Gasundwe Village School links with Bowlee Primary School in England

Hello to all our friends at Bowlee Primary School, Middleton, England, UK

First of all, thank you for your lovely letters and photos and drawings for the children in Rwanda. When I took your letters to Rwanda I asked my friend to translate them into Kinyarwanda and then I took them to school. The children wrote their replies in Kinyarwanda and then I asked my friend to translate their replies into English. They were very excited to receive greetings and communication with children in England. They have replied to your letters and although some of the replies are very short you have to remember that they do not speak English. They have their own language called Kinyarwanda. Even the teachers don’t speak a lot of English because until 2010 the main language for teaching was French and then in 2010 the Rwandan Government told all the teachers that they had to start teaching in English from then on. It was a very big challenge for them.

Why do you think the language of instruction used to be French?

All the children that you wrote letters to have now left the village school and moved onto the local Primary School. There are two schools that they can go to and most of them go to Viro Primary School. It takes about one hour and half to walk to school with their friends. A few of the children go to a school called Rusuzimiro. This school is closer to the village of Gasundwe but to get there the children have to cross a river and there is no bridge. In the rainy season it is very dangerous so many parents choose to send their children to Viro which is further away but the children can walk there quite safely.

The photograph above shows you where the children have to cross the river without a bridge to get to Rusuzimiro School. In the rainy season it is very dangerous.

In Rwanda there is a shortage of teachers and many children to teach so, in the Primary Schools, they have a ‘Double Shift’ system. This means that some children go to school in the morning and others go in the afternoon. The teachers teach all day. The morning shift starts at 7am and finishes at 11.40am. The teachers have a break for one hour then the afternoon shift starts at 12.40 and finishes at 5pm. The teachers then walk home and many of them also cultivate the land and grow food for their families. They have very low wages and are often hungry.

How long does it take the children to walk to school?

How long is the morning shift?

How long is the afternoon shift?

How long is the teacher’s day?

Add on the time taken to get to and from school.

In Rwanda, the school year starts in January and ends at the end of October. This is the main reason why I visit the school in January because I want to meet the new children and families as well as to visit the children who have moved up to the Primary School.

These are two of the teachers from Viro Primary School. They are very happy to receive the children from Gasundwe Village School.

Some of the children have sent you their last school report from our school in Gasundwe. You will see that they study five subjects – English, Mathematics, Social Studies, Kinyarwanda and Religious Education.  A lot of the teaching is done through games and songs. Remember that the children are only 4-6years old when they come to our school and many of them come from very poor families. Before we opened Gasundwe Village School most of the children didn’t go to school at all because it was too far for them to walk and they were tired and hungry. But now we feed the children every day and they grow strong and healthy enough to walk to the local Primary school. Eventually we want to have our own Primary School in Gasundwe.  The children love coming to school and they love their teacher, Gabriel, and their Teaching Assistant, Esperance.

Here is our teacher at Gasundwe Village School. His name is Gabriel. He lives in the village from Sunday to Friday but at weekend he travels to see his wife in Kibuye town for the weekend.

 This is Esperance. She is our Teaching Assistant at Gasundwe Village School. She is helping the new children to make marks on the small blackboards. She lives in the village most of the time but her husband and children live in Kigali which is the capital city of Rwanda.

In Rwanda it is considered bad manners to eat food in front of other people unless there is enough for everyone. When I visit schools I usually take a sandwich to eat in the middle of the day and I ask the headteacher if there is somewhere I can go to eat my lunch. He usually takes me into his office and closes the door and the shutters at the window so that I can eat in private, the teachers often don’t eat at lunchtime, they probably only eat once every day.

Lines of enquiry:

Think carefully – why do you think it is bad manners to eat in front of other people? (Clue – it is connected to historical poverty) Compare this to eating habits in England. How would you manage with only one meal each day?

Most of the food that is eaten is grown by the families themselves. Rwanda is a very fertile country and the fresh fruit and vegetables are very tasty and healthy. A basic food crop is Cassava which is a leafy green plant which grows everywhere. The green leaves are rich in nutrients and make a delicious soup and the roots are often used in the way we use potatoes. There are also potatoes, cabbage, carrots, green runner beans, tomatoes, onions and corn cob. Rice is grown in the valley bottoms where the ground is wet and is usually eaten with beans – not green beans but beans which are more like haricot or broad beans or pinto beans. The main food crop is Cassava.

