My life as a (very minor) “celebrity”

Since arriving in Rwanda, but more particularly in Kibungo, I have begun to gain an insight into the hard time that celebrities have being “spotted” all the time.  I am so exotic in town, that it is perfectly normal for me to hear the cries of “Mazungu!” at least 50 times a day.  This happens as I walk down the street, go into a shop, board a bus, or whiz past on a moto.  It is quite strange to hear someone shout to you to alert you that they have seen you and you are something of a shock, but for them to not use your name – I can almost imagine how the stars of Eastenders and Corrie must feel when people shout out their screen name.

It is also quite common for people to crane to get a good look at me.  Several people have tripped up as they have been so busy looking at me, they have not paid attention to the path in front of them.  I am not entirely sure how best to respond to this, and have so far just tried to say good morning/afternoon and ask after their health in Kinyarwanda.  This usually so surprises/delights them that the awkward feel is removed from the situation.  I still can’t hold much of a conversation though.

At one school this week, almost the entire school surrounded myself and Cathy as we left the staff room to walk to a classroom.  There was a crowd of children 8 or 9 deep all the way around us.  Some of them were touching my skin.  A large number of them continued to watch with curiosity through the classroom window as we taught even though they were sent away by the class teacher and should have been in their own lesson.

This evening, my minor celebrity status made my journey home slightly easier and less daunting than I expected.  I made my first round trip to Kigali (about 2hrs away by bus).  The journey there was fine, but on the way home I could not get a direct bus.  At the ticket desk, several people assisted me in buying my ticket and getting me on the correct bus.  This was great, and once I said good evening to everyone on the bus, we got on with the journey.  At Kayonza I had to change buses.  The bus station is basically a huge bus park with buses going in all directions.  There are many different companies and types of service – I was quite uncertain how I was going to find the bus going in the right direction with my very limited Kinyarwanda....I needn’t have worried.  The mazungu descended the bus and was immediately approached by several ticket sellers.  I told them where I wanted to go to, and they checked all of the buses for me.  They were so helpful, that I just sat down at the side of the bus park and let the Friday rush hour continue around me.  When a bus going my way did turn up, they immediately came to find me and got me to the bus.  Once on the bus, I could hear people talking about me, so I greeted them in Kinyarwanda and maintained a short conversation about my name and their name and where I was going and what job I did and then there was much hilarity when it was realised I could not say anymore or understand any more questions.  We then discovered a man on the same bus who could speak some English and he did a little bit of translating for a while before we all let the motion of the bus lull us into quiet.  I never have chats like that on the bus at home.  And, at the end of my journey, all my new friends helped me get my bags off the bus and wished me well on my way.  Rwandans might be incredibly curious but they are certainly very friendly and helpful at all times, for which I am very grateful!

The Road to Work

This morning I set off with Cathy for my second day of shadowing her.  We visited GS Kibara in Mutendera Sector.  It was about 45mins on a moto over some quite bumpy roads, but I hardly noticed as the scenery was absolutely stunning.  We were driving around the top of the valley.  This place is full of them and it seems like I am always driving along a road with a fabulous view.  At 7:30 this morning, rather than my old commute (a crafty 20min nap on the train between Beckenham and Victoria) I was staying well awake as I was on the back of the moto.  Below us, the valley was filled with cloud.  It looked so beautiful to be up above the clouds in this majestic place.  What was above the clouds was lush and green.  We passed lots of villages where people were busy collecting bananas, coffee, cassava...all sorts (but no – not the liquorice kind!).  It was easy to be completely consumed by the beauty of the morning and think about how lucky the people of Rwanda were to live somewhere so beautiful, but towards the end of the journey I was reminded of the reality of life for some people.  We went past a man who was busy filling up his jerry cans from a large puddle at the side of the road.  And then you are reminded that most of these places away from the main roads (and there aren’t many main roads) do not have any running water or electricity yet.  It is certainly noticeable in the schools I have visited so far that they do not have these luxuries.  When it rains, as it really did this afternoon, shutters are pulled across windows in the older classrooms and children must sit in the dark.  In the newer buildings which are popping up at many schools, there is glass in the windows and the rooms are bright and airy, but this is not yet the case everywhere.

