My day usually starts at 5am. This is because I have to do some form of
exercise to start my day. I put on
rather a lot of weight since I arrived (school holidays – too much time at home
to think about cooking!) and due to the fact I cannot nip down to the shop to
buy larger clothes, I need to try and get rid of the excess weight so that my
clothes can still be worn! Some days I
run with a local teacher. This means
starting in the dark and running through sunrise. We usually run for at least half an hour and
in this time, it goes from very dark to daylight. Sometimes the views across the valley are
beautiful. I find the runs hard work but
I always feel good afterwards. If I do
not run, I stay in the house and do either a boxercise dvd, a skipping routine
or a circuit session. My nightguard,
Justin, is usually still here and I think he must think I am a little bit mad
when I start jumping around to my music and kicking and punching...
I then shower. I
usually check the water pressure when I first get up. If the pressure is good, I will plug in the
water heater so that I can have a shower.
If it is weak, I boil two kettles of water and mix this with some cold
water in the bath. I then have my
breakfast – porridge with milk (I can now get low fat milk – hurray!), honey
roasted cashews and bananas. I never
used to like porridge, but I really love this.
If I have run out of milk, I use milk powder and water (which is not
quite as good). I usually try to make a
small snack for lunch at this time.
My moto driver (Safari) arrives between 7am and 7:30
depending on where we are going. We
always greet each other with a handshake and an exchange of pleasantries. This is all carried out on the side of the
road outside my gate with an audience.
People always stop and stare when I exit my gate. Usually there are children on their way to
Kibungo A school and a few of them will greet me with “Good morning! How. Are.
You?” Then Safari and I fly off into the
day on the bike.
A bumpy ride later, we arrive at whichever school I am
working in (I have a two week timetable).
I start by greeting the Head Teacher (although sometimes they will be
attending a meeting at the District Office).
Then I go to the staffroom and I begin working with whichever teacher I
am meeting that day. Lessons are 40mins
long in primary school. So, we have
40mins to plan the lesson and make resources, and then we go and teach the
lesson together. We have to go vuba, vuba! I repeat this process three times during the
day (I usually work with two teachers in the morning and one in the
afternoon).
Lunchtime is always a little tricky. Some teachers go home. In some schools there is food provided. But often, there is nothing. In one school, the Head Teacher discretely
leaves her office so that I can eat a sandwich.
I feel so guilty about the fact I am eating that I usually only have a
small (and often stale) piece of bread with whatever I could find to make it
taste more palatable – cheese, cheese spread, peanut butter or chocolate
spread! I gulp down water too.
Usually there are children peering through the door and the
window all through lunchtime even though they should be at home as they are
probably morning students, so their day is finished! Sometimes I feel a little over-whelmed as
hundreds of children will greet me and I get a little bored of answering the
same two questions from each one of them (“how are you?” and “what is your
name?”). Today, I was visiting an area
where another VSO volunteer lives, so I went to visit them for lunch. I was accompanied for the 5min walk by about
a hundred children.
After lunch, I plan and teach another lesson and then I set
up my timetable for my next visit. At
afternoon break I start a workshop. These
are short workshops on subjects such as; why plan a lesson, how to make and use
visual aids, how to use the new English curriculum and so on... A small group of teachers will attend. As teachers get to know me better, they open
up more and we have some discussion.
Sometimes the teachers find this hard as I ask them to speak in English
as much as possible. But they are all
eager to try and sometimes we have a lot of fun. Although it is hard to be funny when there is
a language barrier (but, you know me – I manage!).
Once the workshop is over, I have about 15mins to tie up
loose ends and say goodbye to everyone.
Then I go off to meet Safari who will have arrived to collect me. It can take up to an hour to get home
(goodness knows how much this will increase to once rainy season begins and the
dirt roads become a slithering mass of mud).
Two evenings a week I get home with about 5mins to spare before my
Kinyarwanda teacher, Elie, arrives. This
gives me enough time to remove my dusty waterproof and leggings (which I wear
to stop myself from turning orange during the journey!) and wash my hands. Then we have a one hour lesson. My Kinyarwanda is slowly improving but I have
a long way to go. I enjoy using it and
find I get a lovely reception when I do.
In the market I often get extra food and today, I stopped at a bar on my
way home to buy a coke for this evening and had a conversation with many locals
who were in there. As I left, one of the
older men gave me God’s blessings.
Once my lesson is over, I cook my dinner. This is usually pasta or rice with some kind
of sauce or curry. My fridge means that
I can cook a large amount and then store it safely – this has made a huge
difference! I greet Justin when he
arrives to work and we have a short chat and I get him a drink as he has
usually cycled 20km to get here (up very steep roads). Then I tend to chill out and watch some tv or
films on my laptop. Bedtime tends to
happen between 8 and 9pm and I like to read for an hour, although sometimes my
eyes are so tired I do not last that long!
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