Go to the supermarket and explore all the many different types of beans in the Dried Food department. Make a meal with beans and rice. You could make a soup or a sauce to eat with your beans and rice. Spinach is a good substitute for Cassava.

Bananas are also plentiful and there are many different types. Savoury bananas are cooked and eaten a bit like we eat potatoes, sweet bananas are small and very sweet. Then there are bananas that are used to make beer. The bananas are harvested when they are still green and they are carried by the ladies to the local market to be sold. When the ladies who live in Gasundwe go to the market they go on the boat to the nearest small town. The journey is about 30 minutes away by boat and it is a happy social occasion.

Investigate the journey of a banana from tree to your fruit bowl.

In the village you can pick fruit straight from the trees when that fruit is in season. I ate a lot of mangoes when I was there in February. Also avocado, passion fruit, pineapple. It would be wrong to just pick fruit from a tree unless the farmer gave you permission or you offered to buy it because the farmers are totally dependent on what they grow for their survival. Another favourite of mine is peanuts (or groundnuts) which you can often see laid out on matting drying in the sun. They are very tasty when they have been roasted and salted. On market day you can see lots of little boys selling small packets of these nuts. They make little packets from paper shaped like a cone.

Try some exotic fruits. Make a fruit salad.

Can you make a packet for peanuts out of paper?

The village of Gasundwe is by Lake Kivu and some of the men who have fishing boats go out every day to catch fish to sell. The fish are small and silver in colour. When the fish are landed they are put out in the sun to dry and then later they are cooked in a sauce made from tomatoes. This is a source of protein for families who can afford to buy the fish from the fishermen. The fish are taken to the market to sell and I must say that the smell of drying fish in the market is very powerful!

Another source of protein which is much more easily available is Soya. Our children at the Gasundwe Nursery School are given a big cup of porridge every day and this is a mixture of soya, sorghum and maize. This porridge contains proteins and nutrients for health. The children love it and thrive on it.

Meat is only eaten on very special occasions, maybe on Christmas Day, weddings or on other days of celebration when the village will get together for a party and everyone will contribute the food. Meats that are available include goat, rabbit, beef, pork and chicken.

Why do the children need protein in their diet? What protein do you have in your diet?

There are some chickens in the village and they produce eggs which the children enjoy when they are available. All the children have jobs to do at home to help the family. One of the tasks is to look after the chickens and goats. The children also help to carry water. When they are young they carry a small container and as they grow they carry bigger and bigger containers.

Another source of protein is milk. There are some cows in the village and the people who own them can sell milk to their neighbours. Rwandans love drinking milk when they can get it. There is a tradition in Rwanda that when a couple gets married the groom gives a cow to the bride’s family. When that cow has babies one of the babies is given back to the married couple. If you own a cow in Rwanda it is a sign of wealth. The more cows you own, the wealthier you are. The goats provide a source of meat.

 This is the end of this short presentation. I hope you can learn more about Rwanda from your studies. I look forward to looking at your work. Thank you again and enjoy your learning. Tricia

Lines of enquiry:

Why do you think the language of instruction used to be French?

How long does it take the children to walk to school?

How long is the morning shift?

How long is the afternoon shift?

How long is the teacher’s day?

Add on the time taken to get to and from school.

Think carefully – why do you think it is bad manners to eat in front of other people? Compare this to eating habits in England. How would you manage with only one meal each day?

Go to the supermarket and explore all the many different types of beans in the Dried Food department. Make a meal with beans and rice. You could make a soup or a sauce to eat with your beans and rice. Spinach is a good substitute for Cassava.

Try some exotic fruits

Investigate the journey of a banana from tree to your fruit bowl.

Can you make a packet for peanuts out of paper?

Why do the children need protein in their diet? What protein do you have in your diet?

In Rwanda, if you own a cow you are wealthy. Think about our country, what are the signs of wealth here?

To clarify:

Our school is called Gasundwe Village School and is located in Gasundwe Village by Lake Kivu. At the moment we have a full time teacher called Gabriel and two teaching assistants. Esperance is the name of one teaching assistant and she also cooks the porridge. The other teaching assistant is called Acquiline and she is one of the mothers, she is training to be a teacher.

