Even More Workshops



Mary preparing for the next day

The last main post was when we rushed home and left our Guyana volunteer friend, Helen, in the capable hands of Camilla, our closest neighbour in Rwamagana. But that's history. We knew that we could get the call at any time and this time our placement would have to end so we decided to try to have the maximum impact in the shortest time. This meant getting out on the road and visiting as many schools as possible delivering Mary's workshop on Methodology and Resource Making and my one on Lesson Planning. In addition, we wanted to do a workshop for Deputy Headteachers to try to give them an identity. We got round as many schools as we could, doing 2 or 3 workshops a day.

It involved lots of preparation. We wanted the workshops to be delivered in the schools and suitable for any environment. No electricity involved. We prepared dozens of examples of materials that could be used with the help of our friend Camilla. All were made out of everyday materials with the star of the show being bottle tops! We made posters out of rice sacks which would be displayed in the classrooms were we would be working. In each school we hoped for about 20 teachers. Sometimes more and sometimes less. Often it involved the school children just getting on with their work without teachers and staff taking turns in supervising them. This concept could not happen in most English schools. In Rwanda, on the whole, the children cooperated when they were left to their own devices.

We would be up just after the "call to prayer" around 5am and then on a moto to wherever we were going. We tried to do one long distance in a day and one short one. Everything had to fit in our backpacks and had to be used over and over again. We would be in the school by 7-30am for an 8-00am start and then off to the next school at 12-30pm and home by around 6pm and then the preparation for the next day. Despite the intensity of it all, we really enjoyed it and certainly slept well at night. The feedbacks were good and we hope that some of it rubbed off on the teachers.

In the final days of our placement, Mary made a booklet with pictures and descriptions  of all of the resources and we were told that it would distributed to all schools in the District. I've already described the workshops when we first started them in June. If you want to go to that post, just click on the link below.

More about the workshops

Here are a few examples of the materials we were using:-

Living room turned into workshop

Bottle tops galore

Clocks from Laughing Cow Cartons and washing powder tops

 All made from rice sacks - very durable and practical!!!

Mr George

Just over 36 hours ago, we heard that Mary’s Father, Jerzy (George) Rozek had passed away quietly with his son John with him after many months, if not years of health problems.

But I don’t want to dwell on those or the hard times he faced as he got older because it’s better to remember a man as he was for most of his life rather than dwelling on the things that brought that first-class life to an end.

George, Mary and Stephen in Krakow, Poland 2006

George, or “Mr George” as I always called him (he was my boss when I worked in his West End Restaurant almost 40 years ago), was the model father-in-law anyone could ever have. He never failed to show respect and enthusiasm for anything we did, he encouraged and admired our work and blessed our marriage by never criticising or showing disapproval of the choices we made in our life. We knew he was proud of us and he always showed it.

But we too were proud of him. As a Polish soldier in the British army in the war in the forties, he helped save our nation from almost certain drudgery and discrimination by his bravery and commitment to what was just. He rarely spoke of it as he started his new life in a new country and brought up his family to fit in and respect that culture. He had a commitment to family life and, although his long working hours often mitigated against it, he treasured the moments he could bring us all together to “be a family”. What greater pleasure could he have than to have all of us around him!

In his work life, he was a professional par excellence. Everything had to be just as it should be in the restaurants he used to run, Everything for the customer but, at the same time, nobody could feel alone in his presence with the charming and welcoming spirit he would show with everyone he met. Lost for words he was not! He was a quality conversationalist, all in his second language. That flowed over into the street on his regular walks when I’m sure he was seen as a character in the local community who always had a word for everyone.

His professional preciseness and ability to care and put people at their ease are traits that I have always held in high regard and admired and ones I have always tried to emulate throughout my working life.

We know your time had come, Mr George, but you will live on in our lives with fondness, love and, most of all, respect!

George as a young man

May you have more than your “Sto Lat” and have perpetual peace knowing that you will be always with us.

Sto lat, sto lat, niech zyje zyje nam.
Sto lat, sto lat, niech zyje zyje nam.
Jeszcze raz, jeszcze raz, niech zyje, zyje nam.
Niech zyje nam!

Back Again!

