One of the quirky things about bus travel here in Rwanda is that you have to give your first name when purchasing a ticket. Like Spanish speakers, when I say “Tim” Rwandans hear “Team.” The first bus ticket lists my name this way. When I was coming back from Kigali, I was wearing my Timon shirt, so when I said my name was “Tim,” the woman just looked at my shirt and wrote that down.
We had some fun writing Valentine’s Day poems in class. I prompted the students with “Roses are red/Violets are blue/I want to say/I love you” and then took away the Lines 3 and 4. After teaching them what a ‘rhyme’ is, the students took a shot at some love poems and came up with some nice little verses. Here is my student Timothy reading his poem to his classmates.
One of the quirks of this house is that a poster I have, a map of Rwanda, refuses to stay on the wall no matter how much tape I put on it. Sometimes it stayed up for many weeks but then mysteriously fell down. Mind you, I have two other posters on the other walls that stay on just fine. The map of Rwanda has been repurposed to be my new tablecloth – I can study Rwandan geography as I eat.
Things are improving slowly in our classrooms, however they are still under-resourced. My 11th and 12th graders do not have textbooks. Imagine trying to do a reading exercise this way! When I do, I have to read the story from my e-text and check for understanding frequently. Erasers are another big issue. In the first term, we didn’t have them – the students used sponges, bits of paper and rags to clean the board. In this term, every class got new erasers. Halfway through the term, some have bit the (chalk) dust. Here is all that’s left of one eraser – just one panel! It’s good enough and that’s what we have to use.
My landlord’s son, Manzi (English name ‘Melvin’), is a latchkey kid. As every student in Rwanda does, he has a very long school day, from 8:30 am to 5 pm. If he finds me home after school, that’s good, because he knows that he can get a snack and have some kind of adventure with the always-interesting American tenant. Today he helped himself to a honey sandwich, some cookies and some fruit. Since Rwandans don’t eat dinner until late, usually 8 pm or so, Melvin is hungry after his long day of study. As he was eating, he found an empty box of cornflakes and proceeded to cut it up into a house, with a front door, a back door, some windows and an “airplane door.” He’s an amazingly clever kid and his English is excellent.
One of the hardest parts of living overseas is missing important family events. Two of my nephews will get married this year while I’m in Rwanda. My Uncle James, a great guy, died last week and I missed his funeral as well. It may sound grimly Irish, I wish I could’ve gone to it as so many relatives were there and it is great to see everyone despite the sad event that brings us together. In this picture are my cousin James (Uncle James’s son) flanked by my brother Tom and cousin Brendan, who flew in from Ireland for this. (Photo credit: Steve Talty)