Gasundwe Village School meets in the old church building on top of the hill so we don’t yet have a proper school room where we can set up a quality learning environment. We take children aged from 3-6years old, then they transfer to either Viro Primary School or Rusuzimiro Primary School across the river. All the children that you have written letters to have now transferred to Primary School. The teachers and children there are benefitting from our project as well.

The Village Rwanda Project, which I am responsible for, concentrates on the school and education in the local sector named Gihombo Sector. My expertise is in teacher training and development of skills rather than on building schools.  Rochdale 2 Rwanda (R2R) and Ottawa 2 Rwanda (O2R) are two groups that I work alongside. They are responsible for other areas of the project such as the provision of water, cows, machinery etc. The local organisation is called ‘Gihombo Forward’ (GIFO).We work closely together to alleviate poverty in the village and our aim is that the village should be self-sustaining by 2020.

In the next few years we aim to build at least one classroom per year and then gradually extend the school upwards to Year 6. We are also going to build a Training School for youth and adults to learn skills such as carpentry, sewing, knitting and electrics.

Contacts are as follows:

Village Rwanda: Tricia Atherton villagerwanda.blogspot.co.uk (e mail and telephone below)

Rochdale 2 Rwanda (R2R) (Paul Cockcroft) www.Rochdale2Rwanda.wix.com/info

Ottawa 2 Rwanda (O2R) (Fidele Bolton)     www.ottawa2rwanda.org

Teacher at Gasundwe Village School: NTEZIRYAYO Gabriel     gabrielnteziryayo@yahoo.fr

Co-ordinator of GIFO (Local organisation in Rwanda) SABANA Alexis    sabanalexis1965@gmail.com

New and exciting possibilities...

This week has been very encouraging, reflecting on the progress made and the future possibilities for the school.

For some time we have heard a rumour that there is going to be a hotel built on the lakeshore very close to the village on the next peninsula. As we have passed by, on the boat, we have noticed some exploratory building work. This week we found out some definite information. There are plans to build TWO hotels in that area! As you will see from the photos on this blog this area is beautiful and has great tourist potential. Rwanda is trying to increase its income from tourism and to develop better facilities. This, combined with the building of the road from Nyamasheke to Karongi (Kibuye) by the Chinese will greatly improve transport links.

On the way back to the village this week we took a detour to visit Esperance Children’s Village on the further shore. The route we took by boat would eventually lead to Mugonera, which is where we usually go to the market. But this time we pulled into a small bay on the opposite side of the water where there were several canoes for children (I later found out that they were provided by students from Stockport Grammar School.  After leaving Samuel to look after the boat Jean Baptiste and I began an extremely challenging (for me) steep climb up the hillside along the edge of small remnants of rain forest. At the top I had a stitch and was trying to catch my breath when some friendly locals showed amazement at seeing us emerge from the vegetation. Lake Kivu itself is already at an altitude of 1,460 m above sea level and I think I must have climbed another 1000m in 20 minutes! The average elevation of Rwanda is 2,750m and this includes lower levels of savannah type land in the east. No wonder I was out of breath!

The view from part way up!

Anyway, we made it but we also realised that this would not be a way for visitors to approach the Children’s Village unless they were very fit. (like me??!) The road is equally challenging at the moment because of the thick mud - see previous blog entry. The road will improve in two years time though. Mmmm...

We were warmly welcomed by Victor the Director of the project (http://lesperancerwanda.org)  and we were given fresh cool water and tea.  We sat on the verandah looking out at the beautiful landscape around us and discussing our various projects plans and ideas.   It was here that we discovered that a hotel is being planned for the lakeshore just opposite from Gasundwe village. Victor will be in charge of the project and will re-locate to the eco- hotel when it is built, hopefully by January 2015.

The following day Victor and the volunteer teacher from Belgium came to visit Gasundwe and were very impressed with what we are doing there and what has already been achieved by the combined efforts of the local NGO (GIFO), the original founders of the project from Rochdale (R2R) and the major efforts of the Canadian NGO Ottawa to Rwanda (O2R) (http://www.ottawa2rwanda.org/).

learning about colours, observing and matching

Making decisions

The results of the visit are potentially very exciting:

Victor has agreed to provide some teaching materials for our school.

He has also said that he may be able to provide a storage cupboard.

A teacher of sewing skills from the Children’s village can come to stay in Gasundwe for several weeks to train some of the ladies to use the new sewing machines provided by O2R. His project will support her with accommodation etc. This will mean we can increase the number of ladies to be trained.