Coming back to Rwanda was hard but necessary. We decided to have the maximum impact by refocusing our work on delivering as many workshops as we could to as many schools as possible in the short time we had left.

We wanted to try to deliver a “Planning Lessons” workshop and a “Methodology” workshop to all of the schools where we work – about 18 in all and each a half day. We had completed quite a few before we went home. In addition we had a postponed two-day workshop for deputy headteachers to deliver.

Deputy Heads of Rwamagana District hard at work

We felt that the Deputies’ workshop was the pinnacle of our work. We know they created an identity for themselves with our help, embraced the new ideas and challenges and started to understand their true role of enhancing the learning and teaching in their schools with enthusiasm and eagerness.

Well, we managed to do eight of the half day workshops and the one for deputies before we finally had to make the decision to come home after the death of Mary’s father.

We are very proud of what we have done and feel that we have achieved almost all we set out to accomplish. So, we are going home happy and fulfilled with more than a tinge of sadness despite the circumstances.

It’s all so strange really because, despite the challenges, we are pleased with what we have done but we cannot deny it has been hard for a whole variety of reasons at home and here, before and during the placement. We have always felt welcomed by the local community here in Rwamagana but, since we came back just three weeks ago, it has moved up a gear. The friendliness, the chats in the streets, the warmth of the children’s greetings and, particularly, the good wishes of the headteachers and the teachers we work with have made us feel that this is our “Rwanda Home”. But that is not to be, circumstances dictate and we have another life and one pulls against the other and it would have been so hard, having gone to and from Africa three times in less than three months to continue for just a few weeks until the end of term in November.

So, the people of Rwanda and especially Rwamagana, you will always remain in our hearts and we wish you well.

Final Leg

View from our window at Chez Lando

So, after we rushed home for family reasons, we find ourselves back in Rwanda. We now realise how important it is that we complete our placements and do as much as we can in the short time we have left.

 

There are also places we need to go to and see but who knows whether we will get the chance. Because we were going to be working so hard, we decided to treat ourselves at the weekends. One such treat was a stay in Chez Lando Hotel. It's close to the VSO office in Kigali and they were doing a special deal on their rooms. It's a modern place and we had a great weekend. The room we stayed in was an upgrade and was bigger than the whole of our house in Rwamagana.

Presidential Palace Museum

Whilst we were there we were there, we went to the Presidential Palace near the airport. This is a significant place because it was the home of the President of Rwanda at the start of the Genocide 18 years ago - President Juvenal Habiyarimana. His private plane was shot down on 6th April 1994 and it fell in the Palace and can still be seen in the same position were it fell to this day. The President of Burundi was also on board.

 

The Museum has an interesting section on the culture and history of Rwanda and particularly about the importance of hairstyles throughout the ages. It has not been renovated or preserved and still has the same furniture which, because of lack of restoration, is literally falling apart. At the top of the building are two chapels - one for the official religion where Catholic Masses where said and the other for the traditional religion. The presidents obviously had a foot in both camps but "never the twain shall meet". The Pope said Mass in the chapel on his official visit to Rwanda. Who knows what was going on next door?

 

If you want to read more about the Genocide, follow some of these links. It is up to you to decide what is true and not true.

 

President Juvenal Habiyarimana

 

Rwanda Genocide

 

How the Genocide Happened - BBC



On our return, we were still tempted by the possible move to the new District Office but it never happened. It was almost finished but who knows when we will actually move in.

New District Office almost completed

But, let's face it, the back of a container truck as an office is more of a novelty, a challenge, a talking point and the REAL VSO.

Here we are again

Our 20 minute view over Lake Kivu before departing

Those of you who follow the blog regularly must have wondered what has happened to us. Are we still in the land of the living? Why has Stephen stopped writing? What’s going on? Where are we? Well, it’s been somewhat a hectic seven weeks since the last time I wrote. Great happiness with a visit from our friend Helen (she was in Guyana with us) followed by a rush home for two weeks as Mary’s father was very ill and we wanted to see him and then a week of preparation for workshops.

