May 16, 2023
I got good news today: The Rwandan Police located some of my things that were stolen over a month ago. This afternoon, my principal pulled me out of class and brought me to the police station to ID my things. I’d say I got about half of my things back, including $143 and a broken computer. What’s still missing is my passport, my favorite piece of luggage and most of my work clothes. The thieves – two men and a woman – were there in handcuffs at the police station this afternoon. I asked if I could address them and my principal interpreted. I told them that I forgave them and shook their hands, and they were grateful for that. I explained the reason why I was in Rwanda, and that they hurt me a little but hurt my students more by taking away the tools I use to teach. I explained it was like taking a hoe from a farmer. I hope my message got across. Here I am with Mr. Phocus and Mr. Gashuma from the Rwandan Police.
May 15, 2023
I missed school on my birthday as I was in Kigali at a dermatology appointment (all good). My co-teacher Augustin sent me this from our Year 1 (10th grade) Early Childhood and Lower Primary Education students. One of the student’s birthdays is on May 14 and she must’ve remembered that mine was the following day, so I’m guessing that she was the one who created this Post-It Note (?) with birthday wishes for me. As teachers, these are the things we will remember and cherish when we are sitting in our rocking chairs.
May 10, 2023
One of the problems with having mirrored glass windows is that that birds sometimes crash into them. The other morning I heard a crash at my front door and saw this little guy sitting on the ground when I opened my door. He was flapping his wings but couldn’t fly. I assumed he knocked himself out and was going to sit in the courtyard until his circle of life closed. To my surprise, he got enough energy to land on the foundation of my house, where I took this picture. Then, to my amazement, he flew into my house! He was sitting in my sink and I didn’t know what to do as I was in a hurry to leave my house to go to Kigali, so I called my landlord over. After a few minutes, the little red bird flew right out the front door. I have no idea what kind of bird my visitor was, but it was unlike any one I’ve seen before. The interesting variety of birds are definitely one of the coolest parts of living in Rwanda.
May 8, 2023
My landlord’s son, Manzi (Melvin) is quite a character and his English is excellent, honed by hours and hours of cartoon watching. I was trying an experiment where I put a bunch of the little remnants of soap bars in tinfoil and left them outside to hopefully melt during the day and congeal at night. When I explained what I was trying to do to this 7-year-old, he said, “That won’t work.” He then proceeded to plug in my hot plate and used the top of a jam jar as a small pan to melt the pieces of soap. When they cooled, he formed them into a colorful ball of soap. Very clever!
My bicycle has always held a fascination for Manzi since I got it in October. He tried and tried to ride it, but he was just too little. After about 1, 000 attempts, he finally got it. Here’s a picture of him riding my bike for a few seconds in the courtyard. A little while later, he left the bike on the ground in the courtyard and took off with my helmet, which he likes to wear backwards, for some other adventure.
May 6, 2023
Yesterday our 11th graders went to Kabarore Vision primary school to do student teaching. The lessons I observed were on parallelograms by Ben, the parts of a fish by Isaac, and a story about elephant and a hen in Ikinyarwanda by Alice. The Math and SET (Science and Elementary Technology) lessons were delivered in English. Rwanda is putting a lot of emphasis on English in their primary classrooms now as their economy becomes more tightly integrated into the East African Community. (The seven countries of the EAC are Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, South Sudan, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo.) All three of my students prepared well, did a nice job in class and really looked the part teaching the fourth graders. I sat in the back of the classroom with the cooperating teacher who scored their teaching. Their classmates who weren’t teaching got to sit in on the classes, too. Here are photos of Isaac and Alice teaching:
May 5, 2023
One of the things that isn’t lost on me is how beautiful Rwanda is, especially my little part in the Kabarore valley. Today I went to Kabarore Vision School, which is about ten steps from our school, to watch my 11th graders to do some student teaching (more on that later). Here is a picture of the school’s Rwandan flag, which has a larger band of blue with the Sun on it, along with two smaller bands of yellow and green. Quite an attractive flag! The school overlooks a really green valley, perhaps enhanced with all of the rain we’ve been getting. While at the school, I saw a pair of eagles rising on updrafts. Later in the day, I changed the words from “This Land is Your Land” to fit Rwanda. The students enjoyed singing “From the Virunga Mountains to the Great Rift Valley, From Akegera to Lake Kivu.”