We also shared our ideas about the possibilities for some joint work once the hotel is full of tourists. All these things need to be discussed by the local community through their GIFO committee. It could mean many changes for the village and all the community need to agree on the way forward. 

Now, I need to write a report for all the stakeholders in the project so that discussions can take place and plans for the future can be made. I see my role as collecting information, sharing my knowledge and skills and facilitating ideas but the actual work and decision making is done by others. Thankfully. 

Lots of love and gratitude to all who read this blog. Tricia x

Stormy crossings lead to calm waters

After a lovely weekend at Home St Jean meeting new people, watching the Six Nations rugby and generally chilling out I set off back to the village by boat rather later in the day than was expected. Consequently the weather got worse and the lake became turbulent. It wasn’t raining but the wind was blowing and the boat was ‘dancing’ (to quote Jean Baptiste). In other words the boat was lurching up and down and waves were pounding into the hull. We had a ‘baler outerer’ in the form of Samuel and a small plastic container. We also had life jackets and I must admit that I considered what I would do if we capsized. I think I could manage myself but how could I leave my friends who couldn’t swim? Baptiste is an excellent swimmer so he could try to save one person. I am an okay swimmer and would make an attempt. My concern would be that their panic might take us both down. Someone once gave me advice that in that situation the rescuer should give the struggler a knock on the head so that their body would go limp and make the rescue easier. But with what would I hit them having been thrown out of the boat? – Ideas on a postcard please!!

After pondering on this for some time I decided to calm myself down and pray, so began singing quietly ‘Be still and know that I am God....’ It helped. During this stormy session on the lake we passed the fishermen out in their ‘tri- boat’ paddling against the storm. Three wooden boats are fastened together with long wooden poles and there are three paddlers in each boat. Watching them struggle against the high waves made me realize once again how physically demanding life in Rwanda can be.

Anyway, Baptiste is an experienced boatsman and having held the tiller steady for two hours he steered us into the calm waters of the bay. We noticed a very overloaded boat had also taken refuge in our bay. The people were possibly from DRC on their way home from the market.

Hello! from Viro Primary School, Gihombo

Harvesting the beans in the school grounds

This week I visited the local Primary school again and had a lovely time with some of our children who have moved up to Primary 1. I was delighted to discover they still remembered the songs and the role play activities in English!  I gave them the letters from schoolchildren in Rochdale which had been translated into Kinyarwanda by my friend in Kigali. I asked the teachers to help the children to write replies in Kinyarwanda and planned to collect them next week. A real and unexpected bonus came in the form of Samuel who is a School Based Mentor and, of all the schools in the area that he could be based at, he is based at the two schools where our children from Gasundwe go after being at our school. I just love how these things happen sometimes – things working together for good. The presence of Samuel in the school has meant a vast improvement in the use of English by the teachers and subsequently the students.

In the background of the photo you will see the school children harvesting the beans that are grown in the school grounds- no bit of land is left uncultivated here in Rwanda and many hands make light work.

Samuel came to the village to take part in some training that I was doing with the teachers and he stayed overnight. He and Gabriel exchanged telephone numbers and I think they will be a big encouragement for each other. I also went to the school nearest to the Sector Office where some VSO volunteers were doing training and it was wonderful to see them at work in this neglected area of the District. My dear friend and colleague, Tracy, who is doing the same job in Nyamasheke District that I was doing in Muhanga District was there and she also came to stay overnight in the guesthouse. All these links are raising the profile of Gasundwe in the sector and in the District.

The photos above show the members of the household who look after us all. This  is a busy house with folks working hard on growing, gathering and preparing food for much of the day. 

This week we had a harvest of groundnuts (see photo), mangoes and beans. We also decided to improve the porridge recipe by adding soya to the mixture of sorghum and maize. This decision was taken because some of the children are suffering from protein deficiency.

We had a great day of training on Thursday when I got out some of the locally made teaching materials and showed how to use them. We had two teachers, a Teaching assistant and the School Based Mentor. I was going to do the training for more of the Nursery teachers in the sector but the journeying and organisation is so frustratingly difficult that I decided to do it just for our little school. I'm glad i did because the children enjoyed it and they didn't miss a day of school.

Bottle tops for counting and making patterns

Put the correct number of beans in the bottle - the bean harvest is in the backgroun.