And yet, despite the challenges that people here may face, the children are so full of life and seem to love their lessons.  We walked into a P1 (first year of primary) class this morning and there was no teacher there, but the students had got some textbooks out and were chanting parts of the textbook together.  They were so excited to see visitors and looked with such curiosity.  We went outside to play a game with them and they left the room so quietly.  They lined up outside without talking and followed every instruction given by their teacher without a single complaint – even when he moved some of them away from their friends.  We then marched out to the grassy area at the top of the school and did lots of warm up activities.  Next the children played a game of cat and mouse.  They were so excitable and clearly loved it.  We were watched by a small crowd of local people who had been passing and stopped to view the commotion.  The game involved lots of running and I was amazed to see all the children kick off their shoes before they ran – the ground was bumpy and stony – my feet would have been cut to shreds.  At the end of the lesson, they lined up in silence again before marching back to their classroom and being dismissed for the day (it was the end of the morning shift).  But they didn’t go – in fact, all the children just gathered around Cathy and myself and so we decided to go to the staff room to get out of their sight to encourage them to leave, but they just followed and were standing on top of each other in order to peer through the windows and look at us.  They eventually went home, but the curiosity continued with the afternoon shift of children.  And when we left...pretty much every child in the school came to wave us goodbye.

Rainy season

I think the rainy season has arrived (although this is nothing compared to what will come - apparently it gets MUCH worse!).  It has rained on and off since I arrived in Kibungo but the last 48hrs have seen almost constant downpours and thunderstorms.  Whenever there is a thunderstorm or very heavy rain, we lose power.  This happened just as we started to cook dinner this evening, so we then had to light up the kerosene lamp and stove in order to continue.  I'm very hardcore...  I had enough power left on my laptop battery to enable us to watch a film, so we did that in the dark and after about 45mins the power returned - hurray!  It was incredible to look out across the valley as it was in total darkness - you really could not see a thing.

We had a lovely day to round off the weekend - a trip to Rwamagana (sp?) to visit two other volunteers who made us a very delicious lunch.  It also involved a couple of trips on buses which were quite amusing for various reasons.  Firstly, our trip this morning attracted lots of interest in the lorry park/bus station and everyone wanted to sell us tickets.  Of course none of this can be done without first shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries with everyone.  It takes quite a while to go anywhere but it is very sociable.  On the way back we had to get in a very small bus taxi and it was incredibly cosy.  But it was a lovely day out and another chance to view some of the fine scenery.  Off to bed now as I have a very busy day tomorrow.

Market day in Kibungo

After the heavy rain of yesterday and last night, there was a brief break in rain this morning.  I awoke early (again) and after another cold shower and some breakfast (toast and nutella – mmmm), Cathy and I headed into town with a very long list of things to do.  First things first – we went to the bank so I could open an account.  This was helped along by Cathy stating that I wanted to open an account in Kinyarwanda.  Most helpful as I would have been a bit stuck.  An English speaking member of staff came out to assist and I was welcomed to the bank (“Murakaza neza cyane”).  They seemed a little surprised that I wanted to open a Rwandan bank account, but went along with it anyway.  After a lot of form filling, in which I learnt the Kinyarwandan for date of birth, address and revised words like signature and name, I became the proud customer of the bank.  I have to wait a couple of months for an ATM card and personal cheque book (this is so I can cash cheques at the counter as most places – including Kibungo – do not have ATMs).

