up on what everyone had been doing. The weather was kind to us for the first few hours and then we had a great storm.

Getting home was a bit of a problem. Being late afternoon, there were few minibuses which were not few but we eventually made it on a bus whch had seen better days but which got us home and took us right to the market - pouring rain and refreshed, we had had a great day in very beautiful surroundings.

Relaxing by the Lake