Learning colours and matching

The children are not used to sitting on the grass mat in school. They usually sit on benches facing the front but we wanted to try something new and the children are able to manipulate materials easier in this situation.

These individual boards are the Rwandan equivalent of the little white boards that children in the UK use with a marker pen.The Teaching assistant is showing a little boy how to hold the board and the chalk at the same time.  

So... we had great fun!

The next day it was back on the boat to Kibuye and then to Kigali for me. I had to come back to Kigali again bringing the teachers laptop to have additional programs and drivers installed. 

Off we go again...

Look what was in the reeds waving us off.

I will return to Gasundwe on Wednesday for my last visit before going home on 20^th February.

Am I getting too old for these shenanikins?

Last Sunday we made the lovely journey by boat from Kibuye to the village. The lake was calm and beautiful. The sun was so strong that I had to use my umbrella as a shade, it was not very effective but caused some friendly laughter!

Friendly fellow passengers

Past the fishing boats. Goodbye Kibuye!

Past the Methane conversion plant

Out comes the parasol!

Still calm waters today

And here we are again at the landing stage.

We arrived once more at the guesthouse and soon settled in. Jean Baptiste made the best chips ever!

Gabriel and I spent the week in school, trying out new teaching methods and getting to know the new children. They are a fun bunch on the whole, with one or two exceptions – oh- not because of bad behaviour but because of sickness and lethargy. 

Home made puzzles

Counting with bottle tops

Bring me 5 stones

We have had a busy week in school and in addition I have been planning the training sessions for other Nursery teachers in the sector. I must admit I find it very frustrating trying to organise anything here and it is particularly difficult in the rainy season because when it rains no-one can move and you just have to stay wherever you are. If you have an appointment, it is just too bad!

On Friday we walked to one of the Primary Schools where some of our children from last year now attend. We chatted to some of them and agreed to return on Monday. This school is called Viro Primary School and it is about one hour and quarter walk from Gasundwe village. I found the walk in the hot sun, up hill and down dale to be exhausting.

There is another Primary School closer to the village across the valley but it can only be reached by crossings a river. The community have discussed the possibility of building a footbridge but the land is very silty. It would be difficult.

You can just see the school almost in the middle of the photo at the top of the hill. As you can see the valley is wide.

At the school we discussed the training and we hope it can be arranged for next week.

Then, it was onto the motos to road to begin the long journey by road to Kibuye (where I knew a cold beer would be waiting for me) We had only been going a few minutes when the rain started. We pulled over and took shelter in a nearby house. The lady of the house, which was under construction by her, made us welcome and found a bench for us to sit on whilst we waited out the storm. Forty five minutes later we were back on the road – possibly the worst road in the country!

After going through the market town of Muhororo the road became impassable for a while so we got off and walked whilst the guys skilfully manoeuvred the mud bath. I am constantly amazed by these drivers out in the rural areas. 

During the two hour journey to Kibuye we saw several vehicles stuck in the mud, including one of the big ‘Onatracom’ buses. The passengers had climbed off the bus safely and some of them were helping to dig out the thick mud from around the wheels. I don’t know whether they got out before nightfall.

We arrived thankfully in Kibuye and Gabriel went home to visit his wife for the weekend whilst I carried on to that haven called ‘Home St Jean’ – look it up on Trip Advisor, it’s beautiful. As usual, I was given a warm welcome and a cold beer!

Love to you all and thanks for your interest and support. Triciax

Gasundwe Village Rwanda

Dear All

The villagers grow a lot of their own food, including various types of bananas, maize, beans, casava etc

In the first photo you can see the maize (corn on the cob to us!)which has been growing around the houses.

In the short film you will see the maize (corn cobs which taste nothing like the sweet corn that we are used to) When it is harvested it is put in the sun to dry and it can be stored before being cooked on the charcoal burner.

One day when I was working for VSO and I was visiting one of my regular schools the female teacher, Pelargie, said:

"Tricia, do you like to eat mice?"

"Pardon, what did you say?!"

"Mice. Do you like to eat mice?"

Me, slightly shocked:
"No, I don't like to eat mice. Why? Do you like to eat mice?"

"Yes, I have some here for you to taste."

With that, she produced some cooked corn cobs - maize!!!I was so relieved I ate the offering thankfully.