Next we went to the water company to pay our water bill.  But it was not open on a Saturday, so we went along to the electricity shop to buy credit for our electricity metre.  Then we weaved our way in and out of a few alimentation shops to try and buy various things – there is no one stop supermarket here!  We managed to find toilet rolls in one and then we got tea bags, milk powder and Blueband (the kind that does not need to be refrigerated...) in another.  Then we bought MTN credit for our mobiles as anything you add this weekend will double once you load it up.  Finally we went to the market.  It was so busy and the aisles between the stalls was very narrow, so there was a lot of pushing past people.  Cathy seemed to be very well known on the market and there were lots of shouts of “Katerina! Katerina! Inyanya!” (tomatoes, for example).  We visited several different stalls and I got introduced to lots of people.  I mostly listened and tried to work out the numbers so I could see if I am hearing them right – I was mostly right, but some of them still get me.  Food was plentiful and we got: potatoes, tomatoes, chillis, apples, bananas, pineapple, aubergine, peas, passionfruit, garlic, ginger, limes, tomato paste, onions...and potato samosas (cost: 2p each) for our lunch.  We had them with some homemade guacamole when we returned and it was a delicious lunch.  It started to rain on our way home, so we jumped in a bus and got off directly outside the house (cost: 10p each).  We still want to venture to a nearby shop for some important items we could not find in town today – porridge oats and waraji.  However, it has poured down for the last four hours, so we might not get there and it’ll be another night on the tea!  At least we have electricity at the moment (although we did lose it for an hour earlier!).

Arriving in Kibungo

Yesterday morning I was picked up in the Ngoma District car by a driver and the Head Teacher I had met the previous day.  I was called at 8am to say they were on their way and would arrive in two hours.  Having experienced the relaxed approach to time-keeping, I was unsure how likely this was, but got ready.  Sure enough, at five to ten they arrived.  My bags, pots and pans were loaded into the back of the car and off we went.  We passed some beautiful scenery – lush green hills and lots of busy villages.  Once we reached Kibungo, we unloaded my stuff at the house (more on that later) and then set off for some lunch.  After a bit of melange at the nearby Centre St Joseph, I was given a tour of the town – banks, bus stations, market, shops, radio station, prison, post office.  Then I was taken to the District Office where I met the Mayor and then had a meeting with the Executive Secretary.  By this point I was so very tired and slightly over-whelmed so was delighted to be returned home where Cathy made me a cup of tea.  We had a chat and she had to head off to Kigali.  I spent a couple of hours unpacking and sorting out my room and then decided to investigate my neighbours.  I caught up with Denis and Stella – two volunteers who live opposite and we went to St Joe’s for a beer and then they kindly took me back to their house for dinner.  Which was not melange!  It was delicious local produce and we had some waragi (Ugandan gin) with passion fruit syrup.  Yum, yum, yum.

I got up early this morning – well not that early as I went to bed at 10 and got up at 7am.  I was warned that the Police Prison next door starts drumming and singing at about 5am most days.  I don’t know what time they started, but I was not aware of it until 5:55, so I was awake from them and decided to listen to the BBC World Service.  I managed to wash myself in the cold shower (brrrr) and then made some breakfast.  Electricity was working so I could boil the kettle!  Then I met Denis and a moto-driver and we went on a 45min drive to a school in a neighbouring sector, which will fall under my remit (note to self: waterproofs are also useful for dust-proofing self.  Now look as though I have a tango tan and my trousers are a disgrace!).  The teacher knew we were coming as she and Denis had arranged the visit.  Upon arrival she apologised that she had to leave to go to a meeting in Kibungo.  She had only just found out.  So we had an hour with her and she showed us around the school.  This involved a couple of visits into classrooms where I caused much excitement amongst the children.  They were very keen to ask me questions: “Aleecey, where are you from?”, “Aleecey, do you know Broom Leys school?” “Aleecey, did you go to university in Rwanda?”, “Aleecey, what is your subject?”  Harmless enough so far... “Aleecey, do you have children?”  What would be the next logical question to ask if the answer were “no”... “ Aleecey, are you a nun?” Hmmm.  We all had a laugh at that one.  The children were very polite and attentive.  I then spent about an hour talking to a Geography teacher and the Deputy Head.  The Geography teacher had recently been to visit their partner school in Leicester and had been to London (Global Schools Partnership – primary and secondary schools needed – let me know if you would like to be paired up with a Rwandan school!).  He was amazed by all that he had seen and very impressed by the UK.  So then we discussed me coming back and I arranged to visit again in a couple of weeks.  Jean-Bosco will let me go to watch one of his Geography lessons and we will plan to teach a Geography lesson together.  This is very exciting news and I feel like I had a useful morning.  My plan for today was just to get to know my house, so it was nice to do this instead.  I returned home at lunchtime and had a lunch of bread and avocado – the avocado is from one of the two trees in my garden, which are laden with them!  There is also a passion fruit vine, but they are not ripe yet.  And that’s probably enough excitement for one day!

