Umuganda, Painting at Ngwino Nawe and Lunch with the Street Children

This morning brought an early start for a Saturday. Every last Saturday of the month the Rwandans celebrate 'Umaganda', a morning of national community service. All cars have to be off the road between 8am and 12pm, during which time the local communities all donate the hours to a village project. The word 'Umaganda' can be translated as 'coming together in a common purpose to achieve an outcome'. This is part of the Government's efforts to reconstruct Rwanda and nurture a shared national identity. 

Blink and you won't miss it.

 This, however, was very convenient for Stephan to ensure that we were all out of bed and ready to go to Ngwino Nawe to finish painting the mural. After a hasty breakfast we drove through the quiet roads, hoping we didn't have to pull the 'mzungu' card if the police saw us out of time. The day may have been drizzly, but the spirit was eternally sunny. In the action packed few hours Maddie completed the learning wall with an alphabet under the giant chalkboards, and whilst Francine drew the pictures she was continually asked about the imaginative creatures and fish she was drawing.

The new learning wall.

 After she had been at her community service, Therese returned towards the end of our session and jumped straight in with painting some tropical fish. 

Many hands making light work.

Colour decisions on the outside wall.

Once the sounds of motor vehicles returned to normal very rapidly after midday, we jumped back in the car and were swiftly on our way back to the Street Children project.  On our arrival we were greeted by the excitable faces of the children all ready to go to their family and foster homes. Very quickly we were ushered into the main hall, where we were presented by Claudette with a wonderful lunch and sat down with the children to have their end-of-term meal. 

The most wonderful lunchtime.

Gentle, respectful conversations arose between children that filled the room with a calm hum. Just before we finished eating, it was time to celebrate the children's achievements. It was wonderful to see that 7 of the children had reached the top of their class, and 5 children were leaving to permanent new homes. The care, devotion and concern Claudette feels for these children was evident in her emotionally charged address to us all. The children are being equipped with skills to give them a bright future. 

Loom's newest entrepreneurs.

Another session of loom bands ensued, with both boys and girls getting snazzy with the patterns and with a deftness that was remarkable. Spirographs also were thrown into the mix, with the teachers leading the way in order to try and persuade the boys that they didn’t quite need to produce 4 bracelets…each! 

Concentration.

We are all so excited to see what the next year brings for these very special children, and their equally inspiring, driving force of a director Claudette.

Francine teaching 'Baby Five!'

Nkombo Nursery and Baho Neza Mwana Street Children

After a short boat ride across the dewy morning Lake Kivu, Team Rwanda 2014 arrived at Nkombo Nursery. The children were ready for us, with even the littlest in their uniforms waiting to see what we had in store for them. Inside Jo, Francine and Maddie had a range of pens and paper set out for the future Picassos, although by the end of the session it was doubtful  as to whether the faces or paper saw more of the action… Sparkly hearts were also adorned in unusual places that they definitely weren’t designed for, but just showed the creativity and eagerness of the children. Stephan, Bridget and Natasha led the others with games outside. After a tentative start with a rework of ‘Duck Duck Goose’, tunnel ball became a firm favourite with the children showing their competitive side with a few well placed elbows. We were then escorted back to our boat with multiple helping hands and a very friendly inkoko (chicken) who had accompanied us both ways across the lake.

Stephan organising 'Duck Duck Goose' 

Hard at work

Lake Kivu

A highlight of our trip so far was this afternoon’s visit to Baho Neza Mwana, a refuge for the region’s orphaned children who would otherwise be living on the streets.  Here we were given a tour of the village and shown where the children sleep, learn skills like sewing, eat and play.  With today being Friday, washing day, sunny spots on grassy banks were covered with clean clothes and linen left to dry.  Two bags we brought over from the UK were the source of inexplicable delight; one contained loom bands and the other a collection of nail polishes, nail art pens and nail art tools kindly donated by Models Own.  

Girls will be girls 

The most demanding customer!

Stephan gave Natasha and Bridget a quick tutorial on how to use the loom bands after which they demonstrated the technique to the children who quickly picked it up and effortlessly made bracelets, necklaces and other colourful accessories.  Meanwhile, Maddie and Jo had great fun painting nails and adorning them with glitter and patterns.  Some of the girls then took to painting their own toenails and even gave a few of us some interesting manicures.  

Bridget's new business...