Our rush home started when, after a week of Helen’s visit, we had planned to go to Lake Kivu over in the west. It’s two buses away via Kigali, through the rolling hills and you eventually get there after 5 or 6 hours travelling. We booked our tickets back for Sunday and were walking to Home St John, a beautiful hostel nestled in an outlet on the lake, when we had the call suggesting that we might come home as Dad was very ill. A difficult decision to make but one that had to be done. So, one hour later we turned round, got the bus back to Kigali and a taxi to Rwamagana where we got our passports, packed and got the plane out the next day. VSO had done a brilliant job booking the flights and because it was last minute we got an upgrade to more comfortable seats and a smaller cabin (both ways actually). We arrived home, a little shell-shocked but in one piece! Dad is doing better now and out of hospital so after 2 weeks we made the decision to return and try to finish our placements. It took over 32 hours to get back to Rwanda because our plane from Nairobi via Bujumbura in Burundi, couldn’t land in Kigali due to fog and had to make the journey back, again via Bujumbura again, where we waited for hours, getting back to Nairobi after six hours on a plane and not travelling an inch

Our House left to Helen and Cam

We’ve decided to come home for good when the third term ends in the beginning of November which means we have 7 weeks left. We are determined to have the maximum impact even though we are returning a little early and so we have planned 7 more Methodology Workshops, 14 Planning Workshops, a two day Deputy Headteachers workshop and have been asked to contribute to a Conference for all Headteachers in the District, delivering sessions on Strategic Planning, School Finance and Performance Management for Headteachers – a tall order, I know, in just five weeks because not much can be done in the last two weeks of term due to exams.

We’ll be flitting about on motos all over the place and delivering workshops almost every day.

Looking at the job

Hard at work

It wasn't going to be just sightseeing. There were schools to be seen, workshops to be done and the sloping container truck office to be experienced.

We went to Groupe Scolaire Nsinda for a discussion with the Headteacher and delivered a workshop on planning in GS Rutonde, both a moto ride away from home.

Happy to meet up in Rwanda

Helen is upright. It's the office that slopes

Nursery children in Centre Cesar

Volunteer classroom building

Proud Headteacher

New Maths

Helen helps out

Evaluation at the end

Stephen breaks down on the way back

A Glimpse of Life in Rwanda

Selecting Fabric in Kimironko Market

Being a former VSO, flexible, adaptable, sensitive and hard working (all the VSO Dimensions) she was able to muck in without any problems. We visited schools, one for a half day Planning Workshop, our District Office with its sloping container truck floor, Lake Muhazi (our own Eastern Province Lake, Akagera of course, the Genocide Memorial Centre, Kigali, Kimironko Market, the sights and sounds of Rwamagana, the local “Solidality Bar”, the Dereva Hotel for a Rwamagana Meal, partook of a “melange” in Centre St Agnes and the aborted trip to Kibuye and lake Kivu.

We had already made contingency plans in case we had to go back and had asked our nearest VSO neighbour, Camilla to take over, if we were not there. As expected, she did a brilliant job and Helen was able to see even more in Kigali and especially Camilla’s Teacher Training College which involved a return trip on a moto over seriuously challenging ground of over an hour each way. Helen, you are a star and for that you are awarded the……

Higher Advanced Rwanda Moto Pillion Rider’s Award

Well Done!

I’ll just let the photos tell the story

Everything you want in Kimironko

Beans Galore!

Sifting Flour

100RWF a bag

Market Day

After going to the market, we went to the Centre Cesar. It's run by a Canadian woman and is a centre for widows and orphans of the genocide. They make artefacts for sale, have a nursery, teach ICT and motor maintenance and sponsor hundreds of children in school.

Widows of the genocide make products for sale in Centre Cesar

Centre Cesar Nursery

To find out more about the Centre Cesar and its work, follow the link below.....In the afternoon, we went on to see the Genocide Memorial Museum in Kigali. Click below for a link to the site. 250,000 Genocide victims are buried there. It is a very tasteful reminder of a very bad time in Rwanda's History 17 years ago, hopefully never to be repeated again.

Centre Cesar

Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre

 

View over Kigali from Memorial Centre

Highest point in Kigali in the centre of town

Kigali Memorial Centre Gardens

Back home on the Rwamagana bus from Kigali

Bus Park Mayhem!