Moving on out

Tonight is my final night in Kigali before I leave for my placement.  Today we had our final ICT session - a day long workshop with our employers.  This had to be pulled forward a day as it was meant to be tomorrow, but at the end of last week, MINEDUC announced a very important and compulsory meeting for all District Education Officers (DEO).  Since most of the volunteers appear to be employed by Districts and we are line managed by the DEO, this meant turn-out would be almost nil if VSO kept the meeting on its original day.  So it was changed.  Apparently it is quite common for meetings to be called at the last minute, or even for public holidays to be announced the night before.  I look forward to some aspects of this spontaneity!

The day was scheduled to begin at 8:30.  By the time most people were present, it was after 9:30, but at least most people had a chance to speak to their new employer before the day officially began.  Unfortunately my DEO was unable to attend, but, in his place he sent a Head Teacher from one of the schools in the District who has done a lot of work with volunteers.  We had a pleasant day of planning and discussing and eating and then arranged times for tomorrow.  She is bringing the District car up to Kigali tomorrow morning to pick me and my millions of bags up.  I am very excited about the prospect of finally seeing my new home.  Cathy (my new housemate, who has been here for a year) is making plans to be there when I arrive - although she has already met up with me to give me a set of keys.  It's finally happening!  Apparently it will be about a 2 hour drive tomorrow and there will be some very beautiful scenery on the way.

As a final goodbye, we are off for a group drink to the local bar.  However, I am so tired that I will probably just show my face for a few mins and then retire.  My new bedtime is at about 9pm.  That's the good thing about it getting dark early - it doesn't feel so bad when you zonk out early!

Last night we had a pleasant evening at a local restaurant where they sell the Rwandan delicacy of goat brochettes (kebabs).  We had a quiz to keep us busy, which was just as well as it took over two hours for our food order to arrive.  This is not uncommon in restaurants in Rwanda and most people turn up with snacks to share.  I was delighted that someone who I was sitting with had been generous enough to do this as I was famished!  The good news is that my team won the quiz.  So, I shall head off now and my next update will be from Kibungo...!

Rwanda and Education

In some sort of attempt to make this blog not entirely about my social life, I shall try to include a little bit of detail that we have been learning through ICT (for the observant among you, this is In Country Training).  This morning we had a two hour session which was an over-view of the education system here.  This enabled those of us working in the Education Programme to see where we fit in and to give those in the Disability Programme the chance to see where the over-lap was.

When you start to hear about some of the situations that occur around the world, you really do realise how incredibly lucky we are to be born in countries where there is funding for things such as healthcare and education.  We all moan about our lot, and I know I will still moan upon my return, but being here is opening my eyes to how hard very simple things can be in other parts of the world.  Just as a starter, we could not make toast this morning, as there was a power cut during breakfast and all the power at the guesthouse went out.  This also meant no coffee and sitting in the semi-darkness of the dining room.  When power did not return after 10mins, the staff put the generator on.  A luxury we will be unlikely to have in our placements.  Although, VSO do ensure that we all have a kerosene lamp.