When we had exhausted our supply of loom bands and everyone was happy with their painted nails, the children performed dance routines for their guests before heading down to a football pitch the size of, well, a football pitch, set on the banks of Lake Kivu.  The Rwanda Aid staff members led some warm-up exercises after which a competitive game of football commenced.  Bridget and Maddie were brave enough to participate in the game and we’re still not sure whether the constant calls of ‘mzungo’ (white person) were the children’s way of telling each other to pass to or kick well away from them.  Francine joined some of the others for a game of volleyball and once both these matches were finished, the children all carried firewood (mostly on their heads) back up to the village.  

Jonas dominating the football field

Shortly thereafter, Stephan arrived with crates of cold drinks and a big bag of sweets which everyone enjoyed after this busy but brilliant afternoon.  The wonderful children (and staff) of this village sent us off in such high spirits; they have left an impression that will not easily be removed from our memories or our hearts.

Drawstring Bags at Isha and More Mural Painting at Ngwino Nawe

A year ago when visiting Isha School a member of our group was struck by how many children walked, ran and played still holding on to their book and pen. It is one of their most prized possessions and they desperately don’t want to lose it for most of their parents can’t afford to buy a new one.

 Francine and Alex show the pupils how they can wear their bags

The pupils receiving their bags with excitement

All the children were wearing their bags proudly

Enough money was raised to provide each child (there are nearly 800 children in the school) with a drawstring bag, a book and pen.  The head teacher arranged for all the children of both morning and afternoon sessions to be at school today for us to give each of them a bag. All the children came out to the playground and patiently waited their turn to eagerly accept a bag. The children’s excitement and delight were contagious and their truthful appreciation truly humbling. We all enjoyed watching them putting their bags on and adjusting the strings to fit them, as well as putting their used books and pen in a safe place: their own new book bag.  This heartwarming experience made us all again realise how much we all have to be grateful for and humbled to see how happy these children are even if they don’t have a world filled with earthly possessions.  It will stay with us for a long time to come. 

Isha School Photo

 Love for the bags!

 Rwanda Aid teachers and Isha School teachers (with their bags!)

Thank you for all the children and parents of Normanhurst School, Chingford, North London who raised funds with a sponsored walk and many friends and family who donated funds to make this great gift possible. 

 Putting the finishing touches to the outside wall

This afternoon we went back to Ngwino Nawe to continue painting the murals we started on Monday.  As term had finished on Wednesday, only a few students were still around – those who live at the children’s village permanently because they do not have families to go home to.  There were some familiar faces from earlier in the week – and it was great to see some characters from last year too.  The outside wall has been painted completely and now brightly welcomes visitors to Ngwino Nawe with an outline of both Rwanda and Africa, on which the children enjoyed pointing out both Nyamasheke and Rwanda respectively.

David and Fidele painting the wall

Fidele and Maddie drawing shells

 A younger pupil helps an older pupil with the turtle

On the inside wall there is a beautiful seascape taking shape, which the children really enjoyed helping to paint.  There will be learning aids as part of the mural – such as numbers and the alphabet so that the teachers can use the wall in lessons.  In the process we discovered some great artistic talent in the students, as well as great initiative in creating straight lines with masking tape!  It was also brilliant to see the older children helping younger ones throughout the afternoon.

  

Rameck paints the angel fish

Mechack adds to the Rwandan patterns on the outside wall

Teaching Lessons at Isha School

Yesterday (this is the first of two blog posts tonight!) we spent the whole day teaching at Isha School - here's a run-down of the lessons we taught:

A beautifully behaved P1 class awaited Francine and Natasha.  The children used their knowledge of counting to 20 in both English and Kinyarawanda, and bowled them over with enthusiasm and perception. 

 Natasha works with a pupil on the number line

In the afternoon, the class teacher taught the morning's lesson - but found stones to use as resources

Pupils with their exercise books - which tomorrow they will get string bags to keep them in

The English teachers had three lessons to teach at Isha: P4, P5 and P6, in which a range of topics were covered.  We started our day with a P4 class of bright faces who were both fascinated with and uncertain about our presence.  The topic for this lesson, prepositions, lent itself to some interactive pair and group work, something which we are trying to encourage the local teachers to use more of in their lessons.  We took the lesson outdoors, where children demonstrated their understanding of prepositions by standing in front of or next to their partner, for example.  At the end of this lesson we were greeted and sent off with a  song of thanks.  The P5 lesson was on adjectives and Mr Flood used his expressive face to delight the children in demonstrating various adjectives.  They particularly enjoyed his 'scared' and 'angry' expressions.  Whilst at first reluctant to participate, by the end of the lesson most of the children were eager to engage and show us their work.  The topic for the P6 lesson was 'Direct and Indirect Speech' something we both thought would prove a real challenge to teach children for whom English is often a third language.  However, we were quite humbled by their grasp of the topic; by the end of the lesson most were able to change sentences from direct to indirect speech.

The many faces of Mr Flood

Maddie and Bridget had a challenging but exciting morning - teaching Social Studies with a twist.  The twist being teaching P3 in Kinyarwandan.  This was not to be feared when working with a linguist, Maddie had Bridget reciting animal names in no time.  (Be warned that if you see Maddie on her return from Rwanda, she will probably try to teach you too).  The lesson was with initially shy, yet enthusiastic students, who particularly loved a game of matching animal names and categorizing wild and domestic animals through play.  They particularly enjoyed using their arms as elephant (inzophu) trunks and hopping around like rabbits (urukwavu).  We taught a P6 lesson about flags as a form of unity and community where students designed their own flags for Isha School - and how important the Rwandan flag, their classrooms, the pupils and the volleyball net were to them.  Our final lesson was P5 on water and its uses where we employed a range of pair and group work activities.  The students loved contributing, participating and drawing on the Lake Kivu case study picture on the board.

Maddie goes through the Kinyarawandan and English domestic (amatungo) animals

 

Bridget helps the students with flag designing

Stephan teaching a lesson on shapes

When the Isha teachers taught the morning's lessons in the afternoon the ideas they had observed had been further adapted and given their own unique twists.  As always it was done with signature warmth and smiles.
  We all left with a sense of achievement - the children seemed to enjoy our lessons a great deal and the teachers took on board some new activities.

 A pupil shimmied up the volleyball post to put up the net at breaktime

 The afternoon was spent at Munezero House packing string bags with pens and books for the Isha students

First Day at Isha School

Our first trip to Isha School today, and what a day!  Driving to our destination we were waved at from the roadside and the frequency of greetings in English increased with greater proximity to the school.  The cry went out that we were coming some time before we got there.  Driving into the site we were flanked on both sides and as we stepped out of our vehicle with Alex - Rwanda Aid's Education Manager - we were greeted by hundreds of curious and excited faces to the tune of 'Hello Guests'.  We had truly arrived.

 

Francine and Natasha teaching P1-P3 songs in the playground

Attentive students waiting to learn new songs

 In the middle of Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes

 Lots of concentration!  (On Thursday we will be giving all the students in the school string bags to carry these books)

 A teacher, having seen the team teaching the song outside, did it again with her class afterwards

Our first task was to meet with the Head of School and the teachers to allow them to explain their set up and the issues they face in teaching so that we could be of practical assistance.  Then we were off to get involved in lessons.  During the visit the team saw the range in different teachers' command of English (which is the teaching language for Primary 4 upwards) and realised what a challenge tomorrow's teaching is going to be for some of the classes.  It was fantastic to see a few of the teachers from last year's teacher training course putting into practice what they had learnt last year and we hope to build further upon their practice tomorrow.

 

 A lesson in one of the old classrooms

 

 John teaching English in a new classroom

 Observing a P6 lesson on the Rwandan flag taught by a teacher who attended last year's training course

Going around the school we were again struck by the general eagerness of the children.  Then it was back home for an afternoon in the African sunshine of preparation for the lessons the teachers suggested.  We await tomorrow with real enthusiasm.

Planning lessons while enjoying the sunshine at Munezero House

Painting at Ngwino Nawe - the Disabled Children's Village

Today we have been highly productive: in and out of hardware stores, up and down ladders, scrubbing with wire brushes and coating walls with paint, not to mention dodging thunderstorms in the process.

Preparing the wall for painting aided by Ngwino Nawe staff

 One way to paint the top of  the wall!

The intention is to give a more lively exterior to the Disabled Village and a bright scene for the children inside.  When complete there will be an underwater seascape and the school's name boldly displayed on the front wall, with a map of Rwanda and Rwandan patterns.

 The final two members of the team arrived and were put straight to work!

Adding final details, with many onlookers!

 The students were keen to help us paint the walls (and cover their hands in paint!)

 

 A group of students who were all keen to take photos with the camera - and then have a photo taken of them too

 The children were brilliant in helping to select which letters to use for the mural

We were eagerly assisted in all this by some of the children and young adults - and keenly watched by the locals throughout the day.

 All hands on deck for the outside wall

 Painting both sides of the wall

 One of the four deaf siblings who was instrumental in the gymnastics yesterday provided invaluable help to us in painting today too

 The outside wall - almost finished - letters to be filled in white and map to be given some detail on Thursday afternoon

 

Sunglasses and smiles all round from the young adults at the end of a hard day's work