Rwanda provides a unique perspective on how to continue to move towards its development to accomplish 2020 vision. The aim is to transform the country “into middle – income nation in which Rwandans are healthier, educated and generally more prosperous.”The switch to English can be challenging, but reading regularly will bring a significant number of benefits to the young people and their education.
Regularly, I used to meet the students in the school library to explore the books available, as well as to help them to choose a suitable reader level that they could both read and understand.
The school grows a garden with different vegetables and fruits for its own sustainance. It is a type of labour that often young people can look down on as a punishment. But by teaching agriculture the younger generation will support and improve farming and living in Rwanda.
I was able to identify most of the leaves except the “dodo.” Dodo is an African indigenous vegetable that is grown and harvested in the wild. I had it everyday for my luch in the school. It was picked from the school garden, rinsed, chopped and cooked with beens, banana and meat. Delicious and healthy! I love it.
Tomato – urunyanya
Onion – igitunguru
Papaia – paw paw
Banana – igitoki ( plantation) and umuneke (ripe banana)
It was lovely when the students kindly taught me how to play Igisoro in GS Rango, Ruhuha.
Igisoro is a game played in Rwanda and in some other countries in Africa. It is a two-player game with 4x 8 holes in the ground and 64 seeds. As you can see through the pictures below we replicated it in a different way. We drew a table on the floor and used little stones instead of seeds.
Take a look at the posters below! They are not colourful and neither present elaborate designs, but it strikes me that they do catch my eyes and my thoughts. I am wondering if the same happens to you my reader. There is always a message to be delivered as there is an impact in the learning environment.
5:30am – It is time to get up! The loud sound of my neighbour’s radio announces this. I have plenty time to get ready and walk that long large street of Ruhuha to get to my placement school. It takes me approximately 30min to get there.
I am taking a world map and a small globe that travelled with me all the way from Scotland to Ruhuha in Rwanda. I might use them as I visit all the classes in the school.
This is Groupe Scolaire Rango, a secondary school.
Surprisingly, almost every adult has a mobile phone in Rwanda. In fact some people have more than one. It seems that this tecnology has taken over this part of the world. The variety of services available through mobile phones is impressive. Among so many things you can do with your mobile, here you can buy credits for your electricity. However, in case of a power cut you have easy access to a place where you can charge your mobile.
My new home for a month in Ruhuha is what people in Rwanda call a compound house. There are ten of these two room flats in the same lot shut behind a tall gate.
I chose the front room and my colleague the back room. As I usually get up very early every morning, I felt more comfortable if I could go out and in of my room without disturbing my colleague who was staying in the back room. The mattress is comfy and the bed clothing looks new and clean. A lovely net falls over the bed which protects against mosquitos. That was it, no shelves or any other furniture.
The two rooms next door were occupied by two other colleagues and four of us shared another two rooms that were our living room and kitchen. Toilet? Oh dear! It is outside and my colleagues call it “long drop.” I am sure you will not have difficulties to identify its meaning and any sort of explanation will not be necessary. And yes, there is a shower room (2metres square) without a shower or any tap. It is just a small room outside where you can wash youself. Good lucky with your bucket of water!
Water? Yes, there is water and there is no need to walk miles to get it. The tap with running water is in the back yard. Oh bless! I just need to fill up the jerry can with water.
The picture below shows a long line of jerry cans waiting for running water in Ruhuha.
I know that there are many firsts when you arrive in a new place and in Ruhuha it was not different. Yes, it was my first feeling and impression of life passing by and a spirit of contentment fulfilled my soul. My eyes zoom everything in all directions and the long large street of Ruhuha amazes me. The soil is dry and the orange dust covers everything. Life in Ruhuha seems to be unique.
It is the movement of people and bikes everywhere that makes Ruhuha so special. The riders are more than happy to approach and offer a ride for 200 RWF (it is only 20 pence).
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