Education is a key priority for the Rwandan Government and compared to many other developing countries, giant leaps are being made forward and this should bring success to the country and its people.  The Millennium Development Goals are in place and the ideal is that all countries achieve universal primary education by 2015.  Rwanda has almost exceeded this target and plans that by 2017, all students will be enrolled in a 12 year Basic Education Programme.  Currently all students are entitled to 9 years of Basic Education (Primary 1-6 and Secondary 1-3).  This all sounds brilliant, but then you start to see what this means as far as resources.  There are so many children that require education – a huge percentage of the population are under 15.  Add to this all those that have missed out on an education due to poverty or other disrupting factors, and there are even more who are keen to make a start on their learning.  It is not unknown for a mother and daughter to be in the same class at school.  The vast number of people who are desperate to learn and take advantage of at least some of the 9yrs offered to them, means that the number of students far out-weighs the number of teachers.  To counteract this, the government has introduced a system of “double-shifting”.  When I think of how tired I would be after a day teaching in the UK, this concept fills me with such sympathy for the teachers here.  They teach from 7:20 until 5pm.  They get an hour for lunch in the middle of the day, and in that time the students change.  So, one group of students attend in the morning, and the other in the afternoon.  This effectively means two school days in one day.  And then you have to get to and from work, which could easily add another couple of hours to your day.  And then you need to mark and plan work.  These teachers must be exhausted.  So the fact that so many teachers are still keen to work with us VSO volunteers in order to develop their methodology (some team teaching and partnership work is done in the school day but much of the training will take place at weekends and in holidays) is incredible.

On top of all this, the MINEDUC (Ministry of Education) changed the education system a couple of years ago so that from P4-S6, all lessons are taught in English.  The previous language of instruction, and the language that most teachers will have been taught in, was French.  Yet another challenge.  There are very few incentives.  The wage for a primary teacher is 26 000 RWF (about £26) per month.  On a recent shopping trip to buy essentials for my new home, a bottom of the range saucepan cost RWF 13 000 (£13).  The cost of living is high.  We have heard of some incentives that the government have introduced – “cows for teachers” is one such scheme, and there are plans to provide financial benefits to those who stay in education at secondary school – especially if you do teacher training – so that better quality candidates will be attracted.

So – teacher training – how does it work here?  If you are one of the lucky few (although the enrolment rate is about 95% in P1, only 40% of females who enrol make it to the end of S3) to complete 9YBE (9 years basic education), you sit exams.  If you fail these exams, you leave school and get a job.  If you do very well in these exams you continue secondary school from S4-S6.  If you pass, but your marks are not very good...you go to TTC (Teacher Training College).  You get taught all of your subjects but you are also taught to teach.  At the end of the three years TTC, you go and be a teacher in a primary school.

And finally, what about students with special needs?  UNICEF state that on average, 10% of any population will have some kind of special needs.  In Rwanda, only 3% of the school population are identified as having special needs.  It is most likely that the number is far, far higher but there are no means to assess needs.  There is still stigma attached to disability in some places, so children may be kept at home and not seen by anyone.  We also met a speaker the other day who had a physical disability. He told us about his childhood.  He had been badly affected by Polio at the age of one year.  He lived about a kilometre from the school.  To get there he could crawl.  It would take a long time.  In the rainy season, it would be almost impossible.  He was lucky – his parents saved up to buy him a wheelchair, which he got when he was 11.  This made things a little better.  His parents made his siblings push him to school.  But sometimes they would get bored and abandon him.  Or, it would rain and he could not negotiate the dirt roads in his wheelchair.  But he was determined and he did finish his education and now works to improve the rights of those who have disabilities.  There are 40 schools in Rwanda that cater for special needs.  Many of these are not well known and are not registered with the government.  They may be willing to cater for those with special needs, but whether or not they have the skills and resources to do this very well is entirely another matter.  No special consideration is likely to exist here.  You are lucky to have one teacher in a class of 60 students – never mind a learning support teacher for those with additional needs.