Thursday 2nd-Friday 3rd July
Arggh, has another week really gone by?... Have just been reading some blogs of fellow VSOers (Ruairi, Bruce etc) and am in awe of their ability to keep up with humorous anecdotes while I’m here trying to remember exactly what I’ve done in the last week which is of any interest to anyone but me…
The Education sector meeting was on Thursday in Kigali. It was the usual mix of presentations and discussions with the best bit being able to catch up with everyone. We talked about the new placements for September and set up a working group – basically we’re now in charge of our own training/resource budgets so email each other with details before VSO rubber stamp it. Looks like there’ll be around 17 new education vols. I found out that the person who was rejected by my district will now be working with Rebecca in Kamonyi, so at least I’ll be able to meet her and explain that the district just have no idea and she’s probably better off there. I spoke briefly to Charlotte about it and she’s said that the mayor has seen sense and there will probably be another vol in January so that’s good. Many of the current vols are preparing to leave so we voted for new representatives on the education steering committee- another group which meets in Kig about every 3 months and discusses current education issues/placement grumbles etc-somehow I’m on it…
Monday morning I started at MINEDUC (Ministry of Education) for the REAP project, a continuation of the baseline surveys we conducted in June, so yet another early bus ride into Kigali and straight to St Paul’s, a guesthouse often used by us because it’s cheap and really central. However, arrived there hot and sweaty only to find there were no rooms for the whole week, grrr. Luckily, Tiga was already here so came to meet me to help with my bags-once again I packed way too much for the week, and booked in to Garden city. I was on my own for the night but for the rest of the week shared with Els. She’s only doing a week of this and then starts some teacher training in Nyamata so I hope to join her for the last few as it’ll be nice to see somewhere else - apparently it’s quite flat there so very different to Gikongoro with its many hills…
The week at MINEDUC has been good fun…despite the subject matter. There’s a group of 5 of us: Ken, Michael, Els, Tiga and me, all working together on statistics and report writing which is as boring as it sounds but will feed in to a national training of teachers in English. The office itself is quite central and it’s been a bit like working in London, everything being just a bit faster here - although grabbing a coffee on the way still requires a huge amount of patience.
Celebration in Nyanza
Am racing through this now as yet another week has passed and I’ve not been able to upload a thing…It’s another Monday morning!
Friday evening was home to Gikongoro to wash some clothes then back up the following morning to Nyanza where Ken was celebrating his birthday. Next day, we were up early. Ken had a christening to go to and a group of us were off to see the royal palaces there. Over breakfast, we learned that Bruce had had an eventful departure. Ken’s guard had apparently left for church very early and had gone off with the gate key. Now, instead of waking us all and getting the key from Ken, he’d decided to scale the wall and climb over taking a few bricks with him in the process. Most of us agreed that had that happened to us we would have had no quarms about waking us all. Anyway, breakfast over, Ken left for the christening leaving the rest of us to pack up and get on our way…Unfortunately, Ken, in his haste to reach the church on time, managed to lock us all in, forget his mobile phone and leave us all wondering how we could get out and also leave the house secure. The larger doors could be opened but needed someone inside to bolt them afterwards…In the end, with everyone else on the other side of the gates and a promise that I would be caught (?) I secured the gates from the inside and climbed over. Kerry and Steve kept to their promise, lowering me down on the other side, and we all headed for the Mwami palaces... We can all laugh about it now.
Annoyingly, I forgot my camera but here's a pic from the internet and it’s pretty much how it looked…The traditional hut was my favourite.
Arggh, has another week really gone by?... Have just been reading some blogs of fellow VSOers (Ruairi, Bruce etc) and am in awe of their ability to keep up with humorous anecdotes while I’m here trying to remember exactly what I’ve done in the last week which is of any interest to anyone but me…
The Education sector meeting was on Thursday in Kigali. It was the usual mix of presentations and discussions with the best bit being able to catch up with everyone. We talked about the new placements for September and set up a working group – basically we’re now in charge of our own training/resource budgets so email each other with details before VSO rubber stamp it. Looks like there’ll be around 17 new education vols. I found out that the person who was rejected by my district will now be working with Rebecca in Kamonyi, so at least I’ll be able to meet her and explain that the district just have no idea and she’s probably better off there. I spoke briefly to Charlotte about it and she’s said that the mayor has seen sense and there will probably be another vol in January so that’s good. Many of the current vols are preparing to leave so we voted for new representatives on the education steering committee- another group which meets in Kig about every 3 months and discusses current education issues/placement grumbles etc-somehow I’m on it…
Monday morning I started at MINEDUC (Ministry of Education) for the REAP project, a continuation of the baseline surveys we conducted in June, so yet another early bus ride into Kigali and straight to St Paul’s, a guesthouse often used by us because it’s cheap and really central. However, arrived there hot and sweaty only to find there were no rooms for the whole week, grrr. Luckily, Tiga was already here so came to meet me to help with my bags-once again I packed way too much for the week, and booked in to Garden city. I was on my own for the night but for the rest of the week shared with Els. She’s only doing a week of this and then starts some teacher training in Nyamata so I hope to join her for the last few as it’ll be nice to see somewhere else - apparently it’s quite flat there so very different to Gikongoro with its many hills…
The week at MINEDUC has been good fun…despite the subject matter. There’s a group of 5 of us: Ken, Michael, Els, Tiga and me, all working together on statistics and report writing which is as boring as it sounds but will feed in to a national training of teachers in English. The office itself is quite central and it’s been a bit like working in London, everything being just a bit faster here - although grabbing a coffee on the way still requires a huge amount of patience.
Celebration in Nyanza
Am racing through this now as yet another week has passed and I’ve not been able to upload a thing…It’s another Monday morning!
Friday evening was home to Gikongoro to wash some clothes then back up the following morning to Nyanza where Ken was celebrating his birthday. Next day, we were up early. Ken had a christening to go to and a group of us were off to see the royal palaces there. Over breakfast, we learned that Bruce had had an eventful departure. Ken’s guard had apparently left for church very early and had gone off with the gate key. Now, instead of waking us all and getting the key from Ken, he’d decided to scale the wall and climb over taking a few bricks with him in the process. Most of us agreed that had that happened to us we would have had no quarms about waking us all. Anyway, breakfast over, Ken left for the christening leaving the rest of us to pack up and get on our way…Unfortunately, Ken, in his haste to reach the church on time, managed to lock us all in, forget his mobile phone and leave us all wondering how we could get out and also leave the house secure. The larger doors could be opened but needed someone inside to bolt them afterwards…In the end, with everyone else on the other side of the gates and a promise that I would be caught (?) I secured the gates from the inside and climbed over. Kerry and Steve kept to their promise, lowering me down on the other side, and we all headed for the Mwami palaces... We can all laugh about it now.
Annoyingly, I forgot my camera but here's a pic from the internet and it’s pretty much how it looked…The traditional hut was my favourite.
After the tour, Moira, Steve, Kerry and I grabbed a few bargains at the clothes market then went for lunch which took ages before heading back to Gitarama to stay with Charlotte and Hayley following dinner with the many vols there…
Apologies for the ellipsis... Am back in Kigali now, one more week on stats before heading to Nyamata to help with some of Els's training. It's still hot and sticky but hot showers daily are a treat ;0)
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