Lots of love and warm wishes from Rwanda, Tx

Gasundwe Village School - Update

As you know I visited the school in the village last week and spent two lovely days with the new children. I will be visiting them again in a couple of weeks, but this time I just wanted to get a ‘feel’ of where we are up to and to meet the new intake.

All of our children except 2 have been promoted to Primary 1 at the nearest Primary School where we have links and where I will be doing some training with the teachers. At the moment, because we only have use of a building which does not belong to us but to the local church, we are unable to develop the space into a quality Nursery learning environment. But, even so, the work that Gabrielle, our teacher does with the children is inspiring. He clearly loves children and enjoys their company, He is firm but kind and he uses interactive methods when he can. He not only teaches but he is also a focus in the community for advice on other matters, often concerning health issues.

The school year in Rwanda runs from January to November and so at this time of year Gabrielle is very busy registering new children and passing on reports of children who have moved up to P1. Every day parents or grandparents bring children to be registered, building up to a maximum of 60 (theoretically).

On my first morning back in the village I left the house and walked up to the school. I strolled past Mama’s coffee plants and through the banana trees, coming across familiar sights and sounds. The view of the lake opened up before me as I passed the homes of friends. People greeted me with big smiles and happy handshakes.  I climbed up the rough steps carved into the hillside by human feet and came to the rough church building which acts as our school base. As I rounded the corner my eyes were awash with the sight of little children playing in the sunshine. I saw Gabrielle with skipping rope in hand giving a demonstration of how to skip! I saw another group of children playing hopscotch in the dirt.  I spied the new water tank and mothers by the new water tap, washing the pots after serving the porridge. It was a happy and healthy scene!

As soon as I get the camera out they stop playing! 

Outdoor play after porridge

Before school starts in the morning or in the afternoon children are given Sorghum Porridge which is a staple food of this area. Feeding the children was a priority when the project started and it made a tremendous difference to the children’s development and health. As each new intake comes to the nursery we see again how poor these families are. There are still children with big (empty) bellies, caused by protein malnutrition. The kids don’t get enough protein so fluid leaks out of the blood vessel walls in the abdomen area. This fluid collects in the ‘peritoneal space’ and the space extends. (I got this on google, I am not a health expert). So, really we need to be feeding more protein to the children.

As with all young children when they first start school or Nursery there are some who don’t want to leave their mothers and there are others who can’t wait to get into the classroom. The children are shown how to line up one behind the other so that they can enter the building in an orderly fashion, without hurting anyone else in their excitement. Time spent on these strategies now is time well spent for future learning. 

Our school is very basic at the moment but we have plans to improve with the support of friends in O2R, Canada. When the children enter the classroom they sit on the benches in rows, girls on one side, boys on the other. When all 57 were assembled Gabriel greeted them warmly. I introduced myself and they giggled to hear me speak in Kinyarwanda. The first session was about learning names and Gabrielle patiently asked each little one to say their name out loud. Some of these children are very shy and quiet, whilst others are only too pleased to stand up in front of everyone and shout their name out loud! The Teaching Assistant, Esperance sits on the benches with the children to give them encouragement and to take them to the toilet when they need to go. 

The new water tap by the school/church

After the next outdoor play session Gabrielle uses a rice sack teaching aid to extend vocabulary in Kinyarwanda, getting children to think about what is missing in these pictures. This will be the first time these children have seen pictures of any kind.

Parents also often bring children who have particular health needs or disabilities and ask for advice. In these situations it is very difficult because we have such limited resources. The Rwandan Government has a policy of Inclusion of children in schools, which is fantastic. However, if a child has problems walking, how can he get to a school when the journey is a walk of more than one hour over difficult terrain? And if he does manage to get to school, what facilities will there be for him there? All these are difficult questions for the school system on top of all the other challenges. 

Anyway, that's all for now. Sorry about the poor presentation. I still don't understand what happens to the font colour and background colour sometimes even after 3 years of posting this blog!!

Lots of love, Triciaxx

Mama's Knitting Association at Gasundwe

This is my first attempt to post videos so I hope it works out.

As you know, whilst I was at home in England I requested knitting wool and needles to take to Rwanda and I was inundated with gifts. Thankyou.

In the previous post you saw the wool being carried up the steep hill to the guesthouse. In this film you will see them knitting with their own needles and wool. I realised that they only have one size of needle and one type of wool. So they are not used to knitting with different sized needles and thicknesses of wool. It is a challenge to teach them, but I will try. I wish my friends from the knitting circle at home were here to help me! They are far more accomplished than I.

This lady is knitting a jumper (umupira)with many different colours. We hope that the Knitting Assocaiation is the beginning of a Craft Training scheme which will earn money for the workers. We want to buy a non-electric knitting machine. They cost about £300. Our friends in Canada have already provided three hand sewing machines and the ladies will receive training. 

The next part of the plan will include training in carpentry and other skills.

Apologies if the video clip doesn't work for you. But thanks for reading the blog. When I come home to England i have lots of other film clips.

Keep warm and cosy.

Love Tricia

Happy New Year 2014

New Years Day 2014 saw me at Manchester airport once again and it wasn’t long before I was soaring into the clouds. It took many minutes to get through the thick cloud layer that was covering the whole of the UK that day. As we left Manchester it was a cold grey day with rain lashing onto the tarmac, but even so I was reluctant to leave.

 I’ve had such a wonderful summer and autumn, living in my unusual home and re-establishing my life in a new town. I recognise that so many things have worked together for me, resulting in an enhanced and simpler life in England. But then I felt the sun on my neck coming through the window of the aeroplane – and it was good! I was on my way back to Rwanda...

I first came here three years ago and stayed for two and half years, so I got to know the country quite well. As we drove from the airport in Kigali I experienced the familiarity of the warm night air, the many people walking in the streets, the ever present motos looking for passengers and most of all the enthusiastic welcoming smiles on people’s faces. I felt I was coming to my second home country.

I spent the first few days in Kigali, making the most of some luxury foods and meeting with friends who stayed behind to make their lives here. Even in the 6 months since I have been away there have been big changes in the city. Like any capital city, it is the wealthiest part of the country. There is a noticeable increase in cars – not old bangers but big expensive cars. The city streets are clogged already and in another 6 months there will be big problems. I never understand why emerging cities want to follow the mistakes of ‘developed’ cities. Surely everyone knows that with wealth comes traffic and that traffic should be kept out of the city centre... Will I see ‘Park and Ride’ when I come again?

My plans for the seven weeks were vague – but that’s normal in Rwanda. However I knew I wanted to get to the village as soon as possible so that I could work out how best to spend my time in helping to develop the Nursery School. Getting to the village can be difficult, but the best way is by bus and boat. From Kigali we have to take the bus to Kibuye and Lake Kivu – surely one of the most beautiful places on earth? The journey takes most of the day whichever way you do it. I met my friend Alexis, who is the local co-ordinator of the project, at Nyabugogo Bus Park.

I enjoy the sights and sounds and all the activity of the bus park at Nyabugogo in Kigali, but some people hate it – love it or hate it you have to go through it! Once safely on the bus we’re on our winding way. At Kibuye we buy provisions for the week including a big sack of rice and another sack of Irish potatoes. Mama is waiting for us on the boat down by the shore.

Mama at the front of the boat

Alexis and Jean Baptiste who owns the boat.

This time the boat journey was easy because the lake was calm. We chuntered along for two and half hours and as the ‘home hill’ came into sight I felt my heart rejoice. The boat pulled into the shore and we began the steep climb to the top of the hill. I had with me the big bag of knitting wool which was donated by so many kind friends in England (about 18kg). One of ladies put it on her head  and carried it up the hill.

This is me packing the knitting wool 

The lady in front is carrying the wool 

We were almost at the top of the hill when I came across the first water tap.  I was so excited to see the women drawing water from a tap so close to their homes. It is thanks to our Canadian friends in the group Ottawa 2 Rwanda that the village now has 3 water taps. The other two are strategically placed – one by the church/ school building and one at the guesthouse.Website address: www.Ottawa2Rwanda.org and on facebook. 

When we got to the guesthouse, there was more excitement as I was shown the bathroom now with flush toilet, sink and shower!

The guesthouse now has a flush toilet

and a working sink!

the water tank catches rain from the roof and is also connected to the mains

This is the tap at the guesthouse

I’ve included the photo of the family cow because when a Rwandan man gets married it is the tradition to give a cow to the family of his bride. But after a few years the bride’s family return a cow to the groom. This cow is the child of the original cow that was given when Alexis married his wife. 

Alexis and the family cow

And after a long day and tiring journey it was time for me to re-discover my bed!!

To be continued 

Love to all my friends and family, and strangers who are as yet undiscovered friends